Community Reflection
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.‘” (Mark 14:27-28)
Every year when Holy Week comes around, I feel as though I’m given a chance to restart and regroup. No matter how my Lent has been going, how many times I’ve missed Mass, ate meat on a Friday, or looked at Instagram when I swore I’d give it up, I am called back on what feels like the most profound week in the liturgical season. I remember going with my mom to each Holy Week service when I was discovering my faith as a high schooler and feeling more and more connected to the humanness and complexity of the readings. This year I am reading the readings from my couch but I am still seeing new connections. I have never experienced a beloved teacher or radical activist condemned and put to death, but I can feel the sorrow, the confusion, and utter heartbreak in the Passion. I can believe in the utter decisiveness of Peter’s “I will not deny you” and relate to the sheer panic and fear of his thrice denial of his friend. And I see how I, myself, can be found in the complex and ultimately fatal decision of Judas to take security, power, and material goods over the love and world-shaking message of Jesus.
Of course, while Holy Week is wrought with hardship and sadness, it remains my favorite week in our tradition. A time to come back and settle- if only for the week- into the emotions, the complexity, and ultimately the joy of our God and our community as we walk with Jesus, the disciples, and the entire community of Jerusalem. And of course, as our faith continually shows us year after year, as Lent in our lives and in our world draws to a close, we will always have the hope and expectant joy of Easter only a short time away.
–Jessica Vozella (Trinity YAM Member)
Suggestions for “Discovering Holy Week”
- Gather
- On the Road to the Cross – March 28th, 4-5pm, part of Holy Family’s “Let’s Lent Together” series
- Pick up a Holy Week Kit – at the Pastoral Center (starting Friday, March 26th), an in-person Palm Sunday Mass, or the Communion Procession that day
- Join us for the Easter Triduum (see schedule below) – “The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season, and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.” (USCCB’s “Easter Triduum”)
- Pray & Reflect
- Mary’s Way of the Cross – available anytime from 12pm-11:59pm on Good Friday, from Christus Ministries
- Holy Saturday: A Prayer of Rest – a talk, personal prayer, and small group time from Christus Ministries
- Body in Prayer Stations of the Cross, 2011 – from Holy Family
- Stations of the Cross, Msgr. Connolly, 2020 – from Holy Family
- The Sorrowful Mysteries – guided audio meditations on these mysteries of the Rosary from Pray-As-You-Go
- The Glorious Mysteries – guided audio meditations on these mysteries of the Rosary from Pray-As-You-Go
- The Resurrection: An Imaginative Contemplation Exercise – from Pray-As-You-Go
- Articles by Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI
- Watch
- Holy Week in 3 Minutes – from Busted Halo
- Prince of Egypt (1998) – animated retelling of the Exodus and Passover story (the roots of the Eucharist)
- Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973), (2000), (2018) – musical depiction of the last days of Jesus
- Godspell (1973), (2020 online concert) – musical adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew