7:30AM – Holy Mass in Frackville.

HOLY TUESDAY, April 19th

10:00AM – Central Diocