Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, the start of Passion Week. Jesus rides into Jerusalem to the praise and adoration of the crowds, who laid palm branches on the road before Him as He passed by, singing Hosanna in the highest! Four days later He would be arrested and five days later, put to death on in a Roman crucifixion.

This is the holiest week of the liturgical year as we end the week, actually begin the next week with Easter Sunday, our redemption is made complete in the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior!

 

The Passion really begins with Holy Thursday with the "Lord's Supper," which is the first celebration of the Catholic Eucharist. Even before He dies upon the Cross, He is offering Himself in the Eucharist - "This IS My body..." and "This IS My blood..." He declares precisely - no symbolism, "IS" is not symbolic language. The same holds true for John 6, where He declares/commands that we MUST eat His flesh or we have "no life" in us - and not just once, but REPEATEDLY in just a few verses! Then when even many of His disciples said this was a hard saying - and left Him - He did not back down! He challenged The Twelve, "will you also leave?" To which Peter said, "To whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

The Passion continues on Holy Thursday when Jesus goes to pray in the Garden of Gethsemene - the Agony in the Garden. It is here where Judas completes his betrayal and hands Jesus over to the guards who arrested Him.

The Passion continues into Friday (Good Friday) morning, where Jesus faces Caiaphas and Pilate, is cruelly scourged and then handed over to the Roman guard to carry His Cross to Calvary, where He is crucified and died.

The culmination of Holy Week ends with the Easter Vigil, the First Mass of Easter (traditionally the Vigil starts around 10pm on Holy Saturday, then at midnight the purple veils are removed from the holy artwork and statues as Mass begins - and we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus!

Have a blessed Holy Week!

 

Fifth Sunday of Lent

 

Fifth Sunday of Lent

The Fifth Sunday of Lent is also called Passion Sunday or Judica Sunday, from the first word in the Introit – which in English is "Judge me…" (again, from the Extraordinary Rite of the Mass).

The Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15

This passage speaks of the Old Testament Law and sacrifice and how those sacrifices did bring on the cleansing of the flesh. However imperfectly, the Sacrifice of Christ brings this cleansing perfectly. It is through our participation in the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass that we cooperate with His Grace and receive His Body and Blood under the appearance of bread and wine.

The Gospel: John 8:46-59

Jesus reveals Himself to the Jews (especially in the verses which immediately proceed this Gospel), and He tells them that they do not hear Him because they do not belong to God (v. 47). They do not hear Him and look to kill Him – because they are not of God. Jesus reaffirms that their father, Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing Him – and he (Abraham) saw that day and was glad (v. 56). Jesus closes with, "Verily I say to you before Abraham was born, I Am!" (v. 58). The Jews then began to pick up stones to kill Him, but He hid Himself and slipped away (v. 59).

Passion Sunday is also the start of Passiontide, the last 2 weeks before Easter - many churches and homes cover all crucifixes and other religious art with purple veils.

Scripture of the Week

 From my professor:

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." -Deuteronomy 31:6

These are the words of Moses to Israel as he was passing his authority on to Joshua to lead them across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. Those whom they should not fear are the current occupants of the land. A similar story to what we have in the Gospel on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, as the Jews – the current occupants of the Holy Land were not following God, if they had been, they would have seen that the Messiah had indeed come – and instead of accepting and following Him, they looked to kill Him.

Passion Sunday - Purple Veils

Today is Passion Sunday (in the Extraordinary Rite) - only two weeks remain of Lent. So why do we veil images and statues starting on Passion Sunday? You can find a few explanations, but the one I like is that Jesus hid Himself from the Jews who sought to stone Him, and left the Temple. This is the beginning of Passiontide - a season (sadly) no longer observed in the Ordinary Rite, but in the Extraordinary Rite, it still is. Pictures of Jesus, the Saints, etc. are hidden from us for these last two weeks which increases in us the hunger for Christ and holiness. The veils are a reminder of the fact that Jesus had to hide Himself and so His image is hidden from us too and remain hidden until during the Gloria, which has also been omitted during Lent, of the First Mass of Easter. During the Gloria, the veils are removed the bells ring (which were silenced after Holy Thursday) and we again can look upon Him and His holiness, as also revealed through the Saints (which again, were also veiled for Passiontide).

This excellent tradition of veiling holy items is not just for the Church, but also in the homes of the laity. What a wonderful visual and lesson for our children! If you have not participated in this before, I urge you to do so - now! If you do not have purple cloths, plan to get some - but go ahead and cover with whatever you do have now, change it to purple when you have it. When your children ask about it, you can share the reasoning. As the two weeks progress, they too may begin to miss seeing these images and statues and given another reason to be joyful on Easter Sunday - another reminder that He IS risen!

In the Ordinary Rite, Passion Sunday was moved to and combined with Palm Sunday, liturgically speaking. Again I urge you to keep the tradition of Passion Sunday (there is no rule against doing so!) and not detract from Palm Sunday - when Jesus was honored upon His entrance to Jerusalem which ultimately begins Holy Week, the holiest week in the liturgical year.

Why The Purple Shrouds of Passiontide?

"In some places images and statues are actually removed from the church and not simply veiled, especially after Holy Thursday.

Crosses are unveiled after the Good Friday ceremonies. All other images are unveiled shortly before the Mass of the Easter Vigil.

Neither the Stations of the Cross nor stained glass windows are ever veiled." (1)

"It reminds us that Jesus hid his glory during his Passion, so too we hide away our religious items in order to prepare ourselves to focus on and honor his Passion." (2)

Passiontide begins on the Fifth Sunday of Lent and lasts through the remainder of the Lenten season.  It is traditionally called Passiontide because on Passion Sunday (under the new lectionary, "The Fifth Sunday of Lent") the reading of the Passion of Christ is read during at least one of the Masses on this Sunday.

So Why Do We Cover Statues and Images?
During this period our focus is drawn to the Passion of the Christ.  Thoughts and meditations on other saints are put aside for these two weeks.

"As with any liturgical practice, there is never a single reason why something is done. Liturgical signs are meaningful as liturgical signs because they draw forms from the best of nature and culture(s) combined with divine inspiration (if not outright institution) and religious Tradition. Christian symbolism is better considered as a system of signs each with a synthesis of overlapping meanings based on the growth of religious practice...  One shift of focus of this season is an emphasis on Christ's humanity: the sacrifice inherent in the Incarnation and the sacrifice that is the Passion. Of course the constant totality of the liturgical celebration never allows us to lose sight of Christ's divinity, without which the Incarnation would not be a sacrifice and the Passion would lose its efficacy. So veiling images of Christ's glorified body, Christ victorious, and Christ risen, along with images of those who are now in his presence, helps enact that shift." (3)

During the Easter Vigil, as the statues, etc. are unveiled, not only is it a time of joy in the Resurrection, but all the splendor and glory is returned to the sanctuary too.

In some jurisdictions the veiling of images and statues does not happen until Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday).  As quoted above, the images and crosses of the Stations of the Cross are not veiled, nor are stained glass windows.  Then, on Good Friday, attention turns to the Crucifixion, and images of the Crucifix are uncovered.  All images and statues are unveiled just before the Mass of the Easter Vigil begins (about half-way through the Easter Vigil).



Sources:

(1) https://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur72.htm

(2) https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/a-lenten-tradition-veiling-the-cross/

(3) https://www.locusiste.org/blog/2015/03/veiling-images-in-lent