Holy Week is Heart of the Church Year

With the liturgies of Holy Week we once again celebrate the heart of our faith. The whole liturgical year finds its highest point in the solemn celebration of the Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus became incarnate to undertake his saving passion and glorious resurrection. Therefore, even Christmas takes second place to Easter, although the two celebrations are intimately connected.

As the early Christians proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world, they started by sharing the events of Holy Week. Of course, they would tell the Lord’s parables and speak of his miracles, but the heart of the Christian proclamation has always been the Lord’s Supper in the upper room, the cross and the resurrection.

I encourage you to participate in the Liturgies of Holy Week as much as you possibly can beginning with the Mass of Palm Sunday that commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem and continuing with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, the Solemn Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, and the Masses of Easter Sunday.

If you have a non-Catholic family member or friend invite them to join you in the liturgies of Holy Week. These liturgies have a beauty and power that speak to our restless human hearts. Jesus’s selfless love is on full display during Holy Week.

As we mark Holy Week and the fifty days of Easter, which closes with the Feast of Pentecost, we will also be preparing to begin the Eucharistic Revival on June 19 with the Feast of Corpus Christi. Plans are being made for a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral that afternoon followed by a Eucharistic Procession through Rapid City that will end with Benediction and a picnic. Watch the West River Catholic, your parish bulletins, and the diocesan website, www.rapidcitydiocese.org, for more details.

Have a Blessed Holy Week and Easter.

Bishop Peter