Our Lenten journey is drawing soon to a close. This Sunday begins Holy Week with Passion Sunday and leads us to the amazing celebration of Easter!
While Lent is our time of intense training, Holy Week is a time of intensely meaningful participation. Each year Holy Week is a gift of itself for all Christians to truly walk with Christ in His final days before His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
Make plans now to make it the holiest of weeks for you and your family!
One of the most inspiring ways is to attend all the liturgies of Holy Week:
- Passion Sunday- regular Mass schedule
- Holy Thursday, April 14 @ 7 pm – Come celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper
- Good Friday, April 15 – 3 pm Stations of the Cross & 3:45 Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion
- Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 16 @ 8:30 pm
- Easter Sunday, April 17 – 7:30, 10 am and 5:30 pm (Easter Egg Scramble @ 11:30 in the Gym for all children 12 & under)
Another way to make this coming Holy Week special is to be intentional with activities throughout the week at home. These hands-on activities are especially meaningful for families but can be done by all ages!
My family has our usual observance of Holy Week that I shared last year on my blog labeled The Greatest Week of the Year. My children and I also really enjoyed this Holy Week Retreat that is all laid out for you and also available in Spanish. So, if you want a quick but inspiring schedule, check it out.
However, if you are like me and always looking for more ways to make this week more powerfully inspiring, here are some more hands on ideas to consider picking and choosing from for Holy Week:
Palm Sunday
- place your Palm branches from Mass on a prayer space in your home
- make a Palm Leaf Prayer to remember to say more prayers this week
Holy Monday
- Consider this project of making your own Stations of the Cross sunset artwork throughout the week for a hands on way to remember Jesus’ Passion and Death.
- Listen to the Lenten soundtrack posted here to help prepare for this special week.
Holy Tuesday
- Learn about the Holy Oils In the Church that will be blessed by the Cardinal at the Chrism Mass tonight then have your children look for the holy oils at Sacred Heart (answer- they are in the back of the church on the left side)
Holy Wednesday-
- Reflect on God’s Anointing and the Gift of the Holy Spirit at this video.
- Pray to the Holy Spirit to awaken in you and your family to prepare for the Triduum (or three holy days that begins on Holy Thursday)
- Print and prepare a Printable Resurrection Set as a centerpiece for your dining table or prayer space
Holy Thursday
- Make unleavened bread together
- Bring out your Bible and read together the Last Supper in the Bible that can be found in all four Gospels (Mt. 26:17–30, Mk. 14:12–26, Lk. 22:7–39 and Jn. 13:1–17:26)
- Eat together the unleavened bread and some grapes and discuss how these two simple foods are used for such a tremendous miracle – The Eucharist
- Bring out a bowl of water and towel, then wash each other’s feet reminding us that Jesus called us to serve one another
- Then take time to pray silently as Jesus asked the Apostles to do during His Agony in the Garden.
Good Friday
- Pray the Stations of the Cross (my family will often reenact the Stations for a more living experience complete with simple costume and cross to carry)
- Pray or sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet as my family enjoys doing
- Begin the Divine Mercy Novena today to end on Divine Mercy Sunday April 24.
- Take your fasting and abstinence from meat to a new level today by additionally fasting from all unnecessary media and entertainment and keep more silence in the house until Easter
Holy Saturday
- Keep the solemness around the house and find time to read more Scripture or stories of the saints
- Make Resurrection rolls and read the story together
Easter Sunday
- Celebrate with a resurrection party filled with yummy food and joy
- Pray the Stations of Light.
- Pick ways to honor all 50 days of Easter by checking out a whole list of ideas here (https://www.looktohimandberadiant.com/2021/04/50-ways-to-celebrate-50-days-of-easter.html).
- Listen to Easter songs on this soundtrack (https://www.looktohimandberadiant.com/2015/04/the-sound-of-easter-and-some-divine.html) along with some Divine Mercy activities to prepare for Divine Mercy Sunday on April 24.
Praying that this will be the Holiest of Weeks for your family!
References:
Author: Laura Stephens, FF Sacrament Preparation Catechist
