Each year, the Church Militant takes on her yearly fast which we take on as well as deeper prayer and almsgiving to attain a greater deepening in faith, hope, and charity. We recognize and pray for this in the Lenten Hymn, “Ex more docti mystico:”
“The fast, as taught by holy lore, We keep in solemn course once more: The fast to all men known, and bound In forty days of yearly round.
The law and seers that were of old, In diverse ways this Lent foretold, Which Christ, all seasons’ King and Guide, In after ages sanctified…
Forgive the sin that we have wrought; Increase the good that we have sought: That we at length, our wanderings o’er, May please thee here and evermore.”
Lent is the commemoration of Christ’s forty days of fasting in the wilderness and similarly, of His passion and sufferings for us. As Lent wanes on, it gives way to Passiontide which is when all sacred images are veiled inside of churches. This two-week period goes until Easter and is the commemoration proper of Our Lord’s suffering and death for us on the Cross. The latter half of Passiontide is called Holy Week.
Hebdomada Sancta or Holy Week is the most solemn, sacred, and important time in the Church’s calendar and is the last week of Lent before Easter. It is a time of great penance, mortification, and suffering of the Church and allows us to deepen our experience of Christ’s life-giving death by having us walk with Him.
We begin on Palm Sunday (which this year is on March 24th), which is the day in honor of Our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This was prophesied by the Prophet Zecharaiah who told us to, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold Thy King will come to thee, the just and savior: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” On this day, palm leaves are consecrated for the holy use of welcoming the coming of Our Christ which we process with around the church. The account of the Passion according to St. Matthew is also chanted, in which the first great Evangelist recounts Our Lord’s suffering and death for us. In her great splendor, our mother, the Church gives us the great gift of being able to experience a part of Christ’s final week with Him. We process as He rode and we enter the church as He triumphantly entered the holy city.
On Tuesday and Wednesday (also known by the associated names of Fig Tuesday and Spy Wednesday), we hear the account of Our Lord’s Passion recounted by St. Mark and St. Luke respectively. All this time we are meant to enter deeper into fasting and mortification in conformity with Christ’s forthcoming death.
Finally on Holy or Maundy Thursday we commemorate the great feast of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord saw it fitting at His final meal to give to His Apostles the greatest gift that He had to offer: Himself. He gave them His very Body and Blood. We commemorate this great act on Maundy Thursday and give it fitting splendor, the Gloria in Excelsis is sung, the organ is played, and the bells are rung loudly in the church, all of which hasn’t happened since the start of Lent. After the Mass, one of the Consecrated hosts is processed to a side altar in which it is stored for the liturgy on the following day.
On Holy Thursday also is the ceremony known as the Mandatum which is the washing of the feet done to remind us of our lowliness to bring about a greater humility in unity with Christ.
Good Friday follows and is the most solemn and desolate day of the entire year. This is the day in which Our Lord died. This one day is the reason for all that we have, all that we hope for, all that we are. The truths of the Christian religion, the salvation of our souls, and our possible unity with our Father who made us are made possible by the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. This cataclysmic day feels as such in which the liturgy we celebrate feels desolate, barren, and doesn’t even have a consecration. We hear the passion of St. John, the only Evangelist who was there at the cross and the one whom Jesus loved. Our Lord’s death is realized, the veil is torn, and we feel on this day the weight of the world.
Christ is laid to rest in the tomb and we arrive at Holy Saturday. This day feels agonizingly long and is a day of waiting as Our Lord has not yet risen but is no longer alive. He is gone from us as his presence no longer resides in the tabernacles and on our altars. This day feels cold and distant, somber and melancholic. As the day ends, we are met with the Great Paschal Vigil in which the Christian Church comes together and awaits the coming of her Savior. We vigilantly keep watch as all the mysteries of salvation history are presented before us and we inch closer and closer to the Glory of Easter.
Finally, Easter comes. The church is jubilant, the statues are unveiled, and we sing the Alleluia as we proclaim the resurrection of Our Lord. What is most important to note about Holy Week is that it has already happened. The real Holy Week took place 2000 years ago; all we do each year is commemorate it. The Church allows us to do so in order to dive deeper and closer to the great mysteries of our faith and the reality of Christ’s true death and resurrection. It is for this reason that it is of the utmost importance as Catholics to celebrate this beautiful season of Lent and, each year, to share in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Our Savior.
Born and Raised to Jewish parents in New York City, Kai Breskin is a recent convert to the Catholic Faith. A member of the Boston College class of 2026, he is studying Political Science, Philosophy, and History. His intellectual passions include Christian theology, history, and liturgical study. His hobbies include sailing, playing the piano, and singing, with a specific focus in Gregorian Chant.
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