Holy Week. The most important week of our Church’s year. The culmination of our faith, of God’s love for us.

We are so blessed and grateful to Archbishop Julian Porteous who has given us our reflection today.

Today we hear there Gospel of the Passion of Christ according to Mark. Archbishop Porteous asks us to not just be swept up in the events of the Passion, as important as the events are, but to look beyond them. To the deeper meaning that we find there.

This is also the last week of our Online Lenten Retreat. We hope that you have felt we have helped you have a little more time with the Lord this Lent and that you were able to stop and focus on your relationship with Christ. How you are able to strive towards being the person that you were created to be, in the place that God has put you. In your day to day.

Please let us know if it has been helpful to you and if you would like us to do something like this again.

May this week be a prayerful and holy week and may you have a blessed Easter, with the knowledge of the love that Christ has for you.

 

Gospel Reading Audio 

Reflection on the Gospel by Archbishop Julian Porteous

reflection sheet

We have provided a number of reflection questions based on the video above. You don’t need to answer them all. They are just a guide to help you reflect on what was said. You can pick as many or as few as you wish. It really depends on the time you have through the week and what really spoke to you. Click the image to download the sheet.

Further reading

Here we are listing a number of other resources that you might like to look at. Of course you don’t need to use any at all or even just in Lent! It is mainly for those who wish to delve more deeply into themes or ideas that have been looked into this week.

Scripture Readings
Click here for the other reading from Mass today.

Prayer – Tennebrae

One of the most ancient and profound prayers of the Church is the liturgy of Tenebrae. Perhaps much of it’s appeal is that all of your senses are immersed  in the mystery that is the death of Christ.

Tenebrae is the Divine Office readings for the Holy Triduum. It uses the Books of Lamentations and Jeremiah as the focus for  this time. To understand Tenebrae, it would be helpful to understand these books of the Bible. These are two video links, one on the Book of Lamentations, and the other on Jeremiah. They simply introduce these books of the bible to you and might help you understand their importance at this time of the Church’s year.

Below is a video that explains in more detail what Tenebrae is and it’s history with beautiful imagery of the liturgy.

Articles/Blog Posts

This post here gives a great overview of the Sacred Triduum and an explanation of what is happening in our liturgies at this time.

It is this time that we really look to the cross for our contemplation, and meditation. When doing so we realise that we are not choosing an easy option. George Weigel says in this article on the Power of the Cross, “Judging from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the temptation to reduce Christianity to a comfortable lifestyle option has been around a long time”

Bishop Anthony Fisher of the Archdiocese of Sydney gave this reflection on Holy Week in 2016 after his struggle with serious illness. As he says “Christ willingly endured the cross. We, in our little way, can join our sufferings to His, can suffer as best we can in good spirit, making it an occasion of our growth in wisdom, virtue, patience, courage, hope.”

Great moments often make a mark on our culture. They inspire people to try and  to capture the moment,  the truth, the beauty, the goodness in a way that will speak to us, perhaps in a new way. Nothing has proven to be such a source of prolific artistic inspiration as the Passion and Death of Christ. We are often drawn into the beauty of the Church and then are confronted with the cross. This article looks at this paradox through the pages of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead revisited.

“Our natural love of myth, of the fairy story, is a manifestation of our desire for a Reality that can only be fully satisfied in Christ.” says Daniel McInerny in this facinating article about fairytales and Holy Week and the role that fantasy has in understanding truth.

This is a really interesting article on Salvador Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross and how art can give us a refreshed perspective on ideas and concepts we think we know.

Finally, these two poems of Chesterton’s will help you have a great Holy Week. 

Audio

Holy Saturday is such a strange day. It is a time of waiting. What is happening? What is going on whilst we are waiting? This is a video well worth watching/listening to. It is a recording of a very famous Ancient Homily on Holy Saturday which gives us a wonderful view of what Christ was doing whilst it seems all was lost.

Here is Scott Hahn’s reflection on this week’s Gospel. 

Matt Maher, the Catholic song writer did a series of videos on his own reflections on moments in Holy Week. This is his reflection on Palm Sunday. 

The Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast is a great, chatty podcast covering numerous topics. It is run by four priests and this is their one on preparing for Holy Week. 

Here are a few other videos from the Dominican Sisters of St Cecelia in Nashville for this season.

Lenten Music

Click here for a YouTube playlist of music for this week. It is meant to be a tool for prayer, but also can be played through your day to help keep the season in mind. Apologies for any advertisements that may interrupt your listening!

~ Just a note, when we link to a site we are not always endorsing the site as a whole,  we are just highlighting the post of interest on the site.