![]() Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ died for us, but Christ is risen and now lives for us! The followers of Jesus were devastated by His death because they had believed that He was the Messiah. They saw Him die such a humiliating and painful death and most could no longer believe in Him because His death seemed to deny all that they had believed. His Resurrection changed everything. It was as if they were now able to understand more of what He had said and preached. His mysterious words now seemed prophetic and made sense. Christ is risen! That statement changed the whole reality of faith for His followers. THE LITURGY
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Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life. Therefore the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year. Thus the solemnity of Easter has the same kind of preeminence in the liturgical year that Sunday has in the week. The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with Vespers on Easter Sunday. THE LITURGIES MAUNDY THURSDAY
GOOD FRIDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION According to the Church’s ancient tradition, the sacraments are not celebrated today. Today is a day of fasting and abstinence. Holy Communion may only be given to the faithful during the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, but may be brought at any hour to the sick who cannot take part in the service. It is fitting to celebrate publicly the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer today. The celebration of the Lord’s Passion takes place in the afternoon.
HOLY SATURDAY (Easter Eve) Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Holy Week is magnificent, challenging, powerful, exhausting, intriguing and utterly remarkable. Each year we dive out of our own space and time to be immersed in the great events of salvation - not as a memory or a story, but as a reality which changes our lives and world in a way beyond imagining. Much of this is achieved through the celebration of the liturgy. One of the most challenging aspects of the liturgy of Holy Week - and the Triduum in particular - is that it is diffeArent. It is not the usual day by day or week by week liturgy that our parishes celebrate. PALM SUNDAY ![]() Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The gospels record the arrival of Jesus riding into the city on a donkey, while the crowds spread their cloaks and palm branches on the street and shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" to honour him as their long-awaited Messiah and King. The significance of Jesus riding a donkey and having his way paved with palm branches is a fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9). In biblical times, the regional custom called for kings and nobles arriving in procession to ride on the back of a donkey. The donkey was a symbol of peace; those who rode upon them proclaimed peaceful intentions. The laying of palm branches indicated that the king or dignitary was arriving in victory or triumph. THE LITURGY
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![]() The Gospel from Saint John today includes a short passage in which the divine breaks through into the ordinary life once again. When we hear a voice from heaven in the Gospels, then we know that the divine is breaking into the ordinary. Jesus says: “Father, glorify your name.” The Voice from Heaven says: “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” THE LITURGY
![]() The readings today make us very aware that we are still sinful humans, called to grow in faithfulness and love. The first reading is from the Second Book of Chronicles and gives us the sad history that God’s people were unfaithful and finally taken from their own land into exile in Babylonia. The story does not end there, however. Instead this story gives us cause for rejoicing because God brings some of His people back to Judah, to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple. THE LITURGY 0900 Morning Prayer 1000 PARISH MASS
![]() Lent is a wonderful time to reflect on our own responses to God’s love. First we can always ask ourselves: Do I really believe that God loves me, just as I am right now? Do I believe that God is my ally in seeking to cleanse my life of all that impedes my relationship with God? Do I really trust the love of this God, who never wants to destroy me but who always wants me to be for Him? THE LITURGY 0900 Morning Prayer 1000 PARISH MASS
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March 2020
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