24th March 2013 - Palm Sunday

 

And so at last this year we begin the beginning of this most Holy of Weeks, an intense liturgical and reflective week which is the pinnacle of the Christian year; a celebration of the raison d'etre of why we are Christian - to mark the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord.

On this weeks programme John, Anne and Lorraine are joined by Geraldine Creaton to reflect on Palm Sunday and Holy Week. We have a reflection on the gospel reading of the day as well as some reflective music and pauses in a busy day.

This weeks programmes is available to listen to on podcast HERE.

H/t "Let us resolve to make this week holy"

Let us resolve to make this week holy by claiming Christ’s redemptive grace and by living holy lives.

The Word became flesh and redeemed us by his holy life and holy death. This week especially, let us accept redemption by living grateful, faithful, prayerful, generous, just and holy lives.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by reading and meditating Holy Scripture.

So often, we get caught up in the hurry of daily living. As individuals and as families, reserve prime time to be with Jesus, to hear the cries of the children waving palm branches, to see the Son of Man riding on an ass' colt, to feel the press of the crowd, to be caught up in the "Hosannas” and to realize how the cries of acclamation will yield to the garden of suffering, to be there and watch as Jesus is sentenced by Pilate to Calvary, to see him rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross, to hear the echo of the hammer, to feel the agony of the torn flesh and strained muscles, to know Mary’s anguish as he hung three hours before he died.

We recoil before the atrocities of war, gang crime, domestic violence and catastrophic illness. Unless we personally and immediately are touched by suffering, it is easy to read Scripture and to walk away without contacting the redemptive suffering that makes us holy. The reality of the Word falls on deaf ears.

Let us take time this week to be present to someone who suffers. Sharing the pain of a fellow human will enliven Scripture and help us enter into the holy mystery of the redemptive suffering of Christ.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by participating in the Holy Week services of the church, not just by attending, but also by preparing, by studying the readings, entering into the spirit, offering our services as ministers of the Word or Eucharist, decorating the church or preparing the environment for worship.

Let us sing, "Lord, have mercy," and "Hosanna." Let us praise the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, uniting with the suffering church throughout the world -- in Rome and Ireland, in Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa and Angola, India and China, Nicaragua and El Salvador, in Washington, D.C., and Jackson, Mississippi.

Let us break bread together; let us relive the holy and redemptive mystery. Let us do it in memory of him, acknowledging in faith his real presence upon our altars.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy within our families, sharing family prayer on a regular basis, making every meal a holy meal where loving conversations bond family members in unity, sharing family work without grumbling, making love not war, asking forgiveness for past hurts and forgiving one another from the heart, seeking to go all the way for love as Jesus went all the way for love.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy with the needy, the alienated, the lonely, the sick and afflicted, the untouchable.

Let us unite our sufferings, inconveniences and annoyances with the suffering of Jesus. Let us stretch ourselves, going beyond our comfort zones to unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work.

We unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love.

Let us be practical, reaching out across the boundaries of race and class and status to help somebody, to encourage and affirm somebody, offering to the young an incentive to learn and grow, offering to the downtrodden resources to help themselves.

May our fasting be the kind that saves and shares with the poor, that actually contacts the needy, that gives heart to heart, that touches and nourishes and heals.

During this Holy Week when Jesus gave his life for love, let us truly love one another

Palm Sunday and Holy Week

Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday as it is also called, begins Holy Week. This week is he “holy of holies” of the Christian Church Year. For today we begin our observance of the last days of our Lord’s early sojourn, “for us and for our salvation,” as He enters in the very heart of darkness, sin and death itself. The triumph of the humble King who enters Jerusalem, humble and riding on a donkey, is marked on Sunday with a triumph: shouting crowds and exuberant shouts of welcome and celebration, but in only five days, the shouts of welcome turn to shouts of anger, hate and a call for his death. “O, Dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken?” as the old Lutheran hymn puts it. Let us then fix our hearts and minds on prayerful watching and waiting during these days, as we again are led by the Holy Spirit to see in our hearts, and our minds, the evil sinful nature and the thoughts, words and deeds, which put our Lord on the Cross. And repenting of them, despairing of ourselves, we turn once more to Christ the Crucified One, on whom is placed the sins of the world: your sins, my sins. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”

Geraldine reflects on the various aspects and ceremonies of Holy Week as we walk the journey of salvation to Calvary. She reflects on the paradox of Palm Sunday where we are presented with the intensity of the events of that Holy Week. The readings of the Mass almost give us a synopsis of the week to come and then each day that follows we walk step by step with the Master as he moves towards Calvary and the Cross.

