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The two weeks of
Passiontide begin today, the first week being known as "Passion Week," and
the second week being known as "Holy Week."
This day -- Passion Sunday -- memorializes the increasing antipathy against
Christ from the Jews who would not accept Him and accused Him of sorcery
and of being blasphemous and possessed by a devil. From today until Maundy
Thursday, the Júdica me and the Glória patris
at the Introit and Lavabo are omitted from Masses of the Season (not Sundays
and Feasts).
Today, statues and sacred images (except for the Stations of the Cross) are
veiled with purple cloth beginning at the Vespers of Passion Sunday, and
they remain covered until the Gloria of Holy Saturday, at which point Lent
ends and Eastertide begins. Catholics cover statues and icons, etc., in their
homes for the same time period (the cloth shouldn't be transluscent or decorated
in any way).
This veiling of the statues and icons stems from the Gospel reading of Passion
Sunday (John 8:46-59), at the end of which the Jews take up stones to cast
at Jesus, Who hides Himself away. The veiling also symbolizes the fact that
Christ's Divinity was hidden at the time of His Passion and death, the very
essence of Passiontide.
At the Vespers
Mass on Holy Saturday, Lent ends and Easter begins: the statues are unveiled
at that time in one of the most glorious liturgical moments of the entire
Church year, a moment that affirms His divinity and proclaims that "He is
risen!"
Reading
"The Mystery
of Passiontide and Holy Week"
from Dom Gueranger's "The Liturgical Year"
The holy liturgy
is rich in mystery during these days of the Church's celebrating the
anniversaries of so many wonderful events; but as the principal part of these
mysteries is embodied in the rites and ceremonies of the respective days,
we shall give our explanations according as the occasion presents itself.
Our object in the present chapter, is to say a few words respecting the general
character of the mysteries of these two weeks.
We have nothing to add to the explanation, already given in our Lent, on
the mystery of forty. The holy season of expiation continues its course until
the fast of sinful man has imitated, in its duration, that observed by the
Man-God in the desert. The army of Christ's faithful children is still fighting
against the invisible enemies of man's salvation; they are still vested in
their spiritual armour, and, aided by the angels of light, they are struggling
hand to hand with the spirits of darkness, by compunction of heart and by
mortification of the flesh.
As we have already observed, there are three objects which principally engage
the thoughts of the Church during Lent. The Passion of our Redeemer, which
we have felt to be coming nearer to us each week; the preparation of the
catechumens for Baptism, which is to be administered to them on Easter eve;
the reconciliation of the public penitents, who are to be readmitted into
the Church on the Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. Each of these three
object engages more and more the attention of the Church, the nearer she
approaches the time of their celebration.
The miracle performed by our Savior almost at the very gates of Jerusalem,
by which He restored Lazarus to life, has roused the fury of His enemies
to the highest pitch of frenzy. The people's enthusiasm has been excited
by seeing him, who had been four days in the grave, walking in the streets
of their city. They ask each other if the Messias, when He comes, can work
greater wonders than these done by Jesus, and whether they ought not at once
to receive this Jesus as the Messias, and sing their Hosanna to Him, for
He is the Son of David. They cannot contain their feelings: Jesus enters
Jerusalem, and they welcome Him as their King. The high priests and princes
of the people are alarmed at this demonstration of feeling; they have no
time to lose; they are resolved to destroy Jesus. We are going to assist
at their impious conspiracy: the Blood of the just Man is to be sold, and
the price put on it is thirty silver pieces. The divine Victim, betrayed
by one of His disciples, is to be judged, condemned, and crucified. Every
circumstance of this awful tragedy is to be put before us by the liturgy,
not merely in words, but with all the expressiveness of a sublime ceremonial.
The catechumens have but a few more days to wait for the fount that is to
give them life. Each day their instruction becomes fuller; the figures of
the old Law are being explained to them; and very little now remains for
them to learn with regard to the mysteries of salvation. The Symbol of faith
is soon to be delivered to them. Initiated into the glories and the humiliations
of the Redeemer, they will await with the faithful the moment of His glorious
Resurrection; and we shall accompany them with our prayers and hymns at that
solemn hour, when, leaving the defilements of sin in the life-giving waters
of the font, they shall come forth pure and radiant with innocence, be enriched
with the gifts of the holy Spirit, and be fed with the divine flesh of the
Lamb that liveth for ever.
The reconciliation of the penitents, too, is close at hand. Clothed in sackcloth
and ashes, they are continuing their work of expiation. The Church has still
several passages from the saved Scriptures to read to them, which, like those
we have already heard during the last few weeks, will breathe consolation
and refreshment to their souls. The near approach of the day when the Lamb
is to be slain increases their hope, for they know that the Blood of this
Lamb is of infinite worth, and can take away the sins of the whole world.
Before the day of Jesus' Resurrection, they will have recovered their lost
innocence; their pardon will come in time to enable them, like the penitent
prodigal, to join in the great Banquet of that Thursday, when Jesus will
say to His guests: ' With desire have I desired to eat this Pasch with you
before I suffer.'
Such are the sublime subjects which are about to be brought before us: but,
at the same time, we shall see our holy mother the Church mourning, like
a disconsolate widow, and sad beyond all human grief Hitherto she has been
weeping over the sins of her children; now she bewails the death of her divine
Spouse. The joyous Alleluia has long since been hushed in her canticles;
she is now going to suppress another expression, which seems too glad for
a time line the present. Partially, at first, but entirely during the last
three days, she is about to deny herself the use of that formula, which is
so dear to her: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
There is an accent of jubilation in these words, which would ill suit her
grief and the mournfulness of the rest of her chants.
Her lessons, for the night Office, are taken from Jeremias, the prophet of
lamentation above all others. The colour of her vestments is the one she
had on when she assembled us at the commencement of Lent to sprinkle us with
ashes; but when the dreaded day of Good Friday comes, purple would not
sufficiently express the depth of her grief; she will clothe herself in black,
as men do when mourning the death of a fellow-mortal; for Jesus, her Spouse,
is to be put to death on that day: the sins of mankind and the rigours of
the divine justice are then to weigh him down, and in all the realities of
a last agony, He is to yield up His Soul to His Father.
The presentiment of that awful hour leads the afflicted mother to veil the
image of her Jesus: the gross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The
statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the
glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear. The interpreters
of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during
Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself,
of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in
the Gospel of Passion Sunday. The Church begins this solemn rite with the
Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday. Thus it is that, in those
years when the feast of our Lady's Annunciation falls in Passion-week, the
statue of Mary, the Mother of God, remains veiled, even on that very day
when the Archangel greets her as being full of grace, and blessed among
women.
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