Holy Week is a journey into the Heart of the Gospel. We hope that you will make room for God during your busy life as it intersects with this Holy Week. It is a matter of the heart. It is at the center of our Christian Faith.
If you’ve never attended the events of Holy Week, here’s a little bit more about them, including what you can expect. To read more about the Triduum, click here.
Holy Thursday
– Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 7:00 pm in the church
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated after sundown on Holy Thursday. We remember that at the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus offered his Body and Blood in the appearance of bread and wine and shared it with his apostles. The Mass also commemorates the institution of three pillars of the Catholic Faith: the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the sacramental priesthood, and the Mass.
What You Can Expect:
– The priest will wash the feet of select parishioners as a memorial of Jesus’ actions with his own disciples (John 13:4-9) and as a symbolic reminder of our call to service of others as Jesus’ disciples.
– While the Mass begins with our normal ritual opening, there is no ending for this Mass. In a way, the Holy Thursday celebration, which begins the Triduum, does not come to its conclusion until the end of the Easter Vigil.
– At the end of the liturgy, the Eucharist is reserved outside the main sanctuary of the church, the altar is stripped, and there is a bareness as we wait for what transpires on this long night when we watch and wait with Jesus.
Good Friday
– Stations of the Cross – 12:00 pm in the church
– Celebration of the Lord’s Passion – 7:00 pm in the church
No Mass is celebrated on Good Friday; instead, a special liturgy is celebrated that commemorates the Passion and Death of Jesus on the cross. Holy Communion is distributed from hosts that were consecrated the day before at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
What You Can Expect:
– The central narrative of the liturgy is the reading of the Passion Narrative from the Gospel of John (John 18:1-19:42).
– A central part of the celebration is the veneration of the Cross, in which people come forward to reverence the cross upon which our Savior died.
Holy Saturday & The Easter Vigil
– 8:00 pm in the church
Just like Good Friday, there is no daily Mass offered on Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil Mass, which takes place after sundown on Holy Saturday, properly belongs to Easter Sunday, since liturgically, each day begins at sundown on the previous day. It is considered the “pinnacle of all holy vigils” as it commemorates the holy night when Jesus rose from the dead. On this night, the Church keeps vigil, waiting for the resurrection of the Lord, and celebrates the sacraments of Christian initiation for all RCIA members.
What You Can Expect:
– The vigil celebration begins in total darkness when the new Paschal Candle is solemnly processed into the church – the Light of the Risen Christ overcoming the darkness of death.
– The Elect enter the church clothed in the purple robes of our Lenten observance and without candles. After they emerge from the waters of Baptism they will receive lighted baptismal candles (“Receive the Light of Christ”) and will change into white robes symbolizing their union with the Risen Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism.
– That same evening others, already baptized in the Christian tradition, will profess their faith in union with the Catholic Church and join us and their newly baptized brothers and sisters at the table of the Eucharist.
