InsightOut: Holy Week

Nicole Ferrante is in the final weeks of her MDiv degree at the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology. She has recently taken on the role of Campus Ministry Coordinator at USMC and is excited to serve the St. Mike’s community in this new capacity.  


This Sunday, Christians around the world begin their observance of Holy Week. We are drawing to the end of the season of Lent, and the anticipation for Easter, for the Resurrection, is building. This season has likely looked a little different for each of us. For me, it has coincided with the busiest weeks of the year as I begin my new job and prepare to finish my theology studies. I am sure I am not alone in my anxious anticipation for the end of the school semester. Similarly, as we reach the end of this 40-day Lenten season, it is natural that we anxiously await the Easter season, in all of the joy and light that it is sure to bring.  

But Holy Week compels us not to preemptively jump forward to the Resurrection. This week is packed full with rich tradition, with spiritual significance, and with ample opportunity for drawing closer to God and to our Christian communities. As we try our best to live these last days of the school semester intentionally, let us also try our best to appreciate the beauty and significance that are offered by these last days of Lent.  

Holy Week begins with the celebration of Palm Sunday mass, which starts by commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. With waving palms and joyful shouts of “Hosanna!”, the transition into Holy Week is at first marked with joy and triumph. Yet not half an hour later, as the Passion narrative is read, joy turns to pain and sorrow. The mass ends in utter silence, and the believing community is sent home with an unshakeable sense of “What now?”. It is a “what now” that, whether we realize it or not, is deeply resonant with the anguished “what now” of the Apostles and the first followers of Christ upon witnessing the death of their Lord, the source of their hope.   

As Holy Week progresses, Christians are presented with the broadest range of human emotion and experience. We see the humility, tenderness, and earnest service of Jesus as he washes the feet of his disciples on Holy Thursday, urging them to do likewise for one another. We see him share his final meal with his closest friends. We witness the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal he experienced at the hands of those whom he held dear. We reflect on his encounter with his mother on the way to Calvary, and what love and pain that moment must have held. Finally, we see him take his last breaths and face the uncertainty of death. During Holy Week we see, at the deepest level, what it truly means for Jesus to have taken on our human condition. For the Word to have become flesh, and dwelt among us.  

Jesus united himself intimately and unwaveringly with our reality. Can we, this Holy Week, unite ourselves with his? Can we participate, with him, in the events leading up to the Resurrection? Can we enter, with him, into this journey to the heights and depths of human experience? Into the self-giving love he held for those whom he served? Into his embracing of fear and suffering, and his surrender to the will of God? Into his forgiveness of the very people who were persecuting him? “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).  

St. Mike’s Campus Ministry would like to propose several ways in which you can participate in Holy Week this year. First, all are invited to attend any number of the services and liturgies taking place at St. Basil’s Parish throughout the week: 

  • Saturday April 1st, 6:30 pm – St. Mike’s Campus Ministry Palm Sunday Mass 
  • Wednesday April 5th, 7:00pm – Tenebrae Service 
  • Thursday April 6th, 7:00 pm – Holy Thursday Mass  

*Consider registering for our Holy Thursday Traveling Adoration event, from 5pm-Midnight, beginning with dinner and mass, and ending with a pilgrimage to seven churches around the city. 

  • Friday April 7th, 3:00 pm – Good Friday Service
  • Saturday April 8th, 8:00 pm – Easter Vigil Mass 
  • Sunday April 9th, 9:00am, 10:30am, and 12:00pm – Easter Sunday Mass 

Finally, for those looking for a resource to guide your prayer and reflection this week, you can find below the links to “Crucis Mysterium: A Music + Prayer Podcast for Holy Week”, a presentation developed last year by the St. Michael’s Schola Cantorum and St. Mike’s Campus Ministry. This immersive prayer experience features sacred music, scripture readings, poetry, and meditations upon the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.  

SOUNDCLOUD 

YOUTUBE  

PROGRAM GUIDE 

Wishing a blessed and fruitful Holy Week to the entire St. Mike’s community! 


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