The Great Week
Holy Week often called the ‘Great Week’ because it was when the Church celebrated, in a solemn way the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. In this ‘Great Week’, the most important week in the Church’s year, we are invited to journey with Jesus through his passion to his death and subsequent resurrection.
Passover
For Christians, the Jewish feast of Passover, celebrating the Jews’ liberation from Egypt in a ritual meal centred on the lamb, has been transformed into the celebration of Christ, the Lamb of God, who offered himself, dying and being raised to life, to liberate us from sin, from the frustration of incompleteness, of ‘non-being’, leading us not to a geographical Promised Land, but to the spiritual Promised Land of eternity.
In many other languages, the word for the festival we call ‘Easter’ comes from the word for ‘Passover’ (or in Slavic languages ‘Great Night’, referring to the climax of the Passover event). Unfortunately our word ‘Easter’ comes from Anglo-Saxon ‘eostre’, the name of a pagan goddess, which doesn’t help at all, and gives no idea of ‘passing over’.
We now come to those days which contain the heart of the ‘Paschal Mystery’. At the heart of the ‘Mystery’ is the three-day period known as the Holy Triduum. This forms one religious action separated into three days.
Holy Thursday
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper, when Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, a Passover with a difference: this was to be his last until the eternal banquet. At supper he not only gave them an example of service (washing of feet), he taught them the new commandment of his love and he gave them Bread and Wine, his Body and Blood: “Do this in memory of me”. Then, after Judas left to betray him – night fell – and Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. We are invited to ‘watch’ with Jesus into the night.
Good Friday
After his arrest, trial and sentence we continue this service on Good Friday at 3pm with Jesus being led up to Calvary to be crucified and die. Christ freely surrenders himself to death in his love for the world.
Holy Saturday
Christ lies in the tomb but is raised by the Holy Spirit from his Father. Death cannot defeat the totality of his loving obedience.
Easter Vigil
The crux of the whole Christian year, the Vigil brings Christ’s renewal home to us through the elements: light and water. This is the fulfilment of all the prophecies. After burial and on the ‘first day of the week’ the tomb is empty. Jesus has risen. New life has broken the bonds of sin and death.
On the Tuesday of Holy Week, the Bishop with clergy of the diocese celebrates the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral, renewing promises and blessing the oils (for catechumens, of Chrism for baptism and confirmation, for the sick). These oils are received into our church at Mass on Wednesday, for use until the following Easter. The Sacraments are only celebrated in an emergency on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, so please note confession times.