Passion Sunday, April 2, marks another step in our journey towards Easter. The altar and sacred ministers have been clothed in purple since the preparatory pre-Lenten season and now, the crosses throughout the chapel and the parish hall will be veiled. On Palm Sunday, April 9, we begin Holy Week, the last week of preparation before the joyful celebration of Pascha.
The week-day low masses will conclude on Wednesday, April 5 (the service is at 7:30AM). Stations of the Cross, Litany of the Cross, and Bible study on the difficult passages in scripture will conclude on Friday, April 7. Palm Sunday will begin with the blessing and distribution of palms, procession (weather permitting) outside, and the singing of the Passion Gospel story of St. Matthew. On Monday and Tuesday, April 10 and 11, Mass will be offered at 7PM (Vespers at 6:30) with the singing of the Passion Gospels of St. Luke and St. Mark. On Wednesday, April 12, the Unction mass with the blessing of oils and anointing will be offered.
On Maundy Thursday, April 13, we will celebrate the institution of the Eucharist by our Lord and the service will include the ceremony of the Washing of Feet in remembrance of Christ’s washing of the Apostles’ feet. The Blessed Sacrament will be taken in procession to the Altar of Repose (and this area will be available for meditation and prayer), and the main altar will be stripped in remembrance of our Lord’s being stripped of His garments. The service of Tenebrae will be sung following a simple (and silent) meal.
The Good Friday service on April 14, beginning at 12 noon, will include the singing of the Passion Gospel of St. John, the veneration of the Cross (with the singing of the Reproaches), and the Mass of the Presanctified (the only time in the year that this mass is offered in the Western Rite).
Finally, on Saturday, April 15, we will celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection at the Vigil beginning at 9PM. (If you have not already made your confession, Fr. Nicholas and Fr. Raphael will be available for confessions from 8PM.) We begin this service outside as the Paschal fire is lit, the Paschal candle is blessed and carried into the church, we hear the story of our salvation recounted in holy Scripture, water is blessed, our Baptismal vows are renewed, and we sing the joyful chant “Alleluia!” again as we celebrate the first Mass of Easter. A Paschal feast will follow.
While the services of this week call to mind the historical events of Jesus’ last week on earth in His human form, they are not simply a “re-enactment” of these events. We believe that we are on God’s time and that these events are present now. As we hear in the Exultet at the Vigil: “This is the night, which through-out the whole world doth separate them that believe in Christ from the wickedness of the age”; “this is the night wherein, breaking the chains of death, Christ ascendeth from hell in triumph.”
On Easter morning, April 16, Mass will be at 11AM, with the singing of the Vidi Aquam (‘I beheld water…”) and the most ancient of our Sequence hymns, “Christians, to the Paschal Victim”.
Read the full April newsletter here.