An Invitation to Holy Week
- Fr. Danny
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
This Sunday begins Holy Week, the absolute high point of the Christian year. It is beautiful, mysterious, and really not to be missed.
It begins with the roller-coaster of Palm Sunday
This liturgy mirrors the ups and downs of Jesus' final week before his death. In the same service we'll praise God with the best words we've got ("Hosannah! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!") and we'll take our place among the crowd that condemned his murder on a Roman cross ("We have no king but Caesar! Crucify him!").
It continues with the beauty and solemnity of Maundy Thursday
On Maundy Thursday the Church remembers the last evening Jesus shared with his disciples in the upper room before his arrest and crucifixion (Jn. 13).
Maundy Thursday marks three key events in Jesus’ last week:
his washing of his disciples’ feet
his institution of the Lord’s Supper
his new commandment ("mandatum novum," the "new command," or the "Maundy") to love one another.
This begins the Triduum, the three-day period from sunset on Thursday to Easter.
It reaches its low-point on Good Friday
On Good Friday, the Church remembers the death of Jesus on the cross. This day is a mixture of somber remembrance—the scriptures describe the death of Jesus as a great evil (Acts 2:14-41; 7:51-53)—with the joyful knowledge that what was meant for evil, God meant for Good (c.f., Gen. 50:20): Resurrection is coming.
It explodes with joy on Easter
Beginning with the Vigil on Saturday, and continuing on into Sunday morning, we'll claim for ourselves the central fact of the Christian faith: the death has exhausted itself in its attempt to hold Jesus back from resurrection. It has no final power over him, and therefore it has no final power over us.
We'll start the vigil in the darkness of Holy Saturday, "kindle a new fire," and watch as light overtakes the dark. We'll reaffirm our faith, we'll baptize people, we'll eat and drink to the glory and goodness of God. We will keep the feast, now and forevermore.
Join us! You won't regret it.
