The Goal of Lent: The Great Week

Lent is a season moving towards a goal. The Way of the Cross gave us some sense of this movement and what it is about. But once we enter Holy Week the pace of our journey increases. With Palm Sunday, we are draw into the relentless progress of the saving acts of God: the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Many Catholics miss out on most of the Holy Week ceremonies. Some studiously avoid them ("They're too long!"). Large numbers gather on Good Friday, but fewer celebrate Holy Thursday or the Easter Vigil. Only taking part in the Good Friday liturgy is like arriving in the middle of a film. Good Friday only makes sense in terms of what precedes and follows it.

A Week of Processions

One way to understand the ceremonies is to focus on processions. No need to travel to Seville or Malta to experience Holy Week processions. We find them within the ceremonies celebrated in any church or cathedral.

The liturgical procession of Holy Week are:

the triumphant entrance of Christ the King on Palm Sunday the procession of the Holy Oils at the end of the Mass of the Chrism the eucharistic procession to the place of reservation on Holy Thursday bringing the cross into the church and going to venerate it on Good Friday bringing the Eucharist from the place of reservation on Good Friday following the Easter Candle into the church before the Easter Vigil the processions of candidates for baptism during that great Vigil.

These are not pageants to be watched, like a Moomba parade. Members of the community, not only clergy and servers, should be involved in at least four of them - on Palm Sunday, on Holy Thursday, coming to the cross on Good Friday and entering the church at the Easter Vigil.

The Triumph of the King

The liturgy of Palm Sunday (or "Passion Sunday"), begins with the procession of Christ the King. This is obviously a re-enactment of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. But his royal progress has a harsh undertone. The King enters his holy city, but he is coming here to die.

That explains the sharp change of mood once Mass has begun. No sooner are the "palms" and "hosannas" set aside than we are listening to the long reading of the Passion. Good Friday, as it were, leaps forward and the account of Christ's sufferings sets the tone of the whole week.

The Night of the Eucharist

On Holy Thursday we sense that we have "arrived". Lent is behind us and the three days of drama known as the Triduum have begun. After the washing of feet and the Mass of the Lord's Supper, we leave the "upper room" of priestly service and sacrifice and we journey with Jesus and his apostles up to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is re-enacted in the eucharistic procession to the place of reservation, a chapel adorned with candles, lamps and flowers.

This place is not meant to symbolize Christ's tomb. There was a late medieval custom of reserving the Eucharist for three days in a stone representation of the tomb and Easter sepulchres may still be found in old churches in England. But the place of reservation really represents the garden of Gethsemane. Here we "watch" with Jesus in his agony. This is why adoration of the Eucharist takes a "solemn" form until midnight, retracing the hours of Christ's agony in the garden, and may continue in a simpler way until the Good Friday ceremonies, during the time of his arrest and trial.

The Night of the Cross

Good Friday attracts the crowds. One reason is that this is a time when anyone can come forward in procession to kiss the feet of the crucified Christ. But first his cross has to be borne into the church and unveiled or presented to the faithful. Some of the greatest music of the church (for the Reproaches and the Miserere) has been composed to accompany these actions of bringing in the cross and drawing people forward to venerate it.

Another procession occurs in the last moments of the Good Friday liturgy. All stand as the Eucharist is brought from the place of reservation. The Mass of the Lord's Supper is extended into this day, because these hosts were consecrated at that celebration. Now we come forward to receive the eucharistic Lord on the day of his Sacrifice.

From Darkness to Light

The most dramatic of all the Holy Week processions leads us into the Easter Vigil. Whether it is an Australian Autumn or a European Spring, we move with a sense of anticipation from a chilly Saturday evening into quite a different atmosphere. Led by the Easter Candle, we move from darkness to light.

The Easter Candle is a symbol derived from the archetype of light and darkness running through Saint John's Gospel. Jesus is "the light shining in the darkness", "the light of the world". Once his great Candle of Resurrection enters the church, we reach out and kindle our candles from it. Now we are the baptized "children of light". His risen life enters our lives.

Gradually the light spreads throughout the church, fragrant with incense and the scent of fresh flowers. We are drawn into his great Mystery by sight, smell, touch, movement, the bodily actions of Catholic worship. He who rose in our body now embraces us with the light and warmth of his Resurrection.
This greatest procession of Holy Week not only looks back to the past. It leads us into the future, our future. It points to our day of resurrection, when we will pass from this "shadow land" into eternal light.