With Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday, we begin our Holy Week. This is the week filled with great mystery, the week when we encounter more consciously the passion of Jesus our Lord. After the reading of the account of the passion of Christ on Passion Sunday, we are taken to the stillness of this most holy of times when we commemorate the events that brought about our salvation. Personally I find it best to enter this week with stillness and silence. After all, what can I say in the midst of suffering and pain? I find that when faced with a suffering of another words can fall short, my explanations can seem shallow and cheap. Instead I just remain present, with no words of wisdom or advice. The one who suffers must know that he or she is not alone. I may not have words of reassurance or solution for the sufferer, but I am there willing to stay, willing to share in the suffering through my presence. This is how I like to experience Holy Week, simply with my presence, my willingness to enter into the stillness and silence of this most mysterious of weeks when God suffered for me. I suppose that every person experiences Holy Week differently, everyone prays differently, everyone enters into the suffering of another differently. My suggestion for this Holy Week is that we find some way to enter into it, to make it different from other weeks of the year. For me it’s with profound stillness and silence! How about you? How will you honour this Holy Week?
Please come and pray with us on Holy Thursday, the day when Jesus gave us the sacraments of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. The Mass of Holy Thursday begins at 7pm in Owen Sound, and includes the beautiful action of the washing of the feet. On Good Friday the Liturgies of the Lord’s Passion are celebrated at 3pm in four different locations throughout our parish, followed by Stations of the Cross and opportunity for confession in Owen Sound. On Easter Saturday we offer the blessing of Easter food in the morning, and the Mass of the Easter Vigil starting at 8pm. This is known as the most beautiful Mass of the year. Our Easter Sunday Masses will finish our Holy Week with the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus, and the promise of eternal life for us all. Let’s do what we can to experience the beauty of these liturgical celebrations with our conscious and active presence and participation.