This Sunday, we will enter into Holy Week. One of the great purposes of the five preceding weeks of Lent has been not only to do penance and renounce our sins. It has also been a time to prepare our minds and hearts to walk with Jesus now, 2,000 years later, as we recall His suffering, death and resurrection that truly changed the world.
The world was changed because until the Son of God offered Himself in sacrifice to the Father for our sins, the human race bore the wounds of our sinfulness, beginning with Adam and Eve. Those wounds separated us from the friendship of God, and we could not heal that damage ourselves. And so, God sent His Son to be one with us.
This Sunday, Palm Sunday, is always a moving ceremony. We will receive blessed palms to help our senses enter more vividly into the event as the crowd surrounded Jesus upon His entry into Jerusalem. We will read in the Gospel the passion and crucifixion of Jesus, one of only two days each year when the passion is read publicly. It is our Catholic practice to take those blessed palms home and enthrone them in a visible and worthy place such as behind a crucifix or a holy picture so that we are reminded throughout the year of the crowd’s welcome before all abandoned Jesus on Good Friday.
On Thursday morning, the Cathedral Parish of St. Peter’s in Rockford will be full of Catholics from around the diocese for the celebration of the Chrism Mass. At that moving ceremony, the sacred Chrism, Oil of the Sick and Oil of Catechumens will be blessed and distributed to parish representatives to convey back to their parishes for use in the sacraments during the coming year. At the same time, the priests of the diocese will gather to renew their promises of ordination, along with all the priests of the world on this day.
On Thursday evening, the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Again, aiding our senses and our souls to be joined with Jesus in this solemn moment, the Mass centers on the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood that Jesus carried out at the Last Supper. An option at that Mass is the washing of the feet. That ceremony reminds us of the humility of Jesus who washed the feet of His apostles. In so doing, we are reminded to imitate Jesus in humility and service to others.
That Mass concludes with a solemn procession of Christ in the Eucharist to an altar of repose. It allows us to enter spiritually into the moment when Jesus and His apostles went to the Garden of Olives.
On Good Friday, there is no Mass. That is the only day of the year when that is the case. Instead, in penance on this day of fasting and abstinence, parishes gather to read the passion and death of Jesus taken from the Gospel of John. We then are given the opportunity to come forward and venerate the cross, uniting our hearts to this moment which is both sorrowful and beautiful. That celebration concludes with the opportunity to receive Our Lord in holy Communion.
On Holy Saturday night, beginning just after sundown, we celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass. With a lighted new Easter candle and individual candles, we pass from darkness to light, reminding us of the victory of Christ over sin and death. That celebration carries over to the Easter Sunday Masses.
As we can see, each of these ceremonies are filled with readings and symbols that encourage us and explain the most fundamental elements of our faith. Please make the time to participate in these ceremonies in your parish, all of them if you can.
And may God bless you and your families with His Easter grace!
