Our Passion Week begins on Sunday when we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowds that acclaim him will soon be the ones baying for his blood. It is a moment of sombre self-reflection as
realise that we can sometimes be like that ourselves.
On Monday evening we will be having our Paschal Meal. This event draws a very clear line between the meal eaten by the Israelites on the eve of their freedom, to the meal which Jesus ate with his apostles, and to the
meal which the early Christian community continued to celebrate, and to our own sacramental celebration of the eucharist. A timely reminder that we continue a tradition which goes back 3500 years. Our celebration will
closer to the meal Jesus celebrated than the Passover meal celebrated by the Jewish people, as the Passover meal celebrated today was formulated only after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70.
On Thursday evening we have the Mass of the Last Supper, when we will wash the feet of the Elect of the parish, saying in symbolic language that the Church not only welcomes them but also serves them. There is no
blessing and dismissal at the end of mass, because the Triduum is on celebration of the passion, death and resurrection which only ends at the Saturday Vigil when we conclude with a closing prayer and dismissal.
On Friday morning we have the service of the seven last words of Jesus from the cross, a scriptural and musical alternative to the stations which many parishes put on. In the afternoon we gather to remember the
passion and death of Jesus, beginning and ending in silent sorrow. This is also the service at which we take a collection for the Church in the Holy Land, a suffering Church often hemmed into Palestinian enclaves.
On Saturday evening we have the mother of all vigils, when we start outside around the Easter fire, light the Easter candle, the symbol of Christ, and then sing the Exultet or Easter proclamation. As we are welcoming 8 new members into full communion with the Church, we will also sing the Litany of the Saints before we baptise and confirm our catechumens and candidates. It will be a joyful celebration not only for them, but for us as well, the welcoming community, the Body of Christ.
I look forward to these solemn and not so solemn celebrations with you, and I pray that this Passion Week will be a time of grace for you.
