Holy Week

Holy week hits like a storm... Honestly, you should see what it's like at the church. As the Art and Environment person, I am there a lot on Holy Week.Lent is quiet- you pare down all the decor at the church, put up something meaningful and purple(the liturgical color of repentence) and leave it like that for the weeks of lent. Easy. Then comes Palm Sunday. A riot in red and large palm arrangements everywhere. Take it down the next day and replace the purple, Then get ready for the Triduum, the three days of Holy Week. White is the color for Thursday. Most people think of Thursday as being the day when we focus on the Last Supper-communion. It is a big part of that liturgy, but the real focus is on the washing of the feet. It starts out as a colorful, flower-decorated rich and beautiful mass, then gets more somber as the mass ends and we completely strip the altar. Everything, furniture too, gets taken away, leaving an empty altar area. The Eucharist and flowers are processed in to the waiting chapel- we decorate it to look like a garden, full of branches and greens and water features and candles and the white roses from the liturgy. The chapel stays open til Midnight for prayer. The next morning we put everything away for Good Friday. Red. After mass we set up a large cross on a stand, surrounded by dozens of candles, and there is all-night prayer. Saturday morning at 8 is morning prayer and then we take the cross down and prepare for Easter. White, with flowers evrywhere. The Vigil that night is my favorite mass of the year.Fire and inscense and candles and bells and people being baptised and joining the church. And a wonderful wine and cheese party after,with everyone bringing their Easter breads to share.