At its heart, Holy Week is our participation in the love Jesus Christ has for us. What He went through, in those last few days leading to His death on the Cross and the Resurrection, is an expression of this love. Let us explore what happened during that week in Jerusalem according to Mark, and how we commemorate the week liturgically as we follow Christ’s journey and open ourselves to being loved.

Palm Sunday

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem. Mark describes the scene as jubilant, and the crowds carpeted Jesus’s path with clothes and Palm leaves that they’d cut from the fields.

For Palm Sunday Mass, people decorate their churches with Palm fronds, and greenery is blessed by the priest for the people to take home. We will return the leaves in time to make the ashes that will be used on Ash Wednesday the following year.

The liturgy includes the narrative of what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem.  For us, as Catholics, we are particularly mindful of what Jesus was going through during Holy Week. In the reading there are signs of his tension and some personal knowledge of what was coming. It feels right to walk with him.

Ministry in Jerusalem

In the days between his arrival in Jerusalem and his arrest, there are several famous occurrences. Depending on which Gospel account we read, they fall in a slightly different order. Following Mark, Jesus and his disciples sleep outside Jerusalem at the house of his good friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, in Bethany. On Monday, He curses a fig tree that bore no fruit when He was hungry, and then visits the temple to find money changers and merchants. He upturns their tables and reminds them “Does not scripture say: My house will be called a place of prayer for all peoples?” Mark 11:17  This is highly provocative, and these actions take him a step closer to his arrest.

The following day, Jesus uses the withered fig tree as an opportunity to teach about prayer and faith. “I tell you, therefore, everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.” Mark 11:24-25   During Lent we have prepared ourselves for Easter, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is particularly encouraged as part of our preparation. Many parishes provide special opportunities for Confession during Holy Week.

Jesus spends his time in Jerusalem teaching at the temple through parables, and thoroughly upsetting the authorities, such as the scribes and pharisees.

One of my favourite events of the Jerusalem ministry is when a woman anoints Jesus in expensive oil in Bethany. Jesus defends her actions by alluding to the truth that he is soon to depart, and it is right that she has anointed his body before its burial. (See Mark 14:8) He is Christ, the anointed one.

I’m always reminded of this woman when attending the Chrism Mass that is held within Holy Week. Each diocese celebrates a Mass where three oils are blessed and distributed to the parishes: the Oil of Catechumens, Oil of the Sick and the consecrated Chrism Oil. It is a sacred and atmospheric Mass and, if you haven’t attended one, I highly recommend you do. 

Holy Thursday

On Thursday, Jesus and his followers celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover with a meal. They gather in the upper rooms of a house in Jerusalem, and they enjoy an eventful supper. We call it The Last Supper, and this is when Jesus institutes the Sacrament of the Eucharist. In the course of the evening, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, modelling the sort of leaders they should be. He informs them that he has been betrayed by one of them, and he predicts Peter’s denial.

Later, Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane and there he prays, full of sorrow for what is about to unfold. Then, he is arrested. This marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord. Holy Thursday Mass is held in the evening, and the priest will symbolically wash the feet of a member of the congregation.

Good Friday

The next day is Good Friday. As a child, I could never figure out how this day could be called ‘good’. This is the day of the terrible events depicted in the Stations of the Cross. In some parishes, the Stations are integral to a procession through the streets. Auckland, for example, has a huge procession each year which ends with a devotion to the Cross at the Cathedral of St Patrick and St Joseph. In my own parish, the youth of the parish lead us in a Stations of the Cross meditation within the church. 

Jesus is put on trial, is mocked and beaten, and then forced to carry his heavy Cross through the streets. He is nailed to the Cross at Golgotha, the Place of Skulls, and dies. His broken body is taken down and laid to rest in a tomb. This is a death designed by the Romans to be as horrific as possible. It is meant for the lowest of criminals. This was a shameful and harrowing death for our Lord.

So why is this Friday 'good'? There is some etymology of the word to examine here, but that would take up a whole separate article. ‘Good’ was used as ‘Holy’ in the past, or our usage of the word could be from the possessive term ‘God’s Friday’. Ultimately, Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross is good. He who was without sin, took our sins to the Cross so that we can be forgiven, and he died so that we may live. He did this for you and I. He did this for all who have lived, and for all who will live. With this act of love, he offers us Salvation. The Passion of Christ cannot be separated from the Resurrection that follows – you cannot have one without the other. They are intertwined in a way that makes these apparently separate events become one single event of hope and salvation. A good Friday indeed.

Holy Saturday

At the Vigil Mass on Saturday we are celebrating the victory of Light over Darkness, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In each Parish, at the Vigil Mass, a Paschal (or Easter) Candle is lit and the congregation each hold a candle that shares its flame.

Many adult baptisms and confirmations take place during this Mass, and the baptismal vows of everyone in attendance are renewed. It is a truly lovely experience to attend, as it is always held after dusk and the candles are beautiful.

We walk with Christ when we attend the liturgies of Holy Week; each seem so different and yet truly they are one journey. The events experienced by Jesus in Jerusalem are often confronting and difficult to face, but to understand just how much we are loved by Him, we must look at His suffering as much as we celebrate the joy of the Resurrection.