Drop off your blessed palm branches in the baskets in the Narthex. They will be burned at the Burning of the Palms on Sunday, March 2nd at 6:15 pm in the Amphitheater.
Join us every Friday for an opportunity for food, fellowship, and prayer. Each Friday will have a dinner (soup or fish fry), Adoration, and Stations of the Cross.
Every 1st Thursday of the month, we gather for a night of prayer for our entire community that includes praise and worship, a message, and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Everyone is invited to the church to adore our Lord! We will have two opportunities in Lent-- March 6th & April 11th. Our April XLT is moved to a Friday and will begin after the Fish Fry & Stations of the Cross. The Sisters of Life will be speaking.
Holy Thursday, or sometimes referred to as Maundy Thursday is the beginning of the Triduum. The Triduum is a three day celebration in the Church when we celebrate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Liturgy begins with the Holy Thursday Mass and continues until the Easter Vigil.
So what happens at Holy Thursday and why do we celebrate it?
Holy Thursday Mass celebrates: the institution of the Priesthood, the institution of the Eucharist, Christ's command of brotherly love, & recognizes this as the night Christ is betrayed.
It is a beautiful liturgy that commemorates Christ's Last Supper with his apostles which was celebrated as a Passover Feast. Christ then went on to fulfill his role as the sacrificial lamb of the Passover for all. Much of the Mass every Sunday pulls from the scriptural accounts of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-20, and John 13:1-30) repeating Christ's words "This is my body, which is given for you... This is my blood... " "Do this in memory of me".
Another unique aspect of Holy Thursday, is that the tabernacle after Mass will be completely empty. In a procession after Mass, the priest carries a ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament to a side altar, called the Altar of Repose which can be beautifully elaborate, and each one is different, as unique as the church that houses it. Ours will be in the Amphitheater. The faithful are invited to spend time with Our Lord in silent adoration. Our Lord will remain upon the altar until midnight, at which time He will be hidden away in a tabernacle until the Good Friday liturgy.
Taking the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose represents the movement of Our Lord from the house of the Last Supper to the Garden of Olives, where He underwent His agony and where He would be betrayed by Judas.
Many people often journey on what is called the "Seven Churches Visitation" going to seven different altars of repose as a way of keeping watch with Christ. Here are seven Churches near us!
Good Friday, this is the day of the crucifixtion of Jesus Christ, Our Lord who died for our sins and the sins of the world.
The Church and altar will be bare, and there are no consecrated hosts in the tabernacle as they were carried away after the Holy Thursday Liturgy. The tabernacle doors are left open to show that it is empty and Jesus is no longer there. This image, as well as many others during Good Friday, lead us into deeper prayer and contemplation of Jesus' death.
At 2:30 PM there will be a chaplet of Divine Mercy and Stations of the Cross, concluding arund 3:00 PM which is the hour Jesus took his last breath. At 7:00 PM there will be the Passion of the Lord, which is a communion service, but not a Mass. Good Friday is the only day of the year where no Masses are offereed.
Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence as a way to unite our small sufferings with the sufferings of Christ on the cross. This means abstaining from meat, and only eating one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. Some are excused from this fast due to medical or other reasons.
Holy Saturday is the day Jesus is dead in the tomb. In the Apostles Creed we pray "He descended into hades," (translation of hades means he temporary abode of the dead—not the eternal lake of fire) which describes what Jesus did this day. He descended to save the righteous souls that had passed but were waiting for the Messiah. Jesus preached the gospel message even to the dead, bringing "the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 634)
Many maintain some sort of fasting, to unit their suffering with those who witnessed Jesus's death and laid him in the tomb. As they waited with sorrowful, but eager longing to see what would happen may we too sit and wait.
A beautiful piece to reflect on this day is this ancient homily on Holy Saturday, "The Lord's Descent into Hell"
The Mother of all Vigils
How can one begin to describe what the Easter Vigil is? If you have never been, this is your cue.
Beginning at nightfall (7:30PM), the Vigil is opened by a 'blazing fire' and a large paschal candle to represent the truth that Christ is the light of the world. The Church is dimly lit by all the individual candles as the procession in begins. Then we read seven Old Testament readings with psalms in between conveying the entirety of Salvation History concluding in an epistle and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The very length of the Vigil reminds us that God works slowly.
And of course, on this night, we have many who enter into the Church through baptism and come into full communion by receiving the sacrament of Confirmation. A night that tells the history of our salvation and yet still points to the movement of the Spirit that is ever working in our midst to expand the Kingdom.
And slowly as the Liturgy carries on, more and more is added back. The Gloria is recited again for the first time in 40 days, the light starts to grow, Holy Water is sprinkled amongst the pews, incense is continually rising. And gloriously above all, the Easter Vigil reminds us of the Triumph Christ has over all darkness, all sin and that he has gloriously risen from the dead and raised us to new life.