Celebrating the Liturgical Year: Holy Week

The last three days of this week -- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday -- are known as the Sacred Triduum and comprise the core  of Holy Week, the most solemn week of the liturgical year, following the last days of Christ, from Judas' machinations prior to the Last Supper, on through the Passion, death, and finally, the great feast of the Resurrection on Sunday. 

T0day, specifically, Wednesday of Holy Week, is traditionally called Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday, commemorates Judas' spying of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, before giving Him the kiss of betrayal the next day.

So called because today marks the day in the life of Christ that Judas bargained to become the spy of the Sanhedrin, the Church celebrates the Tenebrae service, the remote beginning, actually, of the Sacred Triduum.

From Fisheaters:

Today and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service ("tenebrae" meaning "shadows"), which is basically a funeral service for Jesus. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing. During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day's readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday's tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday's tenebrae service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday's readings are from Holy Saturday's Divine Office).

For the record, here's our Holy Week routine (then and now):

Spy Wednesday

*Spring cleaning:
Remove all the extraneous decorations around our statues, take down any winter decorations, including the Palm Sunday picture we hung on Sunday. Take our winter blankets off the backs of our couches; clean out the wood stove and store the wood basket until next fall. Sweep, mop, clean the windows, etc.

* Pretzel making (see below)

Tomorrow: MaundyThursday

*We'll finish up the cleaning

*We have our supper between 2 and 3 pm to accommodate fasting for Maundy Thursday Mass later this evening.

* We have morphed over the years from having a traditional lamb and herbed potatoes dinner to a new family tradition these last ten years ago: lamb(beef) curry (which everyone just likes better than lamb) and our own hot cross buns (a non-sweet version) -- and wine.

An adaptation of Maria Von Trapp's Austrian tradition, we serve everyone at the dinner table a glass of wine (or Sprite with a drop of wine) and by Dan's plate we place a basket of hot cross buns (actually in our house they are old-fashioned rolls with a cross cut into the top before baking). After we pray grace, Dan makes the sign of the cross over each bun and hands it down the line until each member of the family has one. Then we eat our rolls and drink our wine while Dan reads the Gospel of the Last Supper. After which we dig into the rest of the meal. Then all attend Mass in the evening, after which everyone who can will take turns at all night adoration.

Good Friday

Friday is a quiet day. As much as we are able, we speak in quiet voices and as little as possible, in memory of the solemn events in Christ's life on this most solemn of days. We used to take turns each year, Dan and I, one of us getting to go to the Tres Ore (three hours of prayer conducted by our pastor between noon and 3 pm) at church, while the other stayed home with the Littles -- with their own little version of a holy hour. When everyone is home, we'll have the remainder of the Hot Cross buns with a simple clear broth vegetable soup that the staying-home parent will have prepared. Then we'll watch The Passion. 

Holy Week is much much easier these days with all grown children! Dan and I get to participate in all the services without juggling youngin's. Woohoo! But. Oddly, enough -- and I never thought I'd say it -- I do miss all the activity and preparation and teaching that was involved in the week. Few times during the year allow for such concentrated passing along of the spirit of our Faith. Now that we have Dominic and Monica on-sight (living upstairs), we'll get a little taste of that, though, with their little girls. Maybe just the right amount of a finger still in the pie! (God is good, isn't He?)

Holy Saturday

This is always another day of preparation for us, a bit less solemn than the preceding days of Holy Week, though, as we take down the purple coverings from our statues and pictures and begin decorating the house for Easter. Sometimes we watch Jesus of Nazareth while we work on this day -- or park the Littles down to watch it to keep them out from under foot (Yep. I admit it. But what a great distraction, huh?) We  wait until this day to bring out our spring wreaths for the doors and take our lawn furniture out of the barn, and  deck out Our Lady's niches -- indoor and out -- with flowers and ribbons. If we have Littles around, we make sure everyone's bathed and hair washed by bedtime. Well ahead of time, we get out everyone's Easter clothes and make sure they're pressed and ready to go for Easter Mass. This is Easter Egg coloring day, too (usually supervised by an older sibling) and any remote prep like baking goodies is done on Holy Saturday.

* Then we attend the 10:30 Paschal Vigil -- many of our gang arriving quite early for choir practice.

Easter Sunday

 ...begins for us at midnight with Midnight Mass, following the Paschal Vigil,

* In years past, Dan and I would split Masses, only bringing children who were fairly guaranteed to behave for midnight Mass. When we were especially blessed, my sister (Thank you, sis!) stayed overnight and held down the fort with the Littles while we Bigs attended the Paschal Vigil and Midnight Mass; then she took the "big-enough" Littles with her to morning Mass.

* When we got back from midnight Mass, Dan and I would lay out all the Easter goodies and decorate the dining room table, with a place set for each child with their own special treats. And then,  at long last, bedtime for us...

* ...and God willing, the children would let us sleep in! It's such a blessing nowadays having so much less to have to accomplish for such a large gang. We do get more sleep. But, then again, it's so sad nowadays having so much less to have to accomplish for such a large gang. Bear with me while I say once more: don't miss a minute of it. Appreciate every little baby temper tantrum along with every big happy Easter smile over finding a colored egg. They grow up so fast! And there is so much joy in teaching the children the joy of this season. The long climb up through Lent and the victorious arrival at the Ascension of Our Lord is harder maybe with a house full of children, but the rewards are commensurately greater, too! 

NEXT WEEK

Tons of updates and pictures to add to the time capsule here at AWTY.  Shots of the grandbabies -- Fr. P helping out with Tenebrae -- the finished upstairs project -- the new RV -- the flowers blooming all over the property... Stay tuned!