Letter from the Pastor
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March 24, 2024We congratulate our parishioner Neil Cosgrove who was the Grand Marshall of our town’s 60th St. Patrick’s Day Parade last week. I also would like to thank our School Family and Parishioners who marched with us. A great time was had by all!
Welcome to the Week that changed the World. Today we receive blessed palms to place in our homes. Palms are a public display as a witness to our faith. Our Lord should also be welcomed to our houses, so we place the blessed palms somewhere in our houses, behind the crucifix, on statues, holy pictures or in the bible.
Because the palms are blessed, they are a sacramental, which "are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare [us] to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1667). Sacramentals should be treated with respect and never be thrown away. Palms may only be burned or buried.
After Mass family members can gather the palms and make a small palm cross to wear. There are a variety of ways to make the cross. Each person is given a palm cross to wear on their coats or clothing throughout Holy Week, to remind us to carry our cross patiently so we may share Christ's Easter glory. Another family tradition is to exchange palm branches when visiting family this day. Yet another tradition is to visit the family graves, and leave palms on the grave.
Holy Week Liturgies
Enter the liturgies of Holy Week. During the Triduum, or The Three Days, the Church gives us a singularly dramatic, intense and richly symbolic liturgy; it is considered one continuous liturgy, beginning with the sign of the cross on Holy Thursday, ending with the blessing and dismissal on Holy Saturday.
In anticipation of the Triduum, we pray Tenebræ on Wednesday evening, starting at 7:00 PM. Tenebræ (= darkness, or shadows) is a very ancient service of prayers, which takes place during the darkness of night; it is basically a wake service for the Lord. This extraordinarily beautiful service consists of three Psalms and the haunting chants from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. This is a very moving service, and I hope you are able to attend with your children at least once during the Triduum. We will also pray Tenebræ on Good Friday and Holy Saturday morning as well.
Lent ends as The Sacred Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday at 7:00 PM. At midnight, the Church will be locked and everything will be stripped bare for Good Friday.
The next day, at 10:00AM, we will have Tenebræ. The Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion begins at 3:00 PM. That night we will have the Choral Stations of the Cross at 7:00 PM: the 14 Stations of the Cross with short choral music by the Masters will be sung by our choir after certain Stations. Then the Church will be locked until Holy Saturday morning, when we will gather once again to chant the lamentations at 10:00 AM, and bless Easter Food. The church will remain empty until we gather outside by the bonfire to celebrate the Great Vigil of Easter beginning at 8:00 PM. We shall wait in the darkness for the light to shine once again on Easter.Easter Sunday we will have Mass at Sunrise at 6:30 AM, along with the regular schedule of Easter Masses: 7:30, 9:00, 10:30, 12 noon and we added the 1:00 PM.
We have been preparing during the 40 days of Lent. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of these days. As a parish, we need to be together for these days. It is important that we bring our young people and children to experience these great Catholic moments of prayer. None of these services will be extraordinarily long, so they are more than welcomed to be with us, we are family, and these days are our family days.
So, come, let us enter into the prayer of the High Holy Days of the Church. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Just don’t start this week and then disappear from us, experience the whole thing for it is the Great Week, the Holy Week.
See you in Church!
