It is a challenge to dream of what is possible when all we have ever experienced is what has been already. For most of us, the primary experience of living the Catholic faith is in the United States where religion may be talked about and acknowledged, but is really only celebrated in the churches we attend. Many Christian denominations, especially those of a more evangelical tradition without a strong liturgical or sacramental culture, might even let Easter pass by un-noted. Recall that in many areas of colonial America, it was forbidden to celebrate feasts like Christmas or Easter. 

This cultural dynamic makes it so that a Catholic has to be intentional about celebrating Holy Week. The world around us is excited about the Final Four and Opening Day. There are very few cues to remind us that it is time to celebrate the Paschal Mystery. People may have a day off around the weekend of Easter, but by and large they function as free days for mini-vacations or days off from school and work and not as opportunities to immerse oneself in the central mystery of our salvation.
This is your sign. This is your invitation:  make a firm intention to enter into the liturgies of Holy Week with a heart open to the transforming power of Word and Sacrament. Without the celebration of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, Lent is just a self-help program. Open your heart and be recreated by the Lord of New Life.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion:  We begin our celebrations outside the church, gathered in front of the west entrance of the school. This dramatic change in how we start Mass is an indication of what the liturgies of Holy Week are meant to inspire. We aren’t just passive observers of the drama unfolding. By joining in the procession, we put ourselves among the throng greeting Jesus with “hosannas”. Then we take our part in the reading of the Passion. Each year is that powerful reminder that even as we welcomed Christ with shouts of joy, we also must admit the sobering reality that it is because of our sin that the Lord suffered so.

Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper:  This is the Church’s main yearly celebration of the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. On the night before he died, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his friends. As he shared the bread and wine, he promised that he would remain with us whenever we gather and celebrate the Eucharist. When we gather, we proclaim his death and resurrection. We witness his self-gift, his service so that we might have eternal life. Again the liturgy reminds us that we are called to lives of actively participating in the life of Christ. We re-enact the washing of the feet, to remind us of the Great Commandment:  “Love one another as I havelLoved you.”  Holy Thursday’s celebration connects us so powerfully to the events that happened so long ago that are re-presented each time we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass. Lingering in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord, we have the opportunity to stay and watch with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in the Altar of Repose. Can we not stay awake one hour?

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion:  The liturgy has four main parts:  the celebration of the Word, where we read the Passion of the Lord according to John. Inspired then by this word, we offer the great intercessions for the salvation of the World. The ten traditional intercessions give witness to the universal nature of salvation. That Christ died for all, and his work, and ours, is not complete until all have heard the Good News. After the intercessions is the Veneration of the Cross. A profoundly humbling, yet tender, sacred ritual that engages us body and soul as we acknowledge that through the Cross, we have found redemption. The service culminates in the Rite of Holy Communion. No sacraments but the Anointing of the Sick and Confession are celebrated on this day, but the Lord remains present with us in the Eucharistic Species, a reminder that the Lord will never leave his people alone.

The Easter Vigil:   Mary Immaculate is blessed with a long tradition of celebrating the Easter Vigil with great enthusiasm and participation. We have been especially blessed that God has brought so many new members into the Church on this special night. This year we have four to be baptized and one who will make a profession of faith and join us in full communion. We will gather outside the church, before the front steps on the sidewalk. We will light the Easter fire and prepare the Paschal Candle. Then we will follow the Light of Christ into the darkened church, knowing that this one light will illuminate all the shadows of sin and ignorance. After the joyful proclamation of the Easter message, we read the Sacred Scriptures with the knowledge that we too have been enlightened by Christ. We celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation, renew our baptismal faith, and celebrate our communion as the Body of Christ, ready to greet the dawn with the news that Christ is Risen!

Easter Sunday:  This is the day that God has made. For our Christian tradition, the Lord has consecrated this day as the New Sabbath, a day that shall be set aside each week of the year to proclaim the Resurrection. The community renews its baptismal promises with the clear knowledge that as we have seen the Risen Lord, we must join in the mission of the disciples to proclaim to the world that Christ has conquered sin and death. That Christ is the resurrection and the life. We need never fear, for Christ is victorious. 

I pray that our entire community will renew our commitment to Christ and to each other by joining in these celebrations of our faith. Please take the time to carefully read the bulletin for the timing of these liturgies and for other prayers and devotions that will take place during Holy Week. Make a firm intention to participate. This is your opportunity to experience the gift of faith in a new and substantial way, saying yes to the grace that the Lord so freely gives.