Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday falls one week before Easter. On this day we commemorate the triumphant entry of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The people welcomed Him and acclaimed Him. But we also recall that soon afterward His great suffering began — He was arrested and crucified.

The Sunday liturgy has a special beginning: we gather outside the church, where we hear the Gospel reading of Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, and the priest blesses the spring branches — pussy willows or palm fronds. Why branches? Because the people waved palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem. Inside the church we then read the Passion — the account of Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion.

Palm Sunday is the sixth and also the last Sunday of Lent. With Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, the final week immediately before Easter, during which we most intensely remember all that took place before the Resurrection of Jesus. Some days of this week have their own special names — Spy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.

Spy Wednesday

This is the Wednesday of Holy Week. It is called Spy Wednesday because Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve Apostles, committed a treacherous act — he betrayed his Master, Jesus Christ, for money. The Jewish chief priests paid him thirty pieces of silver. That was the price for which slaves were sold at market in those days. One silver coin equaled two denarii. A laborer earned one denarius for a day’s work. It was as much money as a laborer would earn in sixty days of work. After the arrest and condemnation of Our Lord Jesus to death, Judas eventually came to regret his deed. On Friday he returned the money to the chief priests, but he despaired and went and hanged himself.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday is the first day of the Sacred Paschal Triduum (from the Latin triduum). It begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, continues through Good Friday, and reaches its summit at the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord. It is the celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ — His suffering and Resurrection.

On this day the Jews celebrated the Passover meal in memory of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. On that night the Angel of Death passed through the land and struck down every firstborn male in Egypt, from man to beast. Only the Israelites were spared — those who had marked the doorposts of their houses with the blood of the Paschal Lamb. No harm came to them. For long centuries they commemorated this event every year at the Passover meal. At this meal they ate lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter green herbs, which reminded them of their bitter lot and their slave labor in Egypt. The name Holy Thursday (in some traditions “Green Thursday”) comes from these green herbs.

The Evening Mass is celebrated in memory of the Last Supper of Our Lord. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His Apostles according to the Jewish custom. Because He was then arrested in the night, tried, and crucified the next day, this was the last time He was gathered with His disciples. That is why we call it the Last Supper.

At the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, Our Lord Jesus instituted two important sacraments:

The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist — the Blessed Sacrament. He changed bread into His Body and wine into His Blood and gave them to the Apostles to eat and drink. Thus they received Holy Communion for the first time.

The Sacrament of Holy Orders. He ordained the Apostles as priests and bishops. He gave them the power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus.

The morning Mass on Holy Thursday, the Chrism Mass, which commemorates the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, is celebrated in the cathedral — the bishop’s church. The bishop celebrates it together with all the priests. Before the bishop the priests renew their priestly promises and commitments. During this Mass the Sacred Oils are also blessed — the Oil of Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and Sacred Chrism (olive oil mixed with balsam, used for priestly and episcopal ordination, as well as for Confirmation and Baptism).

The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper calls to mind three things:

1. The legacy of Jesus — the Commandment of Love.
2. The Institution of the Holy Eucharist.
3. The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Holy Mass has certain special features:

• During the hymn Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest), the organ and bells sound festively and then fall silent for the entire duration of Christ’s Passion, until they ring out again at the Easter Vigil.
• After the Gospel and the homily, the Rite of the Washing of the Feet takes place. The priest removes his chasuble and approaches selected men, pours water over their feet, and dries them. At the Last Supper Jesus reminded His disciples of the Commandment of Love: “A new commandment I give to you: love one another, as I have loved you!” He Himself gave an example of selfless love when He washed the Apostles’ feet. Love of God and love of neighbor is the principal law for each one of us as well. Therefore the priest washes the men’s feet, repeating what Our Lord Jesus did for the Apostles at the Last Supper.
• After Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament is carried in solemn procession to the Altar of Repose. This commemorates the fact that after the Last Supper Our Lord Jesus departed for the Garden of Gethsemane to prepare Himself in prayer for His Passion. During this procession the hymn Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium is sung (“Sing, My Tongue, the Savior’s Glory”).
• At the conclusion of the Holy Mass, the Stripping of the Altar takes place. The book, the crucifix, the candles, and the altar cloths are removed. The altar remains completely bare. This reminds us that Our Lord Jesus in His Passion was abandoned by His friends (all the disciples fled) and was stripped of His garments during the scourging and crucifixion.
• Adoration in the Garden of Gethsemane. After the Holy Mass we wish to recall the agony of Our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He then asked His Apostles: “Watch and pray with Me!” But the Apostles fell asleep. Our Lord Jesus experienced great anguish; He was afraid of all that He was to suffer; He sweat blood. In the end He said to His Heavenly Father: “Thy will be done!” In memory of this, we keep a Holy Hour — together with Our Lord Jesus we pray, sing hymns, and meditate on His sorrowful Passion.

What Our Lord Jesus did at the Last Supper is repeated today at every Holy Mass. A validly ordained priest speaks the same words over the bread and wine as Our Lord Jesus did and changes them into the Body and Blood of Christ. We are invited to the banquet of the Lamb of God when we approach to receive Holy Communion.

