HOLY WEEK
PASTORAL LETTER
Read the Holy Week Pastoral Letter from Fr. Bliss offering us an invitation into a gentle, intentional Holy Week.
SACRED TIMES FOR HOLY WEEK & EASTER
Sunday, April 13 • 10:00 AM
We begin in movement, like the crowds who laid down branches as Jesus entered the city. It’s a day of praise laced with tension. We sing “Hosanna,” not fully understanding what it means. We start the journey in joy. Joy that already knows what’s coming.
PALM SUNDAY
The word Triduum (pronounced TRID-oo-um) means “three days.” It refers to the sacred span from the evening of Maundy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday, three days that are, liturgically speaking, one continuous act of worship. We often think of services as having a clear beginning and end. We gather, we pray, we are dismissed. But the Triduum breaks that rhythm. There are no closing benedictions. No final songs. Each service ends in silence, unfinished, because the story is still unfolding.
HOLY TRIDUUM
Thursday, April 17 • 6:00 PM
This is a night of tenderness and truth. We gather around the table with Jesus and one another. We remember His commandment to love, His act of kneeling to wash feet. The meal ends not in dismissal, but in deepening silence. The altar is stripped. The cross is veiled. We keep watch.
NIGHT I: MAUNDY THURSDAY
Friday, April 18 • 6:00 PM
We return in stillness. This is the day of shadows. The light fades slowly as candles are extinguished, one by one. We listen to the story of Jesus’ suffering and death. We don’t rush to hope. We make space for sorrow. For lament. For the reality of the world as it is. The service ends as it began: in silence.
NIGHT II: GOOD FRIDAY
NIGHT III: EASTER VIGIL
Saturday, April 19 • 6:00 PM
This is the Church’s oldest and holiest night. We begin in darkness. One flame is lit. That flame becomes many. We hold candles and listen to the story of salvation from creation to resurrection. Then: light floods the room. Alleluias return. We remember our baptism with splashes of water and share the first Eucharist of Easter. We step into joy, not as escape, but as the truth that outlasts death.
Sunday, April 20 • 10:00 AM
By the time we rise on Easter morning, resurrection has already begun. We gather again, fully in the light, to declare what the night first revealed: Christ is risen. Love is stronger than death. The grave is empty, and we are not alone.