Celebrate Holy Week
Holy Week is a sacred time of year in the Catholic church. During the last week of Lent that leads up to Easter, we remember the final days of Jesus’s time on Earth, and we take time to prepare our hearts, souls, and minds for His death and resurrection. The week consists of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday (or Maundy Thursday), Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Find out the importance that each day plays in Holy Week!
Palm Sunday
We begin Holy Week on Palm Sunday by celebrating Jesus’s triumphant arrival into Jerusalem. He was welcomed by crowds who worshipped Him, and as He rode through town, people lay down palm fronds for his donkey to ride through town on.
How we celebrate:
Palm branches are blessed and distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church. Afterward, palms are incinerated to create the ashes that will be used for Ash Wednesday the following year.
Holy Thursday
This day commemorates the Last Supper, which was the final meal Jesus ate before His betrayal. After the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives, where He was betrayed by Judas.
How we celebrate:
On the morning of Holy Thursday (or sometimes on another day near Easter), there is a Holy Chrism Mass where each diocese’s bishop blesses all of the oils for the upcoming year. There’s also a special evening mass where clergy strip and wash the altar, and some Catholics may be chosen to have their feet washed by a priest, which symbolizes Jesus doing the same for His disciples. In addition, because the Last Supper is traditionally believed to have been a Seder meal, some parishes or families host a Seder meal during Holy Week or on Holy Thursday before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
Good Friday
On this day, we remember the day that Jesus was arrested, crucified, and died.
How we celebrate:
The Eucharist is not celebrated; the altar is stripped bare; the focus is only on the cross. There is no Mass on this day, but there is a service called "Mass of the Pre-Sanctified" because the Communion bread was consecrated on Holy Thursday. The Passion is read aloud, and people visit the Stations of the Cross.
Holy Saturday
This day celebrates the vigil that Christ’s followers held for Him outside of His tomb. On Holy Saturday, Jesus went down into Hell in order to bring back up with Him into heaven those who had died before His coming. Until Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, the gates to heaven were closed, but because of His death on the cross, He gave us eternal salvation, and heaven was reopened.
How we celebrate:
After sundown, the church holds an Easter vigil, which St. Augustine called the “mother of all holy vigils.” Many sacraments are performed, and those who have spent months in preparation will be received into the Catholic Church for the first time through baptism and Confirmation.
Easter Sunday
Jesus was dead and remained buried for three days. On Easter Sunday, He rose back to life.
How we celebrate:
After 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, Easter Sunday is a day of celebration. We rejoice in Jesus’s victory over death, and we thank Him for sacrificing Himself so that we can live in Heaven forever.
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