April 13 –20 Holy Week

Towards the end of the holidays, we enter the most significant time of the Liturgical year, Holy Week. In preparation for this significant time, I share a reflection written recently by Fr Andrew Hamilton, SJ.

The week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is the richest and busiest time of the Church year. It took many centuries to take its present form. In the very early Church each Sunday was seen as a celebration of Jesus’ rising. Later Christians wanted a special feast to mark Jesus’ death for us and accompanied it by a long fast. For many centuries the Eucharist was celebrated only on Sundays, while people also gathered to pray on other days of the week.

Holy Week as we knew it developed after Christians were free to practice their faith openly. In Jerusalem they could follow the path of Jesus in his last week, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem through his Last Supper with his disciples, and concluding with his crucifixion and resurrection. For Christians it was a week full of processions through the city. It began on Palm Sunday when the weekly Sunday Mass was preceded by a procession from the Mount of Olives during which people sang as they walked with palms into the Church. They gathered again in the church for prayers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon, in memory of the Last Supper, they celebrated the Eucharist at which public penitents were reconciled with the Church. The Eucharist was followed by a procession to the Mount of Olives and an all-night vigil focused on Jesus’ agony there. Friday was devoted to a service to venerate the Cross, which had recently been discovered by St Helena. An afternoon service to recall Christ’s Passion was also held, followed by another vigil.

Saturday, during which people also gathered for prayer, concluded in an all-night Vigil in Jerusalem celebrating the rising of Christ. It culminated in the Easter Eucharist at which new Christians were baptised.

You can see from this description that for devout Christians Holy Week in Jerusalem was strenuous, sleepless and largely foodless. Their observance of Holy Week soon spread through the whole Church. The absence of a Eucharist on Good Friday was not an innovation. It reflected the normal practice of celebrating it only on Sundays. The celebration of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, and much later on the other days of the week, marked a change in Church practice influenced largely by monastic life.

The history of Holy Week shows that during it Christians have always gathered to pray, to reflect and to act out the heart of our faith. This is Jesus’ death and rising. It invites us to enter imaginatively and through our actions as well as our thoughts the story of Jesus’ last days. Holy Week draws us beyond thinking about our faith from outside to feel with Christ as he endures his Passion, to be humbled when we see him wash our feet and feed us in the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, to stay with him as he hangs on the Cross on Good Friday, and to share his joy and life as he rises from darkness to light on Easter Sunday. Holy Week is a time for praying with our legs, eyes and heart as well as with minds and words. It is heart time.

The parishes of St Thomas, Drysdale, and Holy Trinity Queenscliff warmly welcome parishioners and friends to their Easter services. For families who live outside of the Bellarine or who may be travelling over the Easter weekend, please check local parish websites for services.