Over the years, I have written a fair bit about Holy Week. Bereft of public liturgies this year, one of the most helpful things we can do is contemplate what happens in those liturgies with longing, like the people Israel contemplating the Temple in their exile. Without the rushing around to get ready and managing kids in Mass and worrying about preparations for guests, this may even be a privileged time to absorb and think over what we have seen at all the liturgies of years past. So I’ve gathered links to my blog posts for each of the Holy Week liturgies:
For some historical background on Passiontide and Holy Week, drawn from various sources, see my blog post, The Key to Passiontide and Holy Week.
For the beginning of Holy Week, see my blog post, Palm Sunday: History, Mystery, Practice.
For Holy Thursday morning, see this reflection. For the afternoon, our family tradition is a Passover re-enactment and reflection. I describe how we do that here. For a lengthy reflection on the Last Supper mystery, see this article, which I published some time ago in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review. For more on the evening liturgy, see my blog post, Holy Thursday: History.
For the Good Friday liturgy, see my blog post, Good Friday: History, Mystery, Practice.
For a cool screensaver that follows Alphonsus Liguori’s “Passion Clock” through the Triduum, click here.
This post offers a quick thought on Holy Saturday, while this post presents an ancient and striking account of Christ’s descent into hell. For thoughts on Christ’s body during Holy Saturday, see God in the Tomb.
