In case you didn't know. I work at a church, and it is a big church. Remember this blog post a few years ago? Yeah, well I guess a contractual position wasn't enough, I ended up going FULL TIME. (I know I am CRAY CRAY)
So Holy Week at our church is AMAZING. It is like a stay-retreat. (You know instead of a vacation -we call it a stay-cation.). Holy Week is like a series of wonderful beautiful meaningful liturgies, and then you sleep in your own bed at night. I love it. I really really do. And the cool thing about being Catholic is that pretty much all of us are doing the same thing at EVERY Catholic Church. So consider this post my way of encouraging you all to participate in all of the things.
It all starts with Palm Sunday. This is the day we actually hear the entire story of the Passion of Christ from Palm Sunday to Crucifixion. The whole Mass starts with all of us waving palm branches shouting "Hosanna!", and then we hear about how those same people yelled, "Crucify Him" only a few days later. Not that much different from me, when I am praising God for being awesome one minute, then the next I am complaining and whining about how some prayer hasn't been answered.
Tuesday, in our diocese there is a Chrism Mass. (Some Diocese may do this on the morning of Holy Thursday.) This is for all the priests to gather in one location and the Bishop blesses the Holy Oils they will use for the year in their parish. The priests receive the Chrism Oil, which is used for Baptism, the oil of the sick which is used for in the sacrament of the Anointing of the sick, and the oil of the Catechumens which is used to anoint those who will be Confirmed that year.
Holy Thursday we have our Traditional Holy Thursday celebration of the Lord's Supper. Our priests all participate and each one washes the feet of our parishioners. This is always such a humbling experience even to watch. OUR PASTOR, WASHES THE FEET OF OUR PARISHIONERS. Not symbolically. He actually does it. What a message. What an impression. What other religion do you know where their God bends down and washes the feet of his people? What other denomination do you know where your Pastor washes the feet of his congregation. It is powerful. It gets me every time.
Good Friday is our Holiest of Holy Days. My kids are always asking me, "Is Good Friday a Holy Day of Obligation?" Well, actually it is not. But where else should we be when our Lord and Savior is dying on a cross for me? At the mall? At the Beach? At work? It just doesn't seem right. I like to be as close to the cross as possible. Not because I am some totally awesome perfect person. Because of the exact opposite. I need to be there.
Good Friday looks different at a lot of Catholic Churches. At our church we have stations of the cross at 12:00 PM. Then we have the Liturgy of the Lords Passion at 3 PM. This is the hour that Christ Died. During this liturgy, we hear the Gospel of the Lords passion once again, and we venerate the cross. Obviously it isn't the REAL cross, but it still has the same impact. This is a powerful experience to come up to the front of the church and kiss a wooden cross. It is humbling, scary, and downright uncomfortable. This is exactly what I want to do for my Lord. I want to step into his suffering by getting out of my comfort zone and offering this getsure up to him as my holy sacrifice. This is the almost the climax of all of lent. We are climbing up the steep steep climb to Calvary and we are about to wait for the Lord.
Lastly at our parish we end good Friday with a Tenebre service where we remember the Lords entombment. Not everyone goes to all of three of these services, but participating in all of them can be a way to place yourself in the scene. You can really feel all the despair and hope that must have been tasted by the apostles at the time of Jesus.
Holy Saturday is a day of waiting. This is the day in my family that we will decorate Easter Eggs, we will get ready for Easter Sunday, by figuring out our meal, and even begin cooking and preparing our favorite dishes. We are still not celebrating just yet, it is not time. But we are excited because we know the desert time is coming to an end. WE WILL SOON BE CELEBRATING!!!
See next post for my description of the Easter Vigil Mass and Easter Sunday.
