Blessed Holy Week . . . Need One Say More?

It’s true! I Checked the 2018 Calendar!

Holy Thursday . . . Were You There?

On a Thursday, the day of the Passover, Jesus sent His Apostles, John and Peter to arrange a room for them to share for the Passover dinner. In the course of that meal, Jesus changed the apostles’ lives forever as they witnessed the first Mass ever celebrated on this earth. How amazing to ponder the fact that God sent down His Son to present the human race with this Gift. The priesthood was also instituted at that same meal. Jesus let it be known that Peter would have a very special role with the apostles and Jesus presented them with the command to love one another.

The beauty of that Last Supper soon changed to pain for the innocent Jesus who willingly came to earth to die for our sins. Jesus went with his apostles to the Mount of Olives to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not being totally aware of where the evening was going, the apostles fell asleep instead of praying with Christ.

Then events seemed to speed up as Judas showed up leading the people who had paid him to show them who this man, Jesus was. The silver paid him might even have been about his person as Judas leaned in towards Jesus and gave him a fraternal kiss, the sign setting Jesus apart as the one the people sought. Peter took the side of resistence and started off by slashing off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Jesus held Peter back from further demonstrations of violence, healed the servant’s ear and was taken away to stand before the high priests, Annas and Caiaphas. As we all know, the passage of events culminated in the Crucifixion of Jesus on the cross the next day.

Holy Thursday each year commemorates and reflects on Jesus’ last celebration of Passover on earth and the beginning of the new Church. Mass on this day usually begins in the evening. At the end of the Mass, a procession removes the Blessed Sacrament to a special altar for the night while the main altar is stripped of all the cloths, candles, and decorations. The usual hymn while this is being done is:

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord?
(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
1. Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Well, were you there when the stone was rolled away?Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?

No music accompanies the hymn making the soft voices of the choir seem more solemn. The church goes quiet and there is Adoration during the night, keeping watch.

Getting More Than Easter Eggs from Easter

It seems like we just received our Ash Wednesday ashes and we are now two days into Holy Week. It is interesting to think about what was going through the mind of Jesus as He knew the time had come and understood what He would be facing. Pre-knowledge like that would floor a regular man. It was only because He was God and man that he could survive the progression of the days up to Holy Thursday. I know I’ve had weeks of dread before a doctor appointment or dental work and cannot imagine coping with something of the magnitude of the crucifixion. Well, that’s because I’m certainly not God!

I also feel a little sad for the people who only see Easter and don’t participate in the journey to that day. There is something about Holy Thursday with the celebration of the Passover with the underlying tension, knowing how it will turn out within hours. Good Friday compounds the sorrow and the church does seem empty without the Blessed Sacrament in place. Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday bring back the joy but we can’t let ourselves forget our Lenten walk and take something good and improved in our lives from it.

It was interesting. . . the last time the Jehovah Witnesses were at my door, we talked about Easter. When I said that Easter tends to blot out the events that brings us to that day, the Jehovah Witnesses were floored that the Catholic Church even observed the Passion and Death of Christ. They were trying to invite me to a talk on it and couldn’t believe that we actually had church on all those days. Made me wonder about what their leaders tell their congregations about other churches and why they feel they have to lie about our beliefs to promote their own.

Holy Week Reflection

O God, from Whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession, grant us the effect of Thy clemency: that as our Lord Jesus Christ in His passion gave to each a different recompense according to his merits, so may He deliver us from our old sins and grant us the grace of His resurrection.

Roman Missal, Collect for Holy Thursday and Good Friday. (Gleasian, 5th to 7th century)

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday has arrived! It is an interesting day in the ending of the Lenten Season. It starts out with the Passover celebration, begins some important sacraments for our Church and ends in the tragedy that begins our life! A lot of endings, beginnings, and eternity all in one. It is a sobering feeling at the end of Holy Thursday Mass when the Blessed Sacrament is taken away as was Christ taken forcibly from the garden. You actually feel the void of an ’empty’ church, especially when we arrive for the Good Friday services the next day. I have to feel sorry for people who have never experienced the entirely of this week in the Church as it truly enhances the joy of Easter.

A pastor gave an interesting viewpoint on Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. I always wondered that greed could have a long-time follower and friend of Jesus do such an awful deed. Our pastor said that to him, yes, greed was the motivating reason behind Judas betraying our Lord but he thinks that, perhaps, Judas thought it wouldn’t actually be a problem. Why? Our pastor wondered if Judas wasn’t figuring on Jesus ‘disappearing’ as He had other times when he was being sought and would do so this time, too. It would leave Judas with the ‘free’ money and not hurt Jesus. Judas tried to out think God and, as we all know, this was the one instant that Jesus was prepared to be ‘found’. Maybe that is why the guilt of Judas was doubly great as his great desire for money caused this to happen to Jesus. Not Biblical, of course, but surely an interesting thought on the subject.

Makes me wonder how many times we have gone with the greed and turned our own backs on Jesus and shunned all that He suffered to save us.