Read

Why Mass During Holy Week is Anything but ‘Boring'

Creator:
Published:
March 28, 2024
April 15, 2019
Have you been to Catholic Mass during Holy Week recently? Here's why it's anything but boring.|Have you been to Catholic Mass during Holy Week recently? Here's why it's anything but boring.

I was headed out for a run after work recently, and as I passed the office of a co-worker, she called out, “Are you crazy?” I laughed it off and out I went.

It was just a light drizzle at first. What was all the fuss about? I wondered. Ninety seconds later, the nearly horizontal rain pelting my face clued me in. A little water never hurt anybody, I told myself. Within minutes, the downpour let up as suddenly as it had started, but then came the lightning. Followed by hail. By the time I calculated my limited options for finding shelter, the sun burst through the clouds, filling everything with light and warmth even as it continued to drizzle.

We’re in the middle of a similar mash-up of dramatic upswings and downturns this week. Over the course of eight days, Catholics across the globe mark Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Like a fast-moving spring weather system, the rituals, prayers, and mood of these holy days all change wildly from one moment and one day to the next.

It’s a week for *all* of the feels, but that just means that it’s like life, right? Light pastels dominate the color palette this time of year, but more than ever, this is a week for vivid, robust colors. During Holy Week, the Church keeps burning brightly the full color spectrum of real life and its many varied moods. There is a lot of room to find ourselves here, no matter what life is like for us right now.

A few days ago, on Palm Sunday, we waved palm branches and recalled the crowds who cheered Jesus’s arrival into Jerusalem. Then, during the Gospel reading only minutes later, we completely changed our tune and joined the crowd in shouting: “Crucify him!” And that’s just the start of Holy Week!

On Holy Thursday, we’ll recreate the tender moment when Jesus ate the Last Supper with his closest friends and followers, only for the scene to end in betrayal and heartbreak. On Good Friday, in a simple gesture of jarring juxtaposition, we will shuffle single-file to lovingly kiss the instrument of torture that killed our savior. On Holy Saturday — the eye of the storm — we’ll sit in the eerie still and darkness that hangs thick in our hollow churches as we contemplate Jesus’ absence.

And then, on Easter Sunday, everything teems with life, excitement, and hope — from the lilies at the altar to the packed pews.

Whether we attend one or all of these Church services, the invitation is the same: whatever we are feeling or going through — from the thrill of being in a new relationship to the ache of loneliness, anxiety, and loss — we can bring it with us. We don’t have to check anything at the church door to come inside. We don’t have to look (or feel) like monochromatic pastel in order to belong.

On the surface, Mass can look like a stiff, static affair. But when we look more deeply, this holy season reassures us that God is big enough for our own messy lives to fit into. It’s a mixed up, mysterious, up-and-down season as winter turns to spring — as Lent turns to Easter — and it reminds us that nothing in the entire emotional register of the human heart is foreign to Jesus.

Each one of us, and every part of us — in all our contrasts and in our real color — is welcome here.

Creators:
Ben Wilson
Published:
March 28, 2024
April 15, 2019
On a related note...
What It's Really Like to Lose Someone Close to You

What It's Really Like to Lose Someone Close to You

Sophie Caldecott

St. Matthew Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

St. Matthew Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

Grotto

Voices of Synod 2018 | Aly Cox

Voices of Synod 2018 | Aly Cox

Grotto

5 Reasons to Try Meditation (If You Haven't, Yet)

5 Reasons to Try Meditation (If You Haven't, Yet)

Julia Hogan-Werner

What Good are “Thoughts and Prayers” Anyway?

What Good are “Thoughts and Prayers” Anyway?

Isaac Huss

How I’ve Come to Like Praying Without My Own Words

How I’ve Come to Like Praying Without My Own Words

Molly Cruitt

Baptism of the Lord Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

Baptism of the Lord Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

Grotto

Meatless Friday Recipe: Garlic Butter Ramen Noodles

Meatless Friday Recipe: Garlic Butter Ramen Noodles

Grotto

Sister Jean and the Loyola-Chicago Men's Basketball Team

Sister Jean and the Loyola-Chicago Men's Basketball Team

Grotto Shares

Nervous to Take a Leap of Faith? Here are 3 Things to Know

Nervous to Take a Leap of Faith? Here are 3 Things to Know

Patrick Schmadeke

Bearded Blevins Fortnite Stream Aims to Change the World

Bearded Blevins Fortnite Stream Aims to Change the World

Grotto

4 Ways I Reclaim Control of a Crazy Busy Week

4 Ways I Reclaim Control of a Crazy Busy Week

Emily Mae Mentock

Bringing Jesus' World to Life in Nazareth

Bringing Jesus' World to Life in Nazareth

Grotto

The Prayer Journal That Helped Us Rethink Holiness

The Prayer Journal That Helped Us Rethink Holiness

Grotto Shares

Swap Out Your 5-Year Plan With These Daily Goals

Swap Out Your 5-Year Plan With These Daily Goals

Katie Ekblad Traver

I Was Hiding My Pain, Not Healing

I Was Hiding My Pain, Not Healing

Alessandra Harris

#GrottoMusic | A Playlist to Inspire Your New Beginning

#GrottoMusic | A Playlist to Inspire Your New Beginning

Grotto

What If All Sins Gave You a Hangover?

What If All Sins Gave You a Hangover?

Isaac Huss

How a Daily Journaling Practice Transformed My Lent

How a Daily Journaling Practice Transformed My Lent

Marye Colleen Larme

How My Prayer Life Was Taken to the Next Level

How My Prayer Life Was Taken to the Next Level

Hannah Smith

newsletter

We’d love to be pals.

Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll meet you in your inbox each week.