Palm Sunday introduces us to Holy Week, in which we are called to retrace with Christ, day by day, the culminating moments of his passion and death, in order to reach his resurrection with renewed hearts. The Paschal mystery, of which Holy Week is the highest celebration, is not simply an important moment, it is the source of all the other celebrations of the liturgical year. Indeed, they all refer to the mystery of Easter, from which salvation for every person springs.
A Week Full of Meaning
Holy Week recounts the fullness and faithfulness of the Father’s love, who gives us his Son. In living his passion, Jesus does not merely look upon our poverty as people adrift without the Father’s love, but takes it upon himself to bring us back to the fullness of life through his death on the cross, the only way to the gift of the resurrection.
The great celebrations of Holy Week are:
• Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (cf. From Lent to Easter, code 8052, pp. 25-77).
• The Chrism Mass, celebrated on Holy Thursday morning (in the cathedral): “The bishop concelebrates with the priests and blesses the sacred chrism and the other oils; it is considered one of the principal manifestations of the fullness of the bishop’s priesthood and a sign of the close union of the priests with him” (From Lent to Easter, code 8052, p. 79).
The blessed oils will be used during the liturgical year for the celebration of the sacraments:
– the oil of catechumens for Baptism;
– the oil of the sick for the Anointing of the Sick;
– chrism (oil and fragrance) for Baptism, Confirmation and the sacrament of Holy Orders.
On Thursday evening, with the Mass of Coena Domini, the Easter Triduum begins.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus
From Ash Wednesday, the Word of the Lord, as if on a spiritual pilgrimage, has taken us by the hand and accompanied us so that we would be ready to welcome Holy Week.
In the coming days, the Word of God will intensify so that our eyes do not turn away from Jesus, but follow him step by step, learning from his actions of his love for us.
We must keep our eyes fixed on the face of Jesus, who accepts even death in order to save us. Only in this way can we meet his eyes, distressed by pain yet always full of mercy and affection, looking at us as they looked at Peter, who had also denied him, and feel deep in our hearts a feeling of sorrow together with tenderness.
Let us live the days of Holy Week in recollection, pausing to read the proposed Gospel passages, perhaps reading them before participating in the celebrations.
All the celebrations of Holy Week and then the Easter Triduum can be found in the book From Lent to Easter.