Reflection from Geraldine is available to listen to HERE.

Previous reflections about Holy Week on SS102 fm here and here

Gospel - Luke 22:14-23, 56

Today the Church proclaims the Passion of Christ. The story of the Lord's suffering and death haunted the minds of the first Christians. All the Gospels center around it and find their fulfillment in it. The special emphasis in this years account, taken from the Gospel of Luke, is Christ's struggle with the false kingdoms of the world

Lorraine's reflection on the gospel is available HERE.

Other reflections on this weeks gospel:

Blue Eyed Ennis - Phil has a great round up of reflections and links for today and make sure you check in with her during the week for further reflections.
Word on Fire - Fr Barron
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds and ends

As the days of Holy Week out rank all feasts and memoria of saints, we won't be posting any Saints of the Week this week.

Divine Office: Psalter - Week 2

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord usually celebrated on March 25th will be celebrated on Monday 8th April 2013.

• Chrism Mass - as the Diocese of Limerick is still technically without a bishop this Holy Week, the holy oils are being blessed by Archbishop Charles Brown (the papal nuncio) at a Chrism Mass in St John's Cathedral on Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. Something to note that the chrism oils blessed at this Mass will be used to consecrate our new bishop on April 14th.
• Holy Thursday - Mass of the Lord's Supper - Reminder to bring back your Trocaire boxes/donations to your parish.
• Good Friday - Passion Ceremony - Day of Fast & Abstinence (First Friday) - traditional to perform the Stations of the Cross.
• Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil Ceremony - reminder that in the diocese of Limerick all Easter Vigil Masses will be after sunset.

20th March 2016 - Palm Sunday and Holy Week

On this week's programme John, Ann and Shane are joined by Geraldine Creaton from the Emmanuel Community. The focus of our programme this week is to spend a little time reflecting on Palm Sunday and Holy Week. You can listen to the full programme HERE.

Palm Sunday and Holy Week

Geraldine shared her experience of being in the Holy Land for Holy Week and she spoke of how if you are in Galilee you go up to Jerusalem, which is the same with our journey with Jesus. When we are journeying with Jesus, we are ascending, going higher with our hopes and dreams.  Holy Week is precisely that a holy week: a solemn, thought-provoking, precious week that invites us to reflect upon the great mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The liturgy of Palm Sunday begins with the Gospel account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem (cf. Luke 19:28-40) where the people cried out 'Hosanna' to Jesus. We do the same at every Mass. We use the same prayer of praise and intercession during the 'Holy, holy' prayer at Mass. Geraldine reminds us that when we call on Jesus, He does come to us, most especially when we receive Him in the Eucharist.

Shane shared with us how Holy Week is 'adult week' for Catholics, whereas Christmas is often seen as a time for children. Holy Week is not just something that engages the intellect, it also engages the senses: the smell of palms and incense, the silence of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the light of the Risen Christ that banishes the darkness during the Easter Vigil. 

Shane also reminded us about some traditional prayer devotions we can try during Holy Week to enter more deeply into this great mystery: the Stations of the Cross, meditating on the seven last words or the wounds of Christ. The excerpted section on Palm Sunday and Holy Week is HERE.

Gospel - Luke 19:28-40 (The Procession Gospel)

CHRIST’S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM BY HIPPOLYTE FLANDRIN

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Now when he was near Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of Olives as it is called, he sent two of the disciples, telling them, ‘Go off to the village opposite, and as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you are to say this, “The Master needs it”.’ The messengers went off and found everything just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owner said, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ and they answered, ‘The Master needs it’.

So they took the colt to Jesus, and throwing their garments over its back they helped Jesus on to it. As he moved off, people spread their cloaks in the road, and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen. They cried out:

‘Blessings on the King who comes,

in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven

and glory in the highest heavens!’

Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Master, check your disciples’, but he answered, ‘I tell you, if these keep silence the stones will cry out’.

