THE TABLET
March 31, 2007
The Holiest Week of the Year

Holy Week is, no doubt, as its name indicates, the holiest week of the year.  It is the time when we prepare for the full celebration of the Paschal Mystery.  Liturgically, we celebrate and make present the events of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

This year, by happy coincidence, Orthodox Christians will be celebrating Easter at the same time, and our Jewish friends will be observing Passover.  Nowhere can we see the convergence of these religious events better than in our own two boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.  Our Orthodox brothers and sisters celebrate the same mysteries as we do, while our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate the Passover events, which are the foundation of our own faith.  They celebrate the deliverance of the Jewish people, while we celebrate the deliverance of humankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday. Palm is the central symbol of the celebration of the remembrance of Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.  With olive branches and palm fronds, the people of Jerusalem greeted Jesus as a king, only to denounce Him a few days later as a traitor to the Jewish people. 

The symbol of palm is a powerful one, and is anticipated in the story of Noah’s Ark when a dove is sent out to find dry land and returns on the second trip with an olive branch in its beak, symbolizing a new peace between the Creator and the created.  The Book of Apocalypse uses the palm in the hands of the martyrs to signify their victory over death.  So it is in our use of palm. On Palm Sunday the blessed palms remind us of Jesus’ triumph over the journey of Lent that has brought us to Easter.  The custom in some ethnic groups is to exchange palms as a symbol of reconciliation, preparing them to receive the full joy of Easter.  The exchange is particularly significant when it happens between enemies and not just friends.  Many will bring palm crosses to the cemeteries to remind ourselves of our triumph over death that Jesus’ Resurrection brings.

It has been my custom during Holy Week to preside at a penance service and hear confessions myself.  How important it is to remind ourselves that the culmination of the Lenten season should allow us to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Penance, and so lead ourselves to be able to celebrate Easter in full peace and joy with God and with each other.

The Chrism Mass has particular significance, since at this Mass we bless the oils used in the administration of the sacraments during the year.  At the same time, the Presbyterate and Deacons gather to renew the promises made on the day of their ordination, promises of obedience and respect to the Bishop, fidelity to their pastoral ministry and for priests the renewed commitment to priestly celibacy. 

The Chrism Mass of the Diocese of Brooklyn will be celebrated on Holy Thursday morning in St. James Cathedral Basilica, as has been our custom.  In some dioceses it is celebrated on a weekday night of Holy Week, allowing permanent deacons and laity to attend in greater numbers.  This year our Chrism Mass will be a test of endurance because the small parking area on Cathedral Place that was available to us in the past is no longer able to be used.  My hope is that the ingenuity and endurance of we New Yorkers will prevail and we will not experience any diminution of attendance at this most important liturgical ceremony.

It has also been my custom to celebrate the Holy Week Triduum at different parishes in the Diocese.  This gives me an opportunity to be with the faithful in various areas of Brooklyn and Queens.  The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a special night when all members of the parishes, especially those with different languages, can join together in one liturgy.  This happens in the vast majority of the parishes in our Diocese, since we have many language groups who ordinarily worship separately. Holy Thursday is the time when they all can gather together to share in the one Eucharist, which may manifest different cultural and linguistic characteristics and yet one which emphasizes the Body of Christ on the night when the Lord left us the memorial of His Presence among us.

This year, the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI on the Eucharist, The Sacrament of Love, will give us much to think about.  This post-synodal exhortation is a clear explanation, as is Pope Benedict’s custom, to apply theology in a practical way that can assist us in our spiritual life.  It is available on the Web site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.usccb.org), and I recommend it to your reading.

Good Friday in our Diocese is characterized by a multiplicity of processions---carrying the Cross, re-enacting the Passion---all public manifestations of our faith.  Every year there is a procession across the Brooklyn Bridge, sponsored by Community and Liberation and other groups, beginning at St. James Cathedral and ending at Ground Zero.  Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Catanello will again participate in that procession.  This year, I will again participate in Maspeth within the triangle of the churches of Holy Cross, St. Stanislaus and Transfiguration.  In the evening, I will participate in the Italian procession, which has become a custom of over 20 years in Bensonhurst.  Usually, over 10,000 people attend this procession, which begins in a schoolyard and traverses the streets of Bensonhurst picking up participants along the way, and this year we will end at St. Dominic’s Church.

Holy Saturday in the Diocese offers another opportunity for more joyful processions.  The Jornada (a youth movement), an offshoot of the Cursillo (a movement for adults), participates in the joy of Easter with youthful participants singing and publicly professing their faith in a day-long procession, which will take place in Queens.

This year, I will celebrate the Easter Vigil at Blessed Sacrament Church in Cypress Hills.  Again, it has been my custom to go to the parish which has the greatest number of catechumens and candidates for entrance into the Church and for full sacramental incorporation.  It is such a joy to baptize and receive others into the Church while administering the Eucharist and Confirmation to those who have not yet received those sacraments.  The fact that over 900 adults in our Diocese have presented themselves for either baptism or complete initiation is a testimony to the vibrancy of our parish life.  There is no more beautiful ceremony in the liturgical year than the Easter Vigil.  It is a pity, however, that comparatively speaking so few attend the Vigil, perhaps frightened away by its extra length and not understanding the full depth of faith one experiences in the wonderful Vigil ceremony

On Easter morning there are several sunrise ceremonies in our Diocese.  One Mass will be celebrated in Coney Island, celebrated by the pastor of Guardian Angel Church, Monsignor Perfecto Vazquez, as he has done every year.  This year, I too will celebrate early Mass on Easter morning, as a reminder of the traditional greeting we give to the newly risen Christ in our liturgy, while at the same time hoping that grace has been awakened in our lives.

During this Lent we have “put out into the deep” following the program of Lenten observance, and finally we are close to Easter.  It would be wonderful if more and more Catholics would participate in the ceremonies of Holy Week, truly the holiest week of the year, offering us multiple opportunities to deepen our spiritual lives.  I look forward to seeing some of you on my Holy Week journey.