Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for April 13, 2003
Year B - Cycle I
Palm Sunday
By Fr. John Carney
Topic:  Keep Holy Week Holy
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Gospel Reading: 
Mark 14:1 - 15:47

“…As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council.  They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.  Pilate questioned him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’  He said to him in reply, ‘You say so.’  The chief priests accused him of many things.  Again Pilate questioned him, ‘Have you no answer?   See how many things they accuse you of.’  Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed…”  

 

Well, that Gospel obviously speaks for itself.  But I do want to talk to you briefly this morning about Holy Week, which has begun today.  Lent will end on Thursday, at sundown.  And then the Sacred Triduum begins.  The word Triduum is Latin, meaning “three days.”  And so, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday – three days.  But you count from sundown on Holy Thursday to sundown on Easter Sunday, that’s seventy-two hours, and that of course is the Sacred Triduum.  It’s called Holy Week.  There are fifty-two weeks in the year, but only one is referred to as Holy Week.  And somehow, over the centuries, we have given more attention to Christmas than we have to Holy Week.  Christmas is part of the Paschal Mystery, obviously, and a very important time for us.  But it is pale in comparison to this week, this Holy Week.  We even have Spring Break, which (I think) came from this week.  Look what happened to it!  Holy Week…I just encourage you to really make this week holy.
 
I am reminded of the Gospel we just heard, where Jesus goes into the garden of Gethsemane.  He is afraid.  And he asks the Lord to let this cup pass from him, but “not my will, but your will…”.  And he asks his disciples, “Can you pray one hour with me?  Can you stay with me in this difficult time?”  And they fell asleep.  I think that’s an analogy for this week.  He asks us today, “Can you pray with me this week?  Can you walk with me this week, throughout the events of my passion, my death and my resurrection?”  It’s the same question he asked them,  except we have a chance this time not to fall asleep.
 
On Holy Thursday we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  That’s the celebration of the beginning of the Sacrament of Ordination, and of the Holy Eucharist.  The Mass will be at 7 o’clock this year, here, and the Gospel is from John, and it’s not about bread and wine.  We hear that in the second reading from Paul.  The Gospel is the washing of the feet, where we become Eucharist for one another in service to each other.  And then at the end of that Mass, the church is stripped, and we process with the Blessed Sacrament.  It is processed to the chapel where it’s available for adoration until midnight.  And then at midnight the Blessed Sacrament is taken from the church, it is taken elsewhere for repose during this sacred time.
 
On Holy Friday we have the Passion of the Lord celebration beginning at 3 p.m.  We used to do Tenebrae, but the church has asked us, and all the churches at 3 p.m., to do the Passion of the Lord.  This is the hour of his death.  And we will venerate the cross, and you will have an opportunity to place a nail in the cross after venerating the cross.  We will hear from the scriptures, and once again we will read this Passion (a slightly different version, from St. John), and then you can receive Holy Communion. 
 
On Holy Saturday (by the way, we are asked to keep a fast to the maximum extent possible throughout Good Friday and through Holy Saturday), at 8:30 p.m. we will have the Easter Vigil Mass.  We are not allowed to begin earlier than that – it has to be at dark.  Jesus did not rise at sunrise.  Jesus rose sometime during the night, for the tomb was empty on Easter morning.  And so we celebrate this beautiful Mass at the Easter Vigil.  It’s about two-and-a-half hours.  And that’s not with Fr. Celsus!  It’s a wonderful Mass.  How many of you have attended the Easter Vigil?  I’m sure you’ll agree, it is quite an experience.  The Easter Vigil liturgy is taken from a book written by St. Hipollitus, called “The Apostolic Tradition.”  He wrote that book in the year 2K.  We are an awful old Church.  In the Easter Vigil, we will baptize and welcome new Catholics, we will welcome those into our Church to be in full communion with us.  And we are looking forward to next Saturday very much. 
 
And then, of course, we have our Masses on Easter Sunday. The simple message today is, make a commitment this week to keep it holy.  And I know some of you work on Friday, but many don’t.  And I can think of no better place to be than right here, on Holy Thursday, on Good Friday, on Holy Saturday, and on Easter Sunday.

God bless you.