About Holy Week and Easter

Holy Week and Easter: What's it all about?

For Christians this is the most important time of the year

Why?
What happened?
How can we join in?
Carry on reading......
and for times of worship, click here

PALM SUNDAY
What happened?
Jesus rode a donkey into the holy city of Jerusalem. The crowds cheered him as a King. They took palm branches off nearby trees, waved them in joy and threw them into the road for Jesus as a 'royal carpet'.
Why is it important?
Jesus is supreme King of the Universe - and our king. But as God made man he isn't remote or frightening but real and approachable. Jesus understands us completely.
How can we join in?

Read the Holy Week story - think of Jesus going into Jerusalem.
Think of the palms people waved to greet Jesus as king ... and remember that the palm cross we usually have is in the shape of a cross because only 5 days later that same crowd chanted 'Crucify Him!'.
Come to the 9.30 Mass on Palm Sunday (28th March) and receive a palm cross to take home.
It helps us remember that we can just as easily betray our friends and Jesus, too.

MAUNDY THURSDAY
What happened?

Jesus shared his last supper with his disciples.
He washed their feet & showed that it's truly great to serve others, rather than be served. He said that's how we must love each other.
He asked his disciples to receive His Holy Communion. Bread and wine, blessed and shared, became his body and blood - food for body, mind and spirit that no other food or drink can satisfy.
He went and prayed in the nearby garden of Gethsemane, agonising under the weight of all that was about to happen to him.
Judas, one of his closest friends, betrayed him with a kiss and Jesus was arrested, tied up and led away.

Why is it important?

The washing of feet reminds us how we should love and serve one another. Nobody should be too far beneath us.
Jesus' power transforms us whenever we receive his Body and Blood in Holy Communion.
When we pray silently in the 'Garden of Gethsemane' we join Jesus in his prayer for the whole world and its needs.

How can we join in?

Come to Mass of the Last Supper at 7.30pm on Thursday 1st April.
witness the priest washing the feet of 1 person (in his household) In normal times 12 people, representing the 12 apostles, have their feet washed.
feel free to pray or simply sit in the beauty and silence of the specially created ‘Garden of Gethsemane’ in the presence of Our Lord at any time from the end of Mass until 10.00 pm. (Because of the complication of covid restrictions the watch will finish earlier than usual.)

GOOD FRIDAY
What happened?

Powerful people wanted Jesus dead for religious or political reasons. They saw him as a threat - though he had done nothing wrong. They were jealous of him.
He was cruelly tortured by scourges (whips of leather strands tipped with sharp lead pieces). A crown of sharp thorns was rammed on his head. He was spat on, mocked and abused.
He was forced to drag a rough, wooden cross to his execution on the hill of Calvary. He was stripped almost naked & iron nails were hammered into his arms and feet. He hung, nailed on that cross for six hours.
He died... a slow, agonising, painful death
His body was taken down from the Cross, wrapped in cloth and sealed in a tomb. A large stone was rolled across the entrance.

Why is it important?

Jesus - God who had become man - loved us so much that he died for us. He had done nothing wrong, but endured horrific torture and execution because he wanted to save us from the power of death. Death was brought about by sin - every act of turning our backs on God... and up to that point there was no-one who had been strong enough to resist sin and overcome its result - death.
The only way death could be overpowered was by a stronger, greater power - the power of perfect love. Jesus had never given in to the temptation of evil, so carried the weight of all the sin and death of the world on His shoulders for us.
His death seemed like a terrible defeat and the end of everything his followers had hoped for... but something extraordinary was about to happen.

How can we join in?

Come to the special, reflective service at 2.00pm on Friday 2nd April. (It should last under an hour.) You'll find St Mary's very different from normal - stark and bare with no colour or flowers;
Join in reading the story of what happened on Good Friday from St John's Gospel. Take part the quiet procession to the cross, where this year we each have the opportunity to bow and reflect for a moment - and offer your life, with all its joys and sorrows, to God, whose love for us was so great that He gave his life for each one of us.
As you receive Holy Communion thank him for his supreme sacrifice.

HOLY SATURDAY AND EASTER DAY
What happened?
The dead body of Jesus was sealed in a tomb on Good Friday and a huge stone placed at the entrance, but that wasn't the end...

The following Sunday his friends went to visit the tomb, but found

the stone rolled away,
the tomb empty and
the grave clothes left behind.

Jesus suddenly appeared to them, but he wasn't a ghost! Over the next 40 days they talked with him, listened to him, touched him, ate with him and worshipped with him. They now knew that what He had said was true: He is Risen! Their lives were changed for ever.

Why is it important?

Life has a meaning and death is not the end.
Because of what happened at Easter, death is now an event which, though it finishes our earthly life, can't hold us in its grip.

Jesus forged a new way, so if we follow in his footsteps, we can live forever with him.
We can share this greatest news in the world with others.

How can we join in?
Easter is such an important day that we celebrate it in church twice!

Come at 7.30pm on Holy Saturday (3rd April)
gather (socially distanced) in the north churchyard near the porch as the day darkens;
see the new fire lit, which is a sign of the new life of Resurrection – that light has overcome darkness forever.
Flames from this fire light the Easter (Paschal) candle. Take a candle and light it from this candle as you join the procession into the darkened church.
Hear the story of God’s never-ending love for His creation in Old Testament readings and
His triumph over sin and death in New Testament readings.
Join in the light, colour, sound and scent as the wonderful Vigil unfolds.
Receive the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Communion, or a special blessing if you are not a Communicant,
Thank God for this most wonderful gift and
let the light of Christ shine through you to light up the lives of others.

!
You are welcome, whether you have come to church before or not.

On Easter Sunday (4th April) come and join our family Parish Mass at 9.30 am.
Of course we are sorry we can't give chocolate eggs and have our usual party celebrations after the Masses, but we are grateful we can worship together in church despite the covid restrictions and can still celebrate the resurrection and new life of Easter

HAPPY EASTER!