Reflections on this week's Gospel:

Word on Fire

English Dominicans

Sunday Reflections

Liturgical Odds and Ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter Week 2

Holy Week takes precedence over the commemoration of individual saints so the feasts of St. Enda, Abbott (Monday, March 21st 2016) and St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop (Wednesday, March 23rd 2016), are not celebrated this year.

March 24th 2016 - Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper)

March 25th 2016 - Good Friday (Celebration of the Lord's Passion)

March 26th 2016 - Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil)

29th March 2015 - Palm Sunday and Holy Week

On this weeks programme John, Anne, Shane and Martina reflect on Palm Sunday and various particular focal points of the events of Holy Week and how we can enter into a deeper reflection of the Sacred Triduum.

For Palm Sunday we focus on the entrance of the Lord into the Holy City and how the acclamation's of Palm Sunday turned to the baying of a mob on Good Friday. Where are we in that crowd? Do we run with hare and chase with the hound in a mob context? 

We jump ahead to Spy Wednesday and remind ourselves that Judas was one of the Twelve, called by Jesus to be an apostle but whose path got turned aside thinking the ends justified the means. It gives us pause for thought before we condemn someone else.

Holy Thursday night we focus on the Mandatum - the Washing of the Feet and the call to Christian Service as well as the fact it is also the commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist. How well do build up the Body of Christ in our service to God and to one another? 

Garden of Gethsemene - can we stay one hour with the Lord?

Good Friday sees the church gather in silence to Commemorate the Passion of the Lord. In starkness with a bleak and sparse liturgy the community recalls why we call this Good Friday.

Holy Saturday is a day of silence. We keep vigil at the Lord's tomb right into the darkness of the night when Light comes forth from darkness and we are called to sing out the Good News of the Lord.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks programme HERE.

The podcast of reflections on the days of Holy Week is HERE.

The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Mosaic, Cathedral of St. Mark, Venice, Italy.

When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem,
to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately on entering it,
you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.
Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone should say to you,
‘Why are you doing this?’ reply,
‘The Master has need of it
and will send it back here at once.’”
So they went off
and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street,
and they untied it.
Some of the bystanders said to them,
“What are you doing, untying the colt?”
They answered them just as Jesus had told them to,
and they permitted them to do it.
So they brought the colt to Jesus
and put their cloaks over it.
And he sat on it.
Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
and others spread leafy branches
that they had cut from the fields.
Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11: 1-10) 

The Donkey - G K Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

Reflections and resources for reflecting on Palm Sunday:

Word on Fire - United in the Blood of Jesus
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections






Resources for Holy Week from Phil Ewing over at Ennis Blue:

Here on SS102fm we often link to posts by the blogger Phil Ewing which has been presented to us under various manifestations online over the last couple of years. She always provides some great links and visual aids and again for Holy Week has a series of posts which we link below as well as archived ones. Head on over and say hello from us:

Holy Week Music - Taize Chants
Holy Week Music - Classical selection
Palm Sunday

Reflections for Holy Week

iBenedictines - Making a Good Holy Week and other posts tagged Holy Week
Thinking Faith - Holy Week
SS102fm - Pope Francis homily Palm Sunday 2014 -  Where is my heart before the suffering Jesus?
Ignatian Spirituality - Reflections for Holy Week - dotMagis blog
Pray as you go - Women of the Passion - Lent 2015 Online retreat
Patheos Engaging Easter Page which has many resources including Devotional Reflections of Easter
Creighton University online ministry - Holy Week; the Sacred Triduum
Limerick Diocese Weekly Resource Newsletter 

Liturgical odds and ends

Holy Week and the Sacred Easter Triduum out rank all saints memorials and commemorations this week so we wont be posting any saints of the week list. The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday.

The Mass of Chrism, for the Year for Consecrated Life will be celebrated on Wednesday, 1st April at 7.15pm in Redemptorist Church, Mount St. Alphonsus, South Circular Road. 

This is a special gathering to which all are warmly invited. We especially invite families of those who will be baptised or confirmed this year - as the sacred oils for these sacraments will be blessed by Bishop Brendan and sent out to parishes from this gathering. For those who cannot attend in person: the Mass can be seen and heard live, via the 24hour webcam, at the Mount St. Alphonsus website at www.novena.ie

Lent ends at sunset on Holy Thursday before the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Reminder to people to bring your Trocaire box to church for collection.

Good Friday the traditional collection is taken up for the support of the Holy Places in the Holy Land.

Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence for Catholics in Ireland.

The Stations of the Cross from the Colosseum in Rome - reflections for 2015

13th April 2014 - Palm Sunday - Stations of the Cross - Updated

And so at last this year we begin the beginning of this most Holy of Weeks, an intense liturgical and reflective week which is the pinnacle of the Christian year; a celebration of the raison d'etre of why we are Christian - to mark the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. To celebrate Palm Sunday SS102fm reflects on the Stations of the Cross to provide a moment of space and reflection.

You can listen to the full podcast of this weeks programme HERE.

Palm Sunday - SS102fm reflects on the Stations of the Cross

Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday as it is also called, begins Holy Week. This week is the “holy of holies” of the Christian Church Year. For today we begin our observance of the last days of our Lord’s early sojourn, “for us and for our salvation,” as He enters in the very heart of darkness, sin and death itself. The triumph of the humble King who enters Jerusalem, humble and riding on a donkey, is marked on Sunday with a triumph: shouting crowds and exuberant shouts of welcome and celebration, but in only five days, the shouts of welcome turn to shouts of anger, hate and a call for his death. “O, Dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken?” as the old Lutheran hymn puts it. Let us then fix our hearts and minds on prayerful watching and waiting during these days, as we again are led by the Holy Spirit to see in our hearts, and our minds, the evil sinful nature and the thoughts, words and deeds, which put our Lord on the Cross. And repenting of them, despairing of ourselves, we turn once more to Christ the Crucified One, on whom is placed the sins of the world: your sins, my sins. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”

"When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find an ass tethered,
and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them here to me.
And if anyone should say anything to you, reply,
‘The master has need of them.’
Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled:Say to daughter Zion,
“Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:1-11)

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire

English Dominicans

Centre for Liturgy

Sunday Reflections

Update



This week we reflect on the Stations of the Cross. The Way of the Cross is the journey through the Passion and Death of Jesus through out the first Holy Week in the city of Jerusalem. To this day Christians of all denominations will walk the ancient streets of the Old City retracing that journey from the Mount of Olives to Calvary.

We reflect on the stations through the eyes of Mary as the mother of Jesus walks the road to Calvary. We take this opportunity to enter into an intimate journey of faith through a deep reflection that unites our pain and suffering with Jesus on the cross through the sorrowful heart of His Mother.

You can find the text of the reflections we used for this weeks programme HERE.

The podcast of the Stations of the Cross is available HERE.

You can read individual reflections on the Stations of the Cross from previous posts on SS102fm HERE.


"Let us resolve to make this week holy"

Let us resolve to make this week holy by claiming Christ’s redemptive grace and by living holy lives.

The Word became flesh and redeemed us by his holy life and holy death. This week especially, let us accept redemption by living grateful, faithful, prayerful, generous, just and holy lives.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by reading and meditating Holy Scripture.

So often, we get caught up in the hurry of daily living. As individuals and as families, reserve prime time to be with Jesus, to hear the cries of the children waving palm branches, to see the Son of Man riding on an ass' colt, to feel the press of the crowd, to be caught up in the "Hosannas” and to realize how the cries of acclamation will yield to the garden of suffering, to be there and watch as Jesus is sentenced by Pilate to Calvary, to see him rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross, to hear the echo of the hammer, to feel the agony of the torn flesh and strained muscles, to know Mary’s anguish as he hung three hours before he died.

We recoil before the atrocities of war, gang crime, domestic violence and catastrophic illness. Unless we personally and immediately are touched by suffering, it is easy to read Scripture and to walk away without contacting the redemptive suffering that makes us holy. The reality of the Word falls on deaf ears.

Let us take time this week to be present to someone who suffers. Sharing the pain of a fellow human will enliven Scripture and help us enter into the holy mystery of the redemptive suffering of Christ.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by participating in the Holy Week services of the church, not just by attending, but also by preparing, by studying the readings, entering into the spirit, offering our services as ministers of the Word or Eucharist, decorating the church or preparing the environment for worship.

Let us sing, "Lord, have mercy," and "Hosanna." Let us praise the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, uniting with the suffering church throughout the world -- in Rome and Ireland, in Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa and Angola, India and China, Nicaragua and El Salvador, in Washington, D.C., and Jackson, Mississippi.

