The Chrism Mass is typically celebrated on Holy Thursday before the Triduum. The bishop of a diocese blesses the holy oils used in the sacraments of the church. The oils are taken to the parish churches of the diocese where they are enthroned and used for various sacraments:
Holy oils are tangible signs of God’s grace and presence in the lives of believers. They accompanyi us in significant moments of our faith journey, from initiation into the Church to healing and preparation for eternal life 6.
We are entering the most sacred period of our church’s year, the Easter Triduum, a time all are invited to participate in the mysteries of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. The three-day observance begins on the evening of Holy Thursday and reaches its high point on Easter Sunday, concluding with evening prayer..
The Triduum includes:
Holy Thursday, when the church commemorates the Last Supper, during which Jesus instituted the Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood. On Holy Thursday morning, before the Triduum, the Chrism Mass also takes place, when sacramental oils are blessed for use in the churches sacramental life.
On Good Friday, the church listens to the account of the Lord’s Passion and venerates the wood of the Cross.
Holy Saturday begins with silence and prayer in anticipation of the Easter Vigil is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the Easter Vigil the saving power of the Paschal Mystery is communicated through baptism.
In summary, the Triduum is a three-day period encompassing Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, culminating in the celebration of Easter Sunday. It is a time to remember the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central events of the Christian faith.
Matthew’s gospel today, “Spy Wednesday”, describes the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, one of his disciples. He approaches the chief priests offering to betray Jesus and is given thirty pieces of silver. Then he joins the other disciples at the supper.
Jesus announces “One of you will betray me.” “Surely it is not I?” Judas says. “You have said so,” Jesus answers.
We wonder what Judas’ motives were and how God ultimately judged him. He was the first who “left Jesus, but let’s not forget there were others too.
Our first reading from the Book of Isaiah focuses on the Servant of God, Jesus, who does not turn away from his work of forgiveness, in spite of those who beat him. Though “an outcast to his brothers and a stranger to his mother’s sons” he does not draw back from the work of mercy.
“Lord, in your great love answer me,” His prayer is “for the poor and his own in bonds.” Is his prayer for Judas?
When Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples must have questioned him about Judas as well as their own failure to be loyal to him. He answered them by going through Moses and all the prophets. I think the readings we have for our Easter Vigil is a summary of what he told them.
The Book of Genesis, the first reading of the Vigil, sees God’s original plan for humanity and all creation. The prophets speak on an outpouring a cleansing water refreshing a fallen world. The Word made flesh came to restore and recreate the world. God reaches out to all in the mystery of his death and resurrection.
Today is a day to see us all, Judas, the disciples of Jesus, and ourselves offered the mercy of God.
The gospels tell us little about the twelve disciples of Jesus. Peter is the best known; Jesus gave him a special role and also lived in his house in Capernaum.
Then, there’s Judas. Matthew’s gospel has more information about him than any other New Testament source and so we read his gospel on “Spy Wednesday,” the day in Holy Week recalling Judas’ offer to hand Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver.(Matthew 26,14-25)
“Surely it is not I?” the disciples say one after the other when Jesus announces someone will betray him. And we say so too, as we watch Judas being pointed out. With Peter also we say we will not deny him. But the readings for these days caution us that there’s a communion of sinners as well as a communion of saints.
We are never far from the disciples who once sat at table with Jesus. We’re also sinful. We come as sinners to the Easter triduum, which begins Holy Thursday evening and ends on Easter Sunday. We hope for the mercy Jesus gave to those who left him the night before he died.
“We who wish to find the All, who is God, must cast ourselves into nothingness. God is “I AM; we are they who are not, for dig as deeply as we can, we will find nothing, nothing. And we who are sinners are worse than nothing.
“God, out of nothing created the visible and invisible world. The infinite Good, by drawing good from evil through justifying sinners, performs a greater work of omnipotence than if he were to create a thousand worlds more vast and beautiful than this one. For in justifying sinners, he draws them from sin, an abyss darker and deeper than nothingness itself.” (St. Paul of the Cross, Letter 248 )
O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake
to the yoke of the Cross,
so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy,
grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.
Readings
The gospels from Monday to Thursday in Holy Week take us away from the crowded temple area in Jerusalem where Jesus spoke before many of his avowed enemies. These days he eats at table with “his own.” In Bethany six days before Passover he eats with Martha , Mary and Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. Mary anointed his feet with precious oil in a beautiful outpouring of her love.
The gospels for Tuesday and Wednesday bring us to the table in Jerusalem where he eats with the twelve who followed him. Love is poured out here too, but these gospels describe a love with great cost. “I tell you solemnly, one of you will betray me,” Jesus says to them. Friends that followed him abandon him. Judas dips his hand into the dish with him and then goes out into the night. Peter will deny him three times; the others flee. Jesus must face suffering and death alone.
Are we unlike them?
Does a troubled Jesus face us too, “his own,” to whom he gave new life in the waters of baptism and Bread at his table. Will we not betray or deny? Are we sure we will not go away? The gospels are not just about what’s past; they’re also about now.
We think the saints exaggerate when they call themselves great sinners, but they know the truth. That’s the way St. Paul of the Cross described himself in his account of his forty day retreat as a young man:
“I rejoiced that our great God should wish to use so great a sinner, and on the other hand, I knew not where to cast myself, knowing myself so wretched. Enough! I know I shall tell my beloved Jesus that all creatures shall sing of his mercies.” (Letter 2)
Almighty ever-living God,
grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion
that we may merit to receive your pardon.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
John’s gospel points to Bethany as the place where Jesus and his followers stayed when they came to Jerusalem. He ate with Martha, Mary and Lazarus there. Today Bethany is part of East Jerusalem, a contentious area in our times.
My community, the Passionists, have the Church of St. Martha and a retreat house in Bethany. Olive trees still grace the land, as they did in Jesus’ time. Ancient caves are found here. They probably provided shelter for pilgrims to the feasts. Could Jesus have stayed in a cave like this? Bethany evokes memories of the time Jesus was here.
The traditional tomb of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, is a short distance from St. Martha’s, although an Israeli security wall blocks access to it now.
From Bethany Jesus and the others would walk a couple of miles to the temple. His claims there unsettled the city’s leaders, so he would return to the safety of Bethany, among friends. Judas knew the place. On Holy Thursday he gave Jesus up as he prayed in Gethsemane, the Garden of Olives, just over the hill from Bethany.
Luke’s narrative of the Passion mentions a crowd of people followed Jesus on the way to his death “including many women who mourned and lamented him. ”
Women from Galilee followed him to Jerusalem. They were there when he died and was buried.. Mary, his mother was one of them. Martha and Mary from Bethany would have been there too. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other women from Galilee must have stayed in Bethany. They must have returned there after his death and burial.
Would Lazarus give them some comfort and hope?
As Holy Week begins, today’s gospel brings us to a meal in Bethany honoring Jesus after the resurrection of Lazarus. Raising Lazarus from the dead is the great sign in John’s Gospel preparing for the death and resurrection of Jesus. Lazarus symbolizes the human family God reaches out to save through the death and resurrection of his Son. (John 12,1-11) Jesus eats this meal with “his own.” His last meal will be a Passover supper.
Martha serves the meal. Lazarus newly alive, is at the table. But the one drawing most attention is their sister Mary. Sensing what’s coming, she kneels before Jesus and anoints his feet with precious oil and dries them with her hair. “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.”
The precious oil, signifying her love and gratitude, also anoints Jesus for his burial. Our gospel makes only a passing reference to evil: Judas, “the one who would betray him,” complains that the anointing is a waste, but his voice is silenced. Believers honor the one they love.
Lazarus is the brother of us all who “sit in the shadow of death.” Mary expresses the gratitude of us all.
An artist friend of mine painted this picture of Mary anointing Jesus. How fitting that Holy Week begins with this gospel. We’re called to follow Mary and kneel and pour out the oil of our love on him. His life was poured out for us.
“May the holy cross of our good Jesus be ever planted in our hearts so that our souls may be grafted onto this tree of life and by the infinite merits of the death of the Author of life we may produce worthwhile fruits of penance.” (St. Paul of the Cross,Letter 11)
Let my prayer rise up before you like incense,
The raising of my hands like an evening offering. Ps 141
We thank you with Mary of Bethany for your love and your promise of life. May we love you in return and believe in your promise.
Morning and Evening Prayer here.
Children’s Prayers here.
March 30 Monday of Holy Week Is 42:1-7/Jn 12:1-11
31 Tuesday of Holy Week Is 49:1-6/Jn 13:21-33, 36-38
April 1 Wednesday of Holy Week Is 50:4-9a/Mt 26:14-25
2 Holy Thursday Ex 12:1-8, 11-14/1 Cor 11:23-26/Jn 13:1-15
3.Good Friday Is 52:13—53:12/Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9/Jn 18:1—19:42
4. Sat Holy Saturday
5. ster Vigil: Gn 1:1—2:2 or 1:1, 26-31a/Gn 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18/ Ex 14:15—15:1/Is 54:5-14/Is 55:1-11/Bar 3:9-15, 32—4:4/Ez 36:16-17a, 18-28/ Rom 6:3-11/Mt 28:1-10
6. EASTER SUNDAY 11 Acts 10:34a, 37-43/Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8/Jn 20:1-9
The gospels for Holy Week are mostly from the Gospel of John. They take us first to Bethany where Jesus must have spent his days in Jerusalem among “the Jews” who were “his own”, loyal friends who supported and cared for him. We are in Bethany.
Monday of Holy Week we’re at a meal in Bethany, where Martha, Mary and Lazarus, celebrate God’s blessings with Jesus and his disciples. It’s a thanksgiving meal: Lazarus was raised from the dead. By dying Jesus brings life to the world.
Tuesday and Wednesday, Again we are at a meal in Bethany with disciples who will abandon Jesus. One of them, Judas, will betray him. We are reminded how frail disciples can be. But Jesus does not abandon them, nor will he abandon us and our world.
On Thursday, at table with his disciples Jesus does not wash his hands of them, he washes their feet as a servant would do. A sign of such great love. Then– Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians recalls– Jesus took bread and wine and gave them to his disciples as his body and blood.
On Good Friday the readings from Isaiah recall the Suffering Servant who gives his life for others, and Psalm 22 recalling his suffering. The Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus’ Passion today. He sees Jesus as a conquering King even as he suffers and dies. For a commentary on the Passion Narrative of John by Fr. Donald Senior see here.
On Holy Saturday evening, readings from Genesis and other readings from the Old and New Testament speak of Jesus and his mission to save the world. On Easter various gospel accounts announce his resurrection. He has risen! The waters of baptism are a sign that we shall live and rise too.
Morning and Evening Prayer for Week 2 here.
Stations of the Cross for Adults here.
Praying with Children here.
For this week’s homily, please watch the video below.
The Victor's Place 