Holy Week is the most solemn and glorious week in Christianity, the pinnacle of the liturgical year. It is more sacred than Christmas! This is because Holy Week commemorates the final week of Our Lord’s life, the very purpose for which Christmas happened.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday (when Jesus made his final entrance into Jerusalem) and culminates with Easter Sunday. As Holy Week progresses to its final days the solemnity heightens. Beginning at sundown on Holy Thursday ending at sundown on Easter, this three-day period is referred to as the Easter Triduum, also known as the Sacred Triduum, or Paschal Triduum.

Simply put the term Triduum simply means a liturgical celebration lasting three days. The Sacred Paschal Triduum is the three most solemn days of the liturgical year; Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. These most holy days form the greatest festival recounting of the last three days of Jesus’ life on earth.

We celebrate the Paschal Mystery, beginning with the passion, suffering, and death of the Lord Jesus. This is followed by His time in the tomb, then followed by his resurrection, the triumph of the holy cross, and Christ’s decisive victory over sin and death. In short, we celebrate our salvation which was accomplished when the Lamb of God laid down his life in atonement for our sins.

“Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery” (USCCB).

The following is drawn from an article entitled Everything You Need to Know about the Sacred Triduum, by Gretchen Filz, dated April 5, 2017 which appeared on the Get Fed website, a service of the Catholic Company.

The evening Mass on Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday, is referred to as The Mass of the Lord’s Supper. This is where the Church relives the institution of the Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Last Supper, as well as the institution of the priesthood, which took place the evening before Jesus was crucified.

After the homily there is an optional washing of the feet ceremony, where the priest washes the feet of others to signify his role as servant, just as Jesus did with his disciples. Extra hosts are consecrated at this Mass to be used on Good Friday when no Mass will be celebrated.

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday concludes with a procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the “altar of repose,” a place where the consecrated host is kept other than the main altar where Mass is normally celebrated.

Good Friday is a mandatory day of fasting and abstinence. This is the day of the crucifixion, the day Jesus died for the sins of the world. The parish altar looks very different on Good Friday, it is plain and bare. There is no consecrated Host in the Tabernacle at the main altar of the church; it was carried away on Holy Thursday night to the “altar of repose” to signify Jesus’ death. The candle by the Tabernacle is blown out, and the Tabernacle doors are left open to show that it is empty. Jesus is gone. This is quite dramatic, highlighting that Good Friday is a solemn day of prayer and mourning.

The ceremony on Good Friday is not a Mass, but rather a communion service using the consecrated hosts from Holy Thursday. It often takes place at 3pm, the hour that Jesus breathed his last on the cross. Veneration of the Cross also takes place at this service, processing to kneel before a cross and either touching it or kissing it. Often the priest will begin the service prostrate in front of the altar. NOTE: Schedule for OLQU is Stations of the Cross at 3PM and Liturgy at 7PM.

On Holy Saturday, Christ is in the tomb. There is no daytime Mass on Holy Saturday. It is still a day of fasting and sorrow, the final one before the Easter Vigil begins that evening. We remember, with Mary and the disciples, that Jesus died and was separated from them for the first time as he lay in the tomb. The faithful often continue their Good Friday fast through Holy Saturday.

Easter Vigil / Easter Sunday – A vigil Mass is held after nightfall on Holy Saturday, or before dawn on Easter Sunday, in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. This is called the Easter Vigil, the most glorious, beautiful, and dramatic liturgy for the Church.

The vigil is divided into four parts and can last up to three hours: 1) the service of light, 2) the liturgy of the Word, 3) the liturgy of Baptism, and 4) the liturgy of the Eucharist. This is also the Mass where many in RCIA are brought into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Easter Sunday is what we’ve all been waiting for! The 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent was in preparation for this day, when our hearts and souls can drink in deeply the culmination of the Pascal mystery: The Resurrection.

“Therefore, Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the ‘Feast of feasts’, the ‘Solemnity of solemnities’, just as the Eucharist is the ‘Sacrament of sacraments’. St. Athanasius calls Easter ‘the Great Sunday’ and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week ‘the Great Week’. The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.” (CCC #1168, 1169)