February 2018 - Page 3 of 5 - Prince of Peace Catholic Church & School

An Overview: Lent, Holy Week, and Easter 2018 at Prince of Peace

by Communications Director | Feb 15, 2018 | The Latest

THE PROGRAMME of services within the parish over Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2018 has been devised not so much to add to what normally takes place in the Church’s day to day life by the provision of extra services, but to enhance what already happens and to encourage people to take advantage of the opportunities for worship, prayer and individual development which already exist.

However, there are three important things which require our attention.

First, ASH WEDNESDAY. A solemn day of prayer and fasting which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. It is a day when we to turn to the Lord in penitence for our sins and seek his mercy and forgiveness. We should not neglect this day. It is an opportunity for us to receive the imposition of blessed ashes upon our foreheads – an outward sign to the world of our commitment to Christ and of the inward conversion and renewal we seek in our lives. It is also a day on which we should try to make sacramental confession to a priest, which is another opportunity for us to deepen and develop the life of the Holy Spirit within us.
Second, the services of the TRIDUUM SACRUM (the Three Holy Days) – the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Holy Week and, in particular, the EASTER VIGIL on Holy Saturday night (Easter Eve) are at the heart and centre of what it means to be a professing and worshipping Christian. These services demand our attention and, as a manifestation of the worshipping and witnessing Church, are a sign of the vitality of our parochial community.
Third, there are many opportunities to assist us in our observance of Lent with extra liturgical celebrations, such as the Stations of the Cross, as well as time for deeper fellowship and growth as a Christian community here at Prince of Peace. Throughout the season we are encouraged to enhance our discipleship by exploring new opportunities for worship, reflection, discussion, fellowship and charitable giving. All regular worshippers and visitors are invited to share in all that is offered during this holy time, and to incorporate one or more of these disciplines into a Lenten rule.

COMPLINE – SUNDAYS 7.30P

From the earliest centuries of the Church, Christians gathered at the end of the Lord’s Day to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles. The official public night prayer of the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours is Compline. Compline comes from the latin word, completorium, as Compline is the completion of the working day.

At Compline, we examine our conscience; we sing psalms with their proper antiphons; and we listen to the Word of God. The highlight of the service is the Anthem to Our Lady, in which we process to the Lady Altar, the Faithful are sprinkled with Holy Water, and the antiphon is sung.

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS – LINK TO SCHEDULE

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continues to be offered to the glory of God each day at Prince of Peace. You are encouraged, during the Lenten season, to attend an additional Mass to assist you in deepening your faith and drawing you closer to Jesus Christ, whose passion, death and resurrection we commemorate and celebrate at every offering of the Mass.

CONFESSION AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

There are many opportunities for Confession during the Lenten Season.

Tuesday 6-7p
Wednesday 5-6p (except on Holy Wednesday when it’ll be 7p)
Thursday 6-7p
Friday 7-8p
Saturday 3.30-4.30p

THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD – MONDAY, 9 APRIL

The Annunciation of our Lord is the celebration of the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, marking his Incarnation. The Angel Gabriel told Mary to name her son Yehoshua meaning “YHWY is salvation”.

Due to The Annunciation of Our Lord falling on Sunday, the Feast has been transferred to the first Monday after the Easter Octave, 9 April.

FRIDAY KNIGHT DINNERS – 5.30-6.45P IN THE PAC

On Fridays, Mother Church asks of her children to participate in a corporal sacrifice that all can do together in memory of the sacrifice of our Lord on the day of his crucifixion. This sacrifice is abstaining from the meat of warm-blooded animals. Beginning the 1st Friday of Lent, the Knights of Columbus invite you to a parish Friday Knight Dinner.

16 February
23 February
2 March
9 March
16 March
23 March

Adults – $8.00 • Seniors over 65 – $6.00. Children Under 12 – $6.00 • Children Under 4 – FREE. Max $30.00 for Immediate Family

PENITENTIAL SERVICE AND PROCESSION – 7P ON 16 FEBRUARY

On the first Friday of Lent, the Congregation gathers for a Penitential Service and Procession. Hymns, the Seven Penitential Psalms, The Decalogue, and the Great Litany are sung.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as Way of Sorrows or Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem which is believed to be the actual path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary. The object of the stations is to help the Christian faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. Beginning the 2nd Friday of Lent, we will pray the Stations together in the Church culminating with the Solemn Stations of the Cross on the 6th Friday of Lent during Passiontide.

7p 23 February
7p 2 March
7p 9 March
7p 16 March
7p 23 March

Celebrating the Paschal Mystery: Holy Week in the Roman Liturgy – THURSDAYS AT 7P

Come and hear Fr Smith lecture on the history and theology of the beautiful liturgical ceremonies in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church’s Holy Week. If you want to prepare to enter into Holy Week with more knowledge than you can imagine, to actively participate in the Paschal Mystery, please join us for this class.

