I keep on thinking about...

...how much these past 25 years of Holy Week have meant to me and my spiritual life as a priest.  Sure it started before ordination, but I never would have thought of being a priest when I was a child nor as a teenager.  It's the first time in ages I will be sitting in the pews for these coming days.  As of last night (when asked about it), I don't miss it all just yet.  It's different, yes.  But am I upset that I am not on the altar right now?  Nope.  Holy Week IS life-giving, but it's a lot of work whether you are by yourself at a parish or even like we have at St. Cletus with 3-4 priests normally.  There is simply a lot of build-up as you need to make the environment looking more dramatic for these days.  Palm Sunday is mostly red cloth with lots of palms and succulent plants around the sanctuary.  Some places have an extra cross somewhere in the decor as well.

The decor for Holy Thursday's Mass of the Lord's Supper (Last Supper) is drenched in white - vestments, altar cloths, and banners all with bread, wheat, grapes, and wine symbols smattered and sprinkled in here and there.  We also have chairs available for people to have their feet washed by the clergy.  That means lots of towels for drying, basins, and warm water (hopefully) need to be made ready before Mass begins so that there isn't a long delay.  The last few years have been more tricky.  People are VERY guarded about their feet.  Maybe they think they're ugly, but when I think about what the Apostles' feet might have been like in that desert climate, they were probably pretty gnarly.  The ritual washing was important to Jesus to carry out as they celebrated the Passover meal.  However, they were doing things basically at the last minute.  That's why Jesus only worried about the Apostles' feet.  The point?  It's not about being clean at that instance.  It was the ultimate act of hospitality.  It was an action done BY servants for guests.  Jesus WAS a guest in the person's home where they were, but they ate and celebrated the Passover separately from the host's family.  

This actually is a good point to mention that we need to remember that the meal consists of a roasted lamb.  Exodus tells the Israelites that if a family is too small for a whole lamb, they should join with another family as there were to be no leftovers.  In Jesus and the Apostles case, we know that Jesus IS the lamb.  I would think that the host family (having given his esteemed guests the "upper room") would have smeared their lambs blood over the doors as prescribed so that the angel of death would "pass over" those homes.  And YET, the angel of death would come within another 36 hours to claim THE firstborn of all Creation.

"From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon."(Mt. 27:45)  From noon until we went to church on Good Friday, silence was kept in my parents' house.  Looking back, I can see where it was a good practice, but I don't even know if something like that is taught in Catholic tradition any longer.  I wonder how many younger families might still practice that tradition, if any.  I know there are some younger families that will attend the commemoration of the Lord's Passion (in most churches, at 3pm to keep with scripture).  The color red is the primary color of the liturgy as it is the color of shed blood.  Most places try to also keep the sanctuary as bare as it can be as a minimum.  They altar doesn't have candles nor an altar cloth.  It's quite plain.

Those of us who are ordained have a special action we do on Good Friday at the beginning of the service.  We prostrate ourselves before the altar that is Christ.  We first did so on the day of our deacon ordination, then at our priesthood ordination.  It is the sign of our full submission to Christ and the mission of His Church.  Everyone else is kneeling at that time.  It's all in silence.  Powerful stuff.

The Easter Vigil (THE holiest night of the year) ushers in Easter.  It has the potential to be awfully long in time as it has lots of extra pieces.  It all starts outdoors if the weather permits with the lighting of a new fire to be blessed, which will be used to light a newly blessed paschal candle.  That candle is also Christ, for as the procession goes into the Church which ought to be completely dark, the proclamation "Light of Christ" is sung three times.  Another Easter proclamation is sung while the candle is being incensed (it's quite awesome).  Then after a short prayer, up to seven Old Testament Readings are proclaimed, each with its own psalm and proper prayer.  Mind you, the church is STILL as dark as possible at the time.  It remains such until AFTER the seventh psalm is sung, which is when the Gloria is sung.  Lights go on.  Candles are lit.  And the sweetest sounds of "Alleluia" are sung for the first time in 40+ days.

Experience these holy days like never before!