HOLY SATURDAY , GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY THURSDAY,

Detail from Michelangelo's Pieta


Holy Saturday


Today I always listen to "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" ("Sorrowful Mother Standing").

The solemnity an' sorrow is so profound: the Mother who could not leave her Son alone on the cross--who endured a soul shattering spectacle as the vulgar soldiers cast lots for His clothing an' jeered at them. The hymn has inspired Hadyn, Vivaldi, Palestrina, Dvorak and others to write their own versions. This small section is from Palestrina:



GOOD FRIDAY






Holy Thursday / Tenebrae

John 13: 1-17

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

These poignant verses illustrate the love that Christ has for His people---a love that beckons, not a conquering command.

Tenebrae means "shadows" or "darkness." Many Christian traditions still include a Tenebrae service at the close of the Holy Thursday, or, more properly, at Matins
(shortly after midnight). It is a time of mourning, lamentation--a sorrowful inward examination of our own failures, a lament for the suffering of Christ. Since the 5th century churches have extinguished the candles during Tenebrae--a gesture rich symbol: Jesus is the Light of the world, but where the Light is betrayed, darkness overtakes us.

You can hear a short selection of the classical Tenebrae music here.



In the gospels it is during the Last Supper that Judas departs on his errand of betrayal. It was not a sudden decision. Weeks before this passage for Holy Thursday, Judas' heart was growing cold. At the discourse on the Bread of Life (John 6:70) Jesus indicates that one of the twelve has already turned against him. The betrayal is completed on the night that Christ again teaches them that He is the Bread of Life. One can have some sympathy--perhaps--for Judas; he had hoped for a military king who'd kick out the Roman oppressors. But what profit is there in any new king/ military coup if one's own heart remains corrupt; flaccid hearts incapable of sacrificial love? Would /could society be any different unless we ourselves are changed?


Caravaggio's "Taking of Christ" when Judas betrays Jesus with the kiss of friendship.

More Holy Week resources GODZDOGZ

Resurrexit !

"And this food is called among us Eucharistia, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the Apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels have delivered unto us which was enjoined upon them."
—St Justin the Martyr

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Music: Bach's St. Matthew's Passion; Arvo Part's Passio (Hillard Ensemble)


Tenebrae and the Last Supper




Tenebrae is a Latin word meaning "shadows" or "darkness."

This is the name given to quiet, somber parts of the Liturgy of the Hours that are chanted in monasteries all over the world on the last three days of Holy Week, begining a Midnight on Wednesday flowing into Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Since the 5th century the custom has been to grdually snuff the candles in the church so that the congregation is enveloped in darkness, a symbol for our lives without the Light of the World.

These prayers manifest our sorrow, a deep grief for the suffering and crucifixion Jesus, our Lord. Such grief acknowledges our own acts of betrayal, our dreadful choices with long reaching consequences, our abandonment of the laws of Divine Love and the pain, loss and darkness of our personal sins.

A Tenebrae service is an opportunity for serious reflection on one's own life. The readings are taken from Lamenation of Jeremias and the Psalms.

These solemn, mournful days of reflection are the proper prelude to Joy, and the the expanding, conquering light of Glory on Easter Morning.

On Holy Thursday, sometimes called Maundy Thursday, the liturgy includes the Washing of the Feet after the homily, a solemn rite of service performed by Christ upon His disciples to prepare them for their priesthood and the marriage banquet they will offer, and which echoes the Old Testament practice of foot-washing before the marital embrace (II Kings 11:8-11, Canticles 5:3) In front of all the people, the priest washes the feet of 12 men who represent the Apostles.





And during supper Jesus ... got up from the table, took off His outer robe, and tied a towel around Himself. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around Him ... After He had washed their feet, had put on His robe, and had returned to the table, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." John 13:2-14


After the Mass, the priest removes his chasuble, returns to the Altar for the rite known as the Stripping of the Altars, during which everything is removed as Antiphons and Psalms are recited. All the glorious symbols of Christ's Presence are removed to give us the sense of His entering most fully into His Passion. Christ enters the Garden of Gethsemani; His arrest is imminent. Fortescue's "Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described" tells us: "From now till Saturday no lamps in the church are lit. No bells are rung. Holy Water should be removed from all stoups and thrown into the sacrarium. A small quantity is kept for blessing the fire on Holy Saturday or for a sick call." The joyful signs of His Presence won't return until Easter begins with the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday evening.

"O Lord Jesus Christ the son of the living God, set thy passion, cross, and death between thy judgment and my soul, now, and in the hour of my death and vouchsafe to grant unto me grace and mercy: to the living and the dead rest and pardon: to thy Church peace and concord, and to us sinners life and glory everlasting, who livest and reignest, God, with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end."






Listen with yore eyes closed for 6 minutes.... jes' a few minutes to think on your life.