According to the Precepts of the Church, we are obliged to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at least once a year, preferably during the Easter season. However, we should receive Holy Communion as frequently as possible — every day if possible, or at least every Sunday. The condition is that we have a clean heart — that we be in the state of sanctifying grace. Anyone who is in a state of mortal sin must go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion.

Good Friday

We call it Good Friday because something great happened for the salvation of the whole world. Our Lord Jesus died on the Cross, so that by His death He might redeem us and save us for all eternity.

On Good Friday we commemorate the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. In the night from Thursday to Friday He was betrayed by Judas, arrested by soldiers, and condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court. The Apostles scattered, and Peter denied Him three times. On Friday morning He was handed over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to confirm the sentence. Pilate did not wish to do this, finding no guilt in Jesus. He wanted to release Jesus, but the crowd demanded the criminal Barabbas instead. Pilate had Jesus scourged. He received many hundreds of blows. Then the soldiers crowned Him with thorns and mocked Him as a king. Finally, Pilate issued the sentence of death.

Jesus carried His own Cross to the hill of Calvary (Golgotha) outside the city of Jerusalem. On the Way of the Cross He was met by His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; Simon of Cyrene helped Him carry the Cross; Veronica wiped His face with her veil; women with children wept over Him; the soldiers finally stripped Him of His garments, nailed Him to the Cross, and raised it up. Beside Jesus two criminals were also crucified. Jesus prayed for His tormentors and forgave them. He also promised the Good Thief that he would be in Paradise. Only Jesus’ Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostle John, and a few devout women remained at the foot of the Cross. Jesus was crucified around noon and died at three o’clock in the afternoon. He commended His soul to His Heavenly Father and thus completed His earthly life. He offered Himself for the salvation of all mankind and thus opened for us the gates of Heaven, which had been closed by the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.

After His death, Jesus’ friends asked Pilate’s permission to take His Body for burial. Before they took Him down from the Cross, a Roman centurion pierced Jesus’ side and His Heart with a lance. Then they laid the dead Jesus in the lap of His Mother for a final farewell. At last, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the Body of Jesus in linen cloths with fragrant spices and laid Him in a rock-hewn tomb, before which they rolled a stone.

On Good Friday, Christians pray the Stations of the Cross, usually at three o’clock in the afternoon. The Way of the Cross typically has fourteen stations — images, statues, or simply crosses inside a church or outdoors in the countryside, often on a hillside.

The liturgical rites on this day also differ from those of the rest of the year. On Good Friday the Holy Mass is not celebrated; instead, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and Death is held.

The Rites of Good Friday Have Three Parts

1. The Liturgy of the Word. It begins with a silent prayer, during which the priest lies prostrate before the altar on the ground, while the people kneel in prayer. The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John is then read or chanted. This is followed by the solemn Universal Prayer — intercessions for the Church and the whole world.
2. The Veneration of the Holy Cross. The priest unveils and raises the Cross three times with the words: “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.” The people respond: “Come, let us adore.” All individually venerate the Holy Cross by genuflecting before it or kissing it.
3. Holy Communion. The consecrated Hosts, the Body of Christ, are distributed from the tabernacle at the side altar (the Garden of Gethsemane and, on this day, the Altar of the Sepulchre of the Lord), where they were placed after the Evening Mass on Holy Thursday.

At a side altar in the church, or in a side chapel, the Sepulchre of the Lord is arranged. This is usually a statue of the dead Christ wrapped in linen cloths and surrounded by flowers. The tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament is placed there, and the faithful come to pray here after the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday and throughout Holy Saturday.

Holy Saturday

Our Lord Jesus died on Good Friday at three o’clock in the afternoon. In the evening, before sunset, His friends buried Him. They wrapped His dead Body in linen cloths with about one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes — fragrant embalming substances. They laid Him in a new tomb hewn in the rock like a cave, donated by Joseph of Arimathea. The entrance to the tomb was covered by a large round stone.

The Jews asked Pilate to station a Roman guard at the tomb. Jesus had previously declared that He would rise from the dead on the third day. They wished to prevent the disciples from taking His Body away and then telling the people that He had risen from the dead. The tomb was sealed and guarded by several soldiers. Jesus lay in the tomb throughout Saturday until early Sunday morning, when before dawn He rose from the dead.

This day is called Holy Saturday (in some traditions “White Saturday”) after the white linen in which Jesus was wrapped in the tomb. On Holy Saturday no liturgical rites are celebrated in the church. The faithful come in silence to pray at the Sepulchre of the Lord.

The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord

In the night after Holy Saturday, before Sunday morning, Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead. He then came forth alive, whole, and glorified, unobserved from the sealed tomb. Afterward an angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone of the tomb. The guards fainted with fright, and when they came to, they ran to report to the chief priests.

On Saturday the Jews celebrated Passover and no work was permitted. On Sunday very early in the morning the devout women (Mary Magdalene and others) went to wash and anoint the dead Body of Jesus with fragrant spices. When they arrived at the tomb, it was open and empty. The angels told them: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He has been raised.

