Preparing for Meaningful Holy Week Experiences

Preparing for Meaningful Holy Week Experiences

Before we look ahead to Holy Week, I want to take a moment to give thanks to God for the communal and personal blessings of this Lenten journey, and for the many people who contributed to all the Lenten opportunities in our collaborative parishes. From the Exodus 90 fraternity and Ash Wednesday, the men’s day of reflection and the women’s pilgrimage to La Salette, Father Abraham’s presentations on sacred icons, Lenten exercises with Faith Formation for children & youth, the uplifting Lenten Mission-Retreat on hope, afternoon and evening Stations of the Cross - including Mary’s Way of the Cross earlier this weekend, our parishes could not have provided so many opportunities without the ideas, leadership and support of our various teams, youth and adult volunteers, and others who as good Christian stewards gave of their time, talent, and treasure. Thank you for helping people experience the movement of God’s grace in their lives this Lent!

 

Now, as Holy Week draws near, it still is not too late to prepare for a spiritually meaningful and truly uplifting Easter experience! There are two more chances to participate in a communal praying of the Stations of the Cross each Friday, and several opportunities for your Lenten Confession & Reconciliation between now and Tuesday of Holy Week (but not during the Triduum of Holy Thursday through Saturday). 

 

I would invite you to consider trying something new this Holy Week, as a way of being open to the Lord - who died for love of you - to draw you closer to Him in new ways. We have processions at Palm Sunday Masses (even outdoors at the 9:30 and 10am Masses, weather permitting). The Chrism Mass with our new Archbishop Richard Henning is that Tuesday at the cathedral in Boston (you can attend in person or watch on CTV). This annual Mass includes renewing all priests’ ordination promises and consecrating the Holy Oils for the year. Mary’s Garden prayer meeting that Tuesday evening will be accompanied by “The Light is On for You” Reconciliation with two priests available.

 

By ancient Catholic tradition, morning Mass is not celebrated on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or Holy Saturday, so this year we will use that usual 9:00am time slot to pray Morning Prayer (Lauds) as a community instead of Mass. This is one part of the “Liturgy of the Hours” prayed in monasteries and by clergy, religious, and many lay people throughout the world as a way to honor the call to “pray always”. It centers on the psalms, which are both the Word of God and the prayers of God’s people. As we bring back this tradition for the first time in several years, we will provide worship aids and guidance to help people to learn how to participate.

 

The evening services during Holy Week will alternate between our two parishes, and each night begins at 7:00pm (with the exception of the Easter Vigil which has to start after dark at 8pm). If you haven’t tried the Tenebrae devotion we have that Wednesday, it is worth the effort to share in this service of readings on God’s sacrificial love and diminishing candlelight (a mirror image of increasing lights at the Easter Vigil). The Sacred Easter Triduum includes the most beautiful and powerful liturgical prayers of the Church year, celebrating the whole Pascal Mystery of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We will continue to unpack the meaning of this Triduum in next week’s column. 

Jesus’ mission to set us free from sin and death is completed, and soon we will celebrate his victory… but he is not finished with us yet. Let’s be open to his touching our lives in a new way this Holy Week, helping us with His grace to grow into the disciples and children of God we are called to be.