Holy Week Schedule

Horaire De La Semaine Sainte

 Palm Sunday – Dimanche des Rameaux

Blessing of the Palms – Procession – Holy Mass

Bénédiction des Rameaux – Procession – Sainte-Messe

The Church has consecrated the time preceding Easter to the remembrance and meditation of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.  For this reason the period is called “Passion-tide”, and the Church places veils of penance on the Crucifixes and statues used in public worship. On this Sunday, we shall solemnly bless the Palms, and carry them in procession.  Our Saviour began Holy Week by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  He continued it by the institution of the Eucharist, in which He gave to His Apostles His body as food and His blood as drink.   He consummated it by ending the most cruel sufferings and the most shameful of deaths.  He deigned to die upon a cross to satisfy the justice of His Father, and thus to deliver humankind from the power of the Evil One, from eternal death and from hell. Such are the great mysteries which the Church recalls each year to the faithful in holy ceremonies which should revive our piety, faith, and gratitude. Each one of you should bring you Palm, and hold it devoutly in your hand during the Blessing and Procession as also during the singing (or reading) of the Passion.  This pious ceremony recalls the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, when the populace went before Him, carrying branches of palm or olive trees in sign of joy and honour.  Take back to your homes the blessed palms, and keep them with respect.

Holy Thursday –  Jeudi Saint

 Holy Mass

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on the altar after Holy Mass

Stripping of the altar and removal of the Blessed Sacrament.

The door of the tabernacle is left open and empty

 The Sanctuary lamp is extinguished

Après la Ste-Messe, l’autel es depouillée. 

Seulement les six chandelles et la croix recouverte d’un linceul noir demeurent. 

La porte du Tabernacle est ouverte, et les Saintes Espèces transportées dans la Sacristie. 

La lampe du sanctuaire est éteinte

You will endeavor, on Holy Thursday, to revive in your hearts feelings of love and gratitude towards our Saviour for the great benefit of the Eucharist, which he instituted on that day. Humbly beg our Saviour to pardon you.  Detest with all your heart the sins you have committed; make up your mind to commit them no more, with the grace of God.  Unite yourselves also, as much as possible, to the sentiments of humility which Christ showed on this day by washing the feet of His Apostles before institution the Eucharist.

Good Friday – Vendredi Saint

Stations of the Cross and Veneration of the Cross – Reading of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Stations de la Croix – Vénération de la Croix

On Good Friday you should feel the greatest sorrow at the thought of the sufferings which Christ endured in His Passion, and of the dolorous sacrifice which He consummated on the Cross, by shedding His Precious Blood for our salvation. Adore Christ crucified with compunction, love, and gratitude. Pas de chandelles, pas d’encens, pas de musique. Le Crucifix demeure sur le St-Autel, pour noux rappeler les Souffrances et la mort de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ pour nous tous pour nous tous.

Holy Saturday – Samedi Saint

 Blessing of the New Fire

Blessing of the Holy Water

Blessing of the Pascal Candle

Baptisms

Bénédiction du feu nouveau

Bénédiction de l’eau

Bénédiction du Cierge Pascale

Baptêmes

On Holy Saturday you will honour the sacred burial of Our Lord. The thought of this mystery so absorbed the faithful of former times that they passed the day and night in prayer and fasting, remembering that before Baptism – which may be called the Sacrament of the Death and Burial of Christ – they were, so to speak, enshrouded with Him in Death, before coming forth with Him to eternal life. The Church on this day blessed the new fire to symbolize the new life received through Jesus Christ, whose Risen Life is represented by the Pascal Candle, which is lit from that time until Ascension. It was formerly tradition to baptize on Holy Saturday the catechumens, who had been instructed and prepared during the year. The Church still recalls this ancient discipline by the solemn blessing of Baptismal Water on that day. Assist therefore with piety at this ceremony, and renew the promises of your Baptism.

Easter Sunday

Christ is Risen!

Jour de Pâques

Le Christ Est Ressuscité!

 

Holy Mass Of Easter – Sainte-Eucharistie de Pâques

On this Sunday we celebrate with joy the holy feast of Easter. On this day our Saviour rose victorious over death and sin; on this day He re-assumed the life which He had given for us, and reuniting Body and Soul, burst the tomb asunder. Prepare then to rise with Him to a lasting life of grace. Christ is risen! Such is the mystery of which the solemn octave commences on this day. This mystery is the fulfilling of the work of our redemption and the foundation of our faith, since, by His resurrection, Christ proved His divinity, and opened the gate of heaven to us all. The name of “Pasch” given to this feast, recalls the ancient Passover eaten by the children of Israel. This name in Hebrew signifies “passage” and is used to recall the passage of the angel who, charged by God to destroy the first born of the Egyptians, passed over the dwellings of the Hebrews marked with the expiating blood of the Paschal Lamb. Under the Christian law this name signifies that Christ passed from death to life and, triumphing over the Evil One, causes us to pass from the death of sin to the life of grace. Just as Christ rose bodily and began a new, glorious, and immortal life, we should rise spiritually; that is to say, begin a new life, renouncing entirely, and for all time, sin and the occasion of sins, by giving all our love to God and things of God. The word “Alleluia” so often repeated on Easter Day and throughout the Pascal time, means “Praise to God”. It was a cry of joy among the Hebrew people, which was adopted by the Church and introduced into her liturgy to express the joy and happiness felt by Christian souls at the thought of the glorious Resurrection on which all their hopes repose. Give thanks on this day to the Lamb of God whose redeeming blood has marked your souls for eternal life; bless the glorious Victor over death who, in bursting the bars of His tomb, has given to you the earnest hope of your own resurrection. Above all things form a good and serious resolution to withdraw your soul from the death and grave of sin through the merits of the Risen Christ.