Holy Week and Easter: some notes.

5th Sunday of Lent

Holy Week and Easter: some notes.

Palm Sunday: We commemorate Our Lord’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem just days before His betrayal and death. The 10:30am Mass begins in the back yard of the presbytery. Take the blessed palms home. They may be placed in a prominent position as a reminder of the feast and its message.
Tuesday Second Rite of Reconciliation: The Second Rite highlights the communal effect of sin. In addition to the Salesian priests, there will also be some Dominican confessors. Whether you attend the Second Rite or not, resolve to use this wonderful sacrament before Easter.
 Wednesday Chrism Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Feel free to attend. Bishop Vincent will bless the holy oils used in the administration of the sacraments during the coming year.  

Holy (Maundy) Thursday: We commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the ministerial priesthood, and Our Lord’s command to love one another, liturgically expressed in the ‘mandatum’, the washing of the feet. In his 2016 liturgical decree on this matter, Pope Francis expressed the desire that those participating in this ceremony be representative of the entire community, (rather than just viri, men) "to express the full meaning of the gesture performed by Jesus at the Last Supper, his gift of himself ‘to the end’ for the salvation of the world, his boundless charity."

Good Friday: Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence, according to ancient tradition. The Liturgy of the Hours (Morning Prayer and Office of Readings) will be recited in the church at 9am. There will be a Passion play in the MacKillop Centre at 11am; and the main liturgical action, the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, will be at 3pm. On this day there is no Mass throughout the Universal Church, but there is holy communion.

Holy Saturday: The Liturgy of the Hours (Morning Prayer and Office of Readings) will be recited in the church at 9am. The Easter Vigil begins in the back yard of the presbytery at 8pm with the Easter fire. We process into the dark church with lighted candles, lit from the Paschal candle, symbolising Christ, the Light of the world.

Easter Sunday: Please note that there is no 5:30pm evening Mass on Easter Sunday.

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This prayer before a crucifix reminds us of our role in the crucifixion.

My Divine Saviour, what didst Thou become, when for love of souls Thou didst suffer Thyself to be bound to the pillar? Ah! how truly then was fulfilled the word of the Prophet, saying of Thee that from head to foot Thou shouldst be all one wound, so as to be no longer recognizable! What shame Thou didst endure when they stripped Thee of Thy garments! What torments Thou didst undergo in that tempest of countless blows! In what torrents did Thy Most Precious Blood gush forth from Thy bursting veins!

I know well it was not so much the injustice of the Roman governor and the cruelty of the soldiers that scourged Thee as my sins. O accursed sins, that have cost Thee so many pains! Alas, what hardness of heart, when notwithstanding Thy manifold sufferings for me I have continued to offend Thee! But from this day forth it shall be so no longer. United to Thee by bonds of loyalty for ever, as long as I shall live, I shall seek to satisfy Thine offended justice. By the pains Thou didst suffer when bound to the pillar, by the scourges which tore Thine innocent Flesh, by the Blood which Thou didst shed in such abundance, have mercy on this unhappy soul of mine; deliver me today and always from the snares of the tempter; and when I have come to the end of my exile, bring me safely home to Heaven with Thee.
 

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