Let us break bread together; let us relive the holy and redemptive mystery. Let us do it in memory of him, acknowledging in faith his real presence upon our altars.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy within our families, sharing family prayer on a regular basis, making every meal a holy meal where loving conversations bond family members in unity, sharing family work without grumbling, making love not war, asking forgiveness for past hurts and forgiving one another from the heart, seeking to go all the way for love as Jesus went all the way for love.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy with the needy, the alienated, the lonely, the sick and afflicted, the untouchable.

Let us unite our sufferings, inconveniences and annoyances with the suffering of Jesus. Let us stretch ourselves, going beyond our comfort zones to unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work.

We unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love.

Let us be practical, reaching out across the boundaries of race and class and status to help somebody, to encourage and affirm somebody, offering to the young an incentive to learn and grow, offering to the downtrodden resources to help themselves.

May our fasting be the kind that saves and shares with the poor, that actually contacts the needy, that gives heart to heart, that touches and nourishes and heals.

During this Holy Week when Jesus gave his life for love, let us truly love one another

Limerick Diocese on Facebook

As posted earlier in the week, Limerick Diocese has joined Facebook with its own page and Noirin Lynch from LDPC came on to tell us all about it. You can listen to Noirin's interview excerpted from the main programme here.

Limerick Diocesan Facebook page.

Liturgical odds and ends

Holy Week is the pinnacle of the liturgical year and as such out ranks any commemoration of the saints that may occur during that time so we wont be posting the saints of the week this week.

Holy Thursday - Mass of the Lord's Supper - Reminder to bring back your Trocaire boxes/donations to your parish.

Good Friday - Passion Ceremony - Day of Fast & Abstinence (First Friday) - traditional to perform the Stations of the Cross and is also the date for the collection for support of the Holy Places.

Resources for Holy Week

The weekly diocesan newsletter from LDPC has had lots of notices and resources over the last couple of weeks for Holy Week. You can find the newsletters HERE.

Easter Ceremonies in the Diocese

You can find out about the diocesan celebration of Easter including the details of the Chrism Mass (Wednesday 17th at St Joseph's Church at 7.30pm) and the broadcast of the Easter ceremonies from St John's Cathedral on the diocesan website.

Time for celebrating the Easter Vigil in Limerick Diocese

The Easter Vigil must take place after sunset. As summer time commenced on Sunday 30th March the Easter Vigil in the diocese of Limerick is to be celebrated no earlier than 9.00p.m.

Celebrations with Pope Francis in Rome

You can find out the details of the ceremonies which Pope Francis will preside over in Rome during Holy Week here. As usual we will post the main homilies of the week and the Pope's "urbi et orbi".

Celebrations in the Holy Land

Anticipation for Easter is growing in the Holy Land. The most important week for the life of the Church will this year be celebrated simultaneously with other Christian churches as well as falling the same week as the Jewish Passover. You can follow events from the Holy Land on the website of the Custody of the Holy Land. Sadly we cannot embed videos from the site but head on over to watch and read the reflections and of course, please remember to be generous on Good Friday for the traditional collection taken up for the Holy Places.

Holy Week - 17th April 2011 - Passion (Palm) Sunday - Year A

This weeks show is a bit different to our normal Sunday show as we have an interview with a representative from Trocaire about their work in support of the their Lenten campaign and then John and Shane discuss Holy Week and reflect on the various ceremonies and prayers associated with the Great Week.

Trocaire

 Eithne McNulty took the time to come and speak on the programme this week to inform people know the work that Trocaire does and this years Lenten campaign.

Trocaire is the official body set up by the bishops in 1973 and is charged with two main tasks; to help the poorest of the poor overseas and to create an awareness of development issues among the people in Ireland. It is not just an issue of giving handouts but rather to build a sustainable development model empowering the poorest of the poor to be able to work for their own rights and betterment in a holistic manner.

Eithne talks about the Lenten campaign which this year focus' on Honduras which is the third poorest country after Haiti and Nicaragua in Central America. It is a country where 25% of under 5's die of malnutrition and 65% of the population live on less than $2 a day. There are many problems with land rights to obtain and protect their ability to grow their own food and Trocaire assists local communities in fighting for their rights against a corrupt government.

