by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
Our celebration of Holy Week originates in our instinct to visit the graves of the dead in order to remember them. Pilgrims flock to Jerusalem during Holy Week each year to walk its narrow streets and visit the sites where Jesus died and was buried.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, stands on the site where crucifixions took place. Greek Orthodox monks keep lamps lit above the rocks where executioners stood upright beams. No one knows exactly where Jesus’ tomb was but the gospel says nearby. Tombs abound under the foundations of the church and give the church its name.
The liturgy visits the holy places in its worship during Holy Week — the upper room on Holy Thursday, Golgotha on Good Friday, the empty tomb on Easter morning. Every Eucharist recalls the events that happened in these places. We gather for a meal as Jesus did with his disciples in the upper room. In the signs of bread broken and wine poured out, each Eucharist celebrates Jesus’ gift of himself on the cross and the promise of eternal life that his resurrection opens for all of us who believe in him.
The Easter gospel places Jesus’ resurrection at dawn on the first day of the week — Christian Sunday, the day after Jewish Sabbath. The Easter Vigil anticipates the dawn of Jesus’ resurrection day. Catholics follow the Easter candle into darkened churches, lighting their candles from its light, experiencing the promise of Jesus’ resurrection light up the church.
The Easter Song, the Exultet in Latin, identifies this night with the night God led the Hebrew slaves through the sea to freedom. This is the night catechumens make their baptismal journey into new life in Jesus Christ.
We celebrate our own resurrections with the Easter feast, ways we have gotten our lives back from overwork or addictions, ways relationships have sustained us.
- What new life has Holy Week and Easter stirred in you?