Soon afterward Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then to the other women who had gone to the tomb, and during the course of that Sunday to still more people — to the Apostle Peter, to two disciples on the road to the village of Emmaus, and finally that evening to ten of the Apostles in the Upper Room. He continued to appear thereafter.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the most important moment in all of world history and the central truth of our Catholic faith. If Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would be without value and in vain.

That the dead Jesus Christ lives again was attested by the many, many people who saw Him alive once more, heard Him, spoke with Him, touched Him, and ate with Him. On one occasion, five hundred people saw Him together on a mountain in Galilee. After forty days, before the eyes of one hundred and twenty people, Jesus ascended into Heaven and returned to God, His Father.

We celebrate the Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord with two liturgies:

1. The Easter Vigil in the Night
2. The Solemn Mass on Easter Sunday

The Easter Vigil

For the Chosen People of Israel, the Great Night was the night when they departed from slavery in Egypt. In memory of this deliverance they slaughtered the Paschal Lamb. For Christians, the most important night is that in which Jesus rose from the dead. The Risen Christ lives a new life and offers it to all the baptized in the Church. This is our great hope.

The Rites of the Great Night have four parts:

1. The Solemn Blessing of the Paschal Candle

In this rite we recall that the Risen Christ is the Light of the World.

• The Blessing of the Fire: Outside the church a bonfire of wood burns (or a flame of fire inside the church), which the priest blesses.
• The Blessing of the Paschal Candle (called the Paschale). Upon it are these symbols:
• The Cross — Christ yesterday and today (Jesus redeemed us on the Cross).
• Alpha and Omega (Α and Ω) — the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (Jesus is the Beginning and the End).
• The Year 2026 — Christ is the Lord of all ages; He rules over history; His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
• Five Grains of Incense — in memory of the Five Wounds of Christ.

The priest proclaims: “May the glorious Resurrection of Christ dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds!”

The Paschal Candle is carried into the church. The priest chants three times: “The Light of Christ!” The people respond: “Thanks be to God!”

From the Paschal Candle the faithful light their own candles, and holding them, they stand and listen to the Easter Proclamation (known in Latin as the Exsultet).

2. The Liturgy of the Word

Readings from Sacred Scripture (each reading has an introduction, a text from the Bible, a psalm, and a prayer):

• Seven readings from the Old Testament, which show how God cared for His people, the Chosen Nation, from the very beginning.
• The hymn Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest), when the organ sounds and the bells ring, and the candles on the altar are lit.
• The Epistle — a reading from the New Testament.
• Alleluia — intoned by the priest (this word means “Praise the Lord!”).
• The Gospel, followed by the Homily.

3. The Baptismal Liturgy

This part reminds us that through Baptism we became children of God:

• The Litany of All Saints.
• The Blessing of the Baptismal Water.
• The Baptismal Promises are made by the catechumens (those who are to be baptized) and renewed by the rest of the faithful (they renounce evil and sin, and profess their faith in the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
• The Baptism of the Catechumens.
• The Sprinkling of the Faithful with Baptismal Water.
• Confirmation (if Baptisms were celebrated).
• The Universal Prayer (Prayer of the Faithful).

4. The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Holy Mass continues in the usual manner:

• At the conclusion there is the Solemn Blessing.
• The dismissal: “Go forth, the Mass is ended, alleluia, alleluia!”
• The people respond: “Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia!”
• At the end, the hymn Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven, Rejoice”) is sung.

In some places, after the Holy Mass a solemn procession of the Resurrection takes place — a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the entire town.

Food is blessed (the foods from which the faithful abstained during Lent). Special symbolism is attached to the lamb (Our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, has redeemed us) and to Easter eggs as a symbol of new life.

Easter Sunday

On this day the Solemn Mass is celebrated. The joyful Alleluia resounds, extended by the Sequence, an elaborate chant that glorifies the Resurrection of Christ and celebrates the events in which the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples. This is the well-known hymn Victimae Paschali Laudes (“To the Paschal Victim”). After Holy Mass the Easter foods may once again be blessed.

The Second Sunday of Easter — Divine Mercy Sunday

The Second Sunday of Easter is sometimes called “White Sunday.” This is because when catechumens were baptized at Easter, they received a white baptismal garment — white robes. They wore them for the entire week as a sign of their baptismal innocence and spiritual purity and beauty. On this Sunday they laid aside their baptismal garment, which was usually kept by their godparent. On this Sunday the Gospel of the Doubting Thomas is read. Pope Saint John Paul II established this Sunday as the Feast of Divine Mercy.

The Sunday of Divine Mercy

Sister Faustina was born in 1905. She came from Poland. She deeply desired to enter a convent, but it took her a long time to find one that would accept her. She finally found her place in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.

There God called her to remind the whole world of His Divine Mercy. Our Lord Jesus often appeared to her and spoke with her. At the direction of her confessor, she recorded these experiences in a diary.

Our Lord Jesus desired that she have painted an Image of Divine Mercy, and that the faithful pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, thus giving thanks to God for His mercy and love.