1 March on Palm Sunday
8 March on Maundy Thursday
15 March on Good Friday
22 March on Easter Vigil

Suggested reading: Holy Week and Easter: A Liturgical Commentary. Dom Jean Gaillard, author, William Busch, translator. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1954. (hard to find, liturgical and spiritual commentary) Roger Greenacre and Jeremy Havelock, The Sacrament of Easter. London: Gracewing. (Anglican liturgical theological commentary)

LAETARE SUNDAY – 11 MARCH

On Lætare Sunday rose-coloured vestments are worn and the rule restricting flowers is relaxed somewhat as we anticipate with joy the coming celebration of Easter. The name of this day comes from the Introit at Mass which proclaims ‘Lætare, Jerusalem’ (‘Rejoice ye with Jerusalem’).

10a Blessing of Expectant Mothers at the Solemn English Mass

SOLEMNITY OF ST JOSEPH – MONDAY, 19 MARCH

We interrupt the austerities of Lent to celebrate the Solemnity of St Joseph, spouse of Our Lady. Joseph was an ordinary manual labourer, descended from the royal house of David. In the designs of Providence he was destined to become the spouse of the Mother of God. His high praise is expressed in a single phrase, “Foster-father of Jesus.” About this Sacred Scripture has little more to say than that he was a just man – an expression which indicates how faithfully he fulfilled his high trust of protecting and guarding God’s greatest treasure upon earth, Jesus and Mary.

Join us in celebrating St. Joseph’s Feast Day! We’ll have Mass followed by a procession behind St. Joseph to the PAC where we’ll enjoy a feast of BBQ, potato salad, coleslaw, chips, and drinks catered by Little Pigs BBQ. Bring bread to be blessed! Cost is $8 per person, up to $30 per family. RSVP by Wednesday, 14 March by midnight at https://goo.gl/forms/lLnBtz1TK3resb9y1 Pay at the door! Questions? Call Angela Calabro.

6p Mass followed by Procession and Dinner

PASSION SUNDAY – 18 MARCH (PASSIONTIDE BEGINS)

PASSION SUNDAY marks the beginning of PASSIONTIDE. The Church now enters the period of mourning over her divine Bridegroom as she puts on her widow’s weeds. Passiontide marks the third stage in our preparation for Easter. If Septuagesima (Pre-Lent) was only an introduction and the past four weeks a time of conversion and spiritual renewal, Passiontide in a special way commemorates Christ’s suffering. From this day all images, statues and pictures are veiled until the Easter Vigil so that we might focus our attention on the coming celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The last days of his life are celebrated by the Church so that we can enter into the mystery and receive the fruits of our redemption. The Stations of the Cross alone are left unveiled and all other crucifixes and crosses are veiled until after the Solemn Liturgy on Good Friday.

During the coming two weeks let us draw close to Christ in his bitter suffering, to Jesus the Man of Sorrows. Let us weep and sympathise with him; but let us likewise regard him as the conqueror upon the battlefield of Golgotha, with whom we too will be victorious. Let us see in him the King who rules while suffering upon the throne of the Cross, with whom we too may rule by rising above the troubles and misfortunes of life. In spirit let us follow the High Priest as he passes into the Holy of Holies to sacrifice himself for us; he is inviting us to share in his priesthood by offering ourselves as victims.

PALM SUNDAY- 25 MARCH (HOLY WEEK BEGINS)

PALM SUNDAY ushers in the most important week in the Church’s year, which enables us to recall and relive the truth that Jesus loves us with a love stronger than death; a love that turned a gallows into an altar. On this day we celebrate Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, marking the end of his public ministry and the beginning of that conflict which nailed him to the cross. Palms are carried in procession to acclaim Jesus our King; a re-enactment originating in 4th Century Jerusalem when local Christians processed down the Mount of Olives into what is now the Church of the Resurrection for the liturgy. Although we offer Christ the kingship he would not own, the events of Holy Week show us the kingship he did accept, namely that of the Cross.

8a Quiet Mass
10a Blessing of Palms and Procession and Solemn (English) Mass
12.30p Blessing of Palms and Procession and EF (Latin) Mass
6p Quiet Mass

HOLY MONDAY – 26 MARCH

7a English Mass

HOLY TUESDAY – 27 MARCH

7a English Mass

Chrism Mass in Charleston

SPY WEDNESDAY – 28 MARCH

8.30a English Mass
6p Tenebrae
7p Confessions

LENT ends on the evening of Maundy Thursday and is followed by the three holy days known as the PASCHAL TRIDUUM. These three days, from the beginning of the Solemn Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday to sunset on Easter Sunday inclusive, are the climax of the whole Christian year – the celebration of the Paschal mystery. In Anglo-Saxon times these days were known as the ‘still days’ and the sense of quiet stillness still pervades their atmosphere and their liturgies. The ancient passover of the whole people of God passing over from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land prefigured and anticipated our passover from the darkness and slavery of sin to the light of new life in Christ. These three days make up one single celebration of our one passover from death to life.

MAUNDY THURSDAY – 29 MARCH

TONIGHT we celebrate the three gifts Our Lord imparted to his beloved Bride the Church: the Priesthood, the Eucharist, and a Love that is stronger than death. In the liturgical events of this evening the Church enters the Cena Domini, the Supper of the Lord. He, the Lord and Master of all, kneels humbly to wash the feet of those whom he has called to serve. At the table with his closest disciples, the Lord brings together all the sacrifices of the Old Law as he takes bread and wine and makes himself the one Sacrifice of a new dispensation, the Sacrifice of his Church. Then together they go forth into the night, to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane, and the drama of his Passion begins.

7p Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper and
Procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament
8p Adoration until Midnight

GOOD FRIDAY – 30 MARCH

WE CALL GOOD THIS DAY when Our Lord loved us and gave himself up for us, redeeming us from sin and death, and opening up to us the way to life eternal with God the Father. Thus, while the liturgical rites of the day are austere, they are marked by the triumphant sign of Christ’s Cross. The crowds who gather for the Good Friday liturgy are not only assistants at the Passion, expressing the human emotion of grief and mourning, but Christian men and women whose gift of faith in the one Redeemer and Saviour gives them confidence and hope. The death of the Lord Jesus breaks open the Mystery of the Trinity; the God who is Love is revealed in the language and terms of a fallen world, that is, through rejection, pain and suffering. But at the heart of the Passion is the divine paradox: death itself is put to death on this day which we call ‘good’.

12n Stations of the Cross and Divine Mercy Chaplet
3p Liturgy of the Passion
7p Procession of the Dead Christ

HOLY SATURDAY – 31 MARCH

The Church now waits at the tomb of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ. On this day of prayer and fasting, the austerity of Lent and Passiontide reaches the point of emptiness and desolation. Mary’s heart and soul are pierced and full of sorrow, for her Son, our Lord and hers, has descended to the dead and now harrows Hell, preaching to the departed who waited in hope for the coming of their promised Messiah. As we now wait in hope for his Resurrection, Holy Saturday remains simple and expresses a mood of preparation and anticipation. The Cross of Christ, venerated on Good Friday, remains in its place of reposition above the now bare High Altar.

9a Blessing of Easter Baskets

EASTER VIGIL – 8.30P ON 31 MARCH

THIS IS THE HIGH POINT of the Christian year, the celebration of the Paschal Mystery in the great Easter Mass, summit and source of the liturgical action and life of God’s People. This ‘holy night’ is the mother of all holy vigils that begins the queen of feasts. The full meaning of the Easter Vigil is a waiting for the Lord. He who took our flesh, now rises in that same human body, glorified and immortal, as befits the new life of Resurrection. With the joyous ‘alleluias’ of her new Passover, Mother Church celebrates a unique event, at once historical and cosmic. At the broken tomb, the Incarnation reaches its fulfilment, and the ultimate purpose of our Redemption is revealed in the frailty of human flesh – nothing less than a literal sharing in the glory of his bodily Resurrection. For this we were washed by the waters of Baptism; for this we were sealed with the Spirit’s fragrant Chrism; for this we feast on the Body and Blood of the One who leads us on into eternal life.

EASTER DAY – 1 APRIL

WE HAVE SCALED THE MOUNTAIN, and the victory is ours! The goal toward which we strove during forty anxious days, the goal already outlined for us at the beginning of Advent, has finally been achieved. Light now triumphs over darkness, and a divine Sun beams its warm, clear light into the kingdom of God’s elect.Today the Christian year reaches its supreme moment in the celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, risen indeed in our human flesh, glorified in that flesh, triumphant over the mortality of that flesh. Again and again, the liturgy resounds with the cry of ‘Alleluia!’, as the people reborn through the Paschal Mystery wait in joyful hope for the day when they too will share the glory of their risen Lord.

8a English Mass with Hymns
10a Solemn English Mass
12n Sung Latin EF Mass

EASTER WEEK – 2 APRIL – 8 APRIL

THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS of the Easter Season, from Easter Sunday to Low Sunday (also known as Divine Mercy Sunday) make up the EASTER OCTAVE and are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord.