Good Friday

Good Friday

Extract from General Decree restoring the liturgy of Holy Week:

“Let the faithful be led to understand properly today’s special liturgical act, in which the Passion of our Lord is solemnly chanted: prayers offered for the needs of the whole Church and the human race: the holy Cross, monument of our Redemption, is adored most devoutly by the clergy and faithful, the whole family of Christ: finally, as for hundreds of years, was the practice, all who wish and are duly prepared go forward to receive Communion with this as their chief intention, that by devoutly receiving the Body of the Lord (which He delivers this day for all men) they may enjoy richer fruits of that Redemption.  Let the priests urge the faithful to make this sacred day one of loving recollection, neither should they forget the law of abstinence and fasting.”

The instruction given by Pope Pius XII stipulates that Good Friday’s solemn liturgy take place after noon; the best time would be three o’clock, and on no account may it begin later than six o’clock.  The same Pope revives the old practice of all receiving Communion this day as a necessary part of the liturgical function.

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Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday

The Last Supper

Today, the disciples eagerly make last minute preparations for what they expect to be a joyous Passover meal.  Little do they know what will come to pass in only a matter of hours…

Extract from General Decree restoring the liturgy of Holy Week:

“Let the faithful be taught about the love with which Christ our Lord on the day before He suffered instituted the sacred and holy Eucharist, Sacrifice and Sacrament, the perpetual memorial of His Passion, to be offered day by day through the ministry of His priests.  Let the faithful be invited to render due adoration after the end of Mass to the most holy Sacrament.  Finally, wherever to illustrate the Lord’s commandment of brotherly love the Washing of the Feet is carried out according to the restored rubrics, let the faithful be taught the deep significance of this holy rite, and let them spend this day in works of Christian charity.”

The Mass today, which by order of Pope Pius XII should not begin before 5 p.m. or after 8 p.m., specially commemorates the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist at the Last Supper, and the Ordination of the Apostles, and is, therefore, a Mass of joy and thanksgiving.  Hence the Church lays aside for the moment the penitential violet, and assumes festive white vestments; the altar is decorated; the Gloria is said.  During the Gloria, the bells are rung, and from that time until the Easter Vigil they remain silent.

After the evening Mass the Alter is stripped in order to show that the holy Sacrifice is interrupted and will not be offered again until Holy Saturday is ending.

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Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

From the Roman Catholic Daily Missal, 1962:

The Second Sunday in Passiontide would be in any case a great and holy day as it commemorates the last triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth and opens Holy Week.  On this day, the Church celebrates the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem; when the multitude, going before and following after Him, cut off branches from the trees and strewed then in His way, shouting “Hosanna (glory and praise) to the Son of David.  Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”  It is in commemoration of this triumph that palms are blessed and borne in solemn procession.

In fact, this Palm Sunday triumph of our Lord only led to His death.  But we know that this death was not a failure.  It was through His Passion and Death that He conquered the world and entered into His Kingdom.  “I, if I be lifted up…will draw all things to Myself” (Jn. 12:32).  So the Church asks the faithful to join in the triumphal Procession today as an act of homage and gratitude to Christ our King.  This triumphal beginning to Holy Week is full of meaning.  Although the violet Mass vestments and the Gospel of the Passion remind us that the Cross lies ahead, we already know that this is the means of victory.  So the Chuch asks us to begin Holy Week by joyfully and publically acknowledging Christ the King.

The principle ceremonies of the day are the Blessing of the Palms, the Procession, and the Mass, with the reading of the Passion.  The Blessing of the Palms used to follow a ritual similar to that of the Mass — having an Epistle, a Gospel, a Preface and a Sanctus.  The Epistle referred to the murmuring of the Israelites in the desert, and their sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt.  The Gospel was the same as now, describing the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  The prayers which followed the Sanctus asked God to “bless the branches of palm…so that whoever receives them may find protection of soul and body…that into whatever place they shall be brought, those there may obtain His blessing; that the devout faithful may understand the mystical meaning of the ceremony, that is, that the palms represent triumph over the prince of death…and therefore the use of them declares both the greatness of the victory and the richness of God’s mercy.”

Here we clearly have the remains of the early usage of having two Masses on this day: one for the Blessing of Palms, the other after the Procession.  The prayers of the Blessing, the Antiphons sung during the Procession and the Hymn Gloria laus make this one of the most impressive ceremonies of the liturgical year.

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Saints of the Week — March 30 to April 3

St. John Climacus

Sunday, March 28 – Palm Sunday (Traditional/New)

St. John of Capistrano (1456), Priest, Patron of Jurists (Traditional)

St. Guntramnus (Gontran) (592), King, Patron of Repentant Murderers & the Divorced (Historical)

February – Month of the Holy Eucharist

Monday, March 29 – Monday in Holy Week

St. Gundleus (Woolo) (5ht Century), Welsh Prince, later a hermit, husband of St. Gladys & father of St. Cadoc (Historical)

Tuesday, March 30 –Tuesday in Holy Week

St. John Climacus (605), Abbot (Traditional)

St. Quirinus of Neuss (117), Martyr (Historical)

Wednesday, March 31 – Wednesday of Holy Week, Spy Wednesday (Historical)

St. Benjamin (421), Deacon, Martyr (Historical)

Bl. Jane of Toulouse (1286), Founder of Carmelite Third Order (Historical)

Thursday, April 1 – Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) – Institution of the Holy Eucharist

St. Hugh (1132), Bishop of Grenoble (Historical)

St. Venantius Fortunatue (605), Bishop (Historical)

Friday, April 2 – Good Friday – Day of Fast and Abstinence

St. Francis of Paola (1507), Religious, Hermit, Founder of the Minim Friars (Traditional, New)

Saturday, April 3 – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil

St. Richard (1253), Bishop of Chichester (Historical)

St. Irene of Thessalonica (304), Virgin, Martyr (Historical)

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Holy Week

Holy Week

Extract from the General Decree of November 16, 1955, which restored the Liturgy of the Holy Week:

Of all the weeks in the Church’s year, Holy Week is truly singular for the fullness, majesty and devotion of the ceremonies.  From apostolic times special care had been taken to celebrate the central mysteries of our Redemption, and in the course of time three days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — came to be set apart from the liturgical memory of Christ crucified, Christ buried, Christ risen.  A little later was added a fourth day, of solemn ritual remembrance of the institution of the most Holy Eucharist.  A further addition was made on the previous Sunday, to celebrate the triumphant entry into His holy city of Christ our Lord, Messias and King.

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