Last year the people of Limerick gave €263,000 for the Lenten campaign, which went towards to the great work of Trocaire but the work continues, so please consider giving what you can to support the campaign this year.If you can give even a little through any of the following methods it will be used to help the poorest of the poor:

• Trocaire Box given into local parishes/schools (especially this week as special collections will be taken up Holy Thursday)
• Trocaire website to donate
• Call 1850408408
• Post: Trocaire, Maynooth, Co Kildare

To read more about Trocaire's Lenten Campaign read here and have a look at this short video from Trocaire.



Holy Week

We are entering into a liturgically intensive week ahead as we enter into the most solemn week of the liturgical year - Holy Week leading onto Easter Sunday. An important week which is the raison d'être for Christianity.

We go through this week using very physical things - wine, bread, oil, water, light, dark - so we can experience it with all our senses and realise the importance of this most special of weeks.

We should take the time to pick up our missal or missalette and go through the structure of the ceremonies and reflect on what they mean and represent, using the liturgy to guide us into deeper reflection on this most special time.

Leading us into the reflection on Holy Week, John read from the following from Deacon Greg Kandra from the blog 'The Deacons Bench':

"We're in the final stretch before Holy Week, set to begin this Sunday, Palm Sunday.With all the busyness and distractions, it can be easy to forget what this coming week is really about. Back in the 1960s, there was a TV show called "That Was the Week That Was," which satirized current events. It was a precursor to "Saturday Night Live" or "The Daily Show." Well, what we are beginning Sunday will mark the ultimate "week that was." The liturgies of this coming week are powerful and primal. We are a part of something both ancient and new, and what we do this week reminds us of that. The altar will be stripped. The cross will be venerated. The tabernacle will be emptied. The Blessed Sacrament will be moved. Bells will be stilled.

It is unlike any other time in our Catholic calendar.

This week, take the time to think deeply about what we are doing, and what we are remembering. Take time to realize what this week has meant to the world.

For close to two thousand years, we have gathered like this, to light candles and chant prayers and read again the ancient stories of our deliverance and redemption. But are we aware of what we are doing? Do we understand what it means? Do we realize the price that was paid?"

It is a very thought provoking piece which we would encourage you to read the rest of the piece that John read out here.

Palm Sunday - The commemoration of Jesus' messianic entry into the holy city of Jerusalem where Jesus is acknowledged by the crowds from Galilee but ignored by the people of the city. We re-enact this entry into the holy city with our own procession with palms and songs.

Spy Wednesday - The day associated with the gospel account of Judas' going to the Jewish leaders to agree to betray Jesus.

Chrism Mass - A Mass led by the bishop of the diocese with all the priests of the diocese where the Holy Oils will be blessed for use during the following year. Bishop Kieran O'Rielly, Bishop of Killaloe, has kindly agreed to bless the Holy Oils for the Diocese of Limerick this year. Instead of a Chrism Mass, we will gather for a Holy Hour in St John’s Cathedral on: Wednesday 20th April from 7.30pm - 8.30pm. Everyone is invited to come and pray together, and refreshments will be available for all afterwards. Catholics use three kinds of sacred oils during our sacraments. They are:

• The Oil of Catechumens - a blessed olive oil used in Baptism, in the consecration of churches, in the blessing of alters and in the ordination of priests.
• Chrism oil - an olive oil mixed with a small amount of balsam (perfume) which is used in Confirmation, Baptism, ordination, in the consecration of a Bishop, the consecration of various things such as churches, patens and bells.
• The Oil of the Sick - used in the anointing of the sick.

The blessing of oils is performed by the Bishop of each diocese on Holy Thursday, (or the eve before it), in the diocese's cathedral during the Chrism Mass. While we await our new Bishop, we have asked Bishop Kieran O’Rielly of Killaloe to bless the Holy Oils for us this year.  All Holy Oils that will be used in sacraments and blessings in this diocese are blessed once and together during Holy Week. This is a strong statement of unity – a reminder to us all that we one. Each parish priest then collects Holy Oils for the parish he is ministering in. We will use these Holy Oils at times of great joy or sorrow in our lives across the whole year - and as we do we are united with all our brothers and sister in Christ who are likewise blessed.

Holy Thursday (Maudy Thursday) - The beginning of the Sacred Tridium of Easter which begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper where the entire community gathers around the alter of the Lord with their priests in the evening as the evening in the Jewish tradition is the beginning of the next day. Sometimes it is called called Maudy Thursday which comes from Mandatum = Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. Again the symbolism of the night includes the Washing of the Feet to remind us that we are servants to each other, none of us any greater or more powerful than our Divine Master. 

Holy Thursday celebrates both the Institution of the Eucharist by Christ and the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood - the role and function of priests in the church today because Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples but he himself is the Passover sacrifice.

“Take this, all of you, and eat it:
this is my body which will be given up for you.
Take this, all of you, and drink from it:
this is the cup of my blood,”

At the end of the Mass we have the movement of the Blessed Sacrament to the Alter of Repose, almost symbolically demonstrating the Lord leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane, where he under went a mental challenge to accept the will of the Father for what was to come. For us, the great call which still comes down to us is the question that was posed to the disciples "Can you not keep watch one hour with me?".

Good Friday - The Day of the Lords Passion with no Mass celebrated anywhere today. We are accompanying and commemorating the Lords Passion on the first Good Friday. The service generally held at 3pm consists of Liturgy of the Word with the Passion according to St John proclaimed, the Veneration of the Cross (the instrument of our salvation) and a Service of Holy Communion (or Mass of the Pre-Sanctified). The focus of the day is on the Act of Salvation for humanity which we mark with solemn liturgy and observing the day as one of fast and abstinence. The liturgy focus' on the instrument of our salvation, the Cross, an thing of shame and despair, used in the dump outside the city walls.  Where would you have been on Good Friday? Would you have been with Mary at the foot of the Cross or hiding with Peter and the rest? It should be a day of reflection, penitence and silence as we reflect on the great event of our salvation.


Holy Saturday - The Church waits in silence at the tomb of the Divine Master as he has "descended to the dead" amd we wait in darkness and silence until the Easter Vigil which can be broken down into four parts - liturgy of Light, the liturgy of the Word, liturgy of Baptism and liturgy of Eucharist.

The Easter Vigil begins with darkness. The darkness represents all darkness, and all the meanings of darkness: the darkness of our world, and the darkness in my heart. If I come to the vigil and restlessly and impatiently fidget in the dark "until something happens," I miss the power of what is about to happen. So, we prepare for the Easter Vigil by readying ourselves to experience the darkness. It is uncomfortable and confusing, humbling and nervous. Then a light is struck. It breaks into the darkness like nothing else can.

"Make this new fire holy, and inflame us with new hope."

"May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds"

The candle lit from the new Pascal fire is then brought into the community in procession, and we receive its light, and the power of that light grows. We sing: The Light of Christ: Thanks be to God! The experience of darkness now heightens our senses in this dramatic moment and helps our prayer. When the candle is brought front and centre, we hear the Easter Proclamation, or Exultet.

"Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!"

So it’s clear now why the entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place at night. The Easter Vigil does not correspond to the usual Saturday evening Mass. To light a fire and candles and speak of “this holy night, “and “Christ the Morning Star,” while there is still light on the western horizon would literally be senseless! Thus, the Easter Vigil in Limerick Diocese should be held no earlier than 9pm this year. (Sunset on April 23^rd 2011 is estimated at 20:39pm).

The Liturgy of Word looks at the journey of salvatin from Genesis right through and how the Lord has maintained his relationship of love with us through all things culminating in the singing the Alleluia and the great Gospel (literally Good News) of the Lords Resurrection.

The Blessing of Water is where we have the call to Baptism and the renewal of promises, the link in with the fact that at Easter around the world people are being accepted into the Church through baptism and confirmation and how Lent was traditionally seen as a period of prepartion for this great event in their lives, for us who are baptised as Children a reminder of how special it is when you see grown adults requesting it and how we need to nurture it, we are no longer Children as Paul reminds us and have a responsibility to develop and adult faith.

Some further reflections on Holy Week:

• Bishop David McGough writes in the Catholic Herald, "At the beginning of Holy Week, we welcome Christ into our lives"
• Mark Shea writing in the National Catholic Register reminds us that," This Sunday we celebrate the Triumphal Entry"
• Archbishop Timothy Dolan in his weekly blog post gives us a reflection on A blessed Holy Week and reminds us that the church is a church of sinners always asking the Lord for forgiveness.
• Fr Robert Barron's weekly sermon podcast from Word on Fire.
• Deacon Greg's regular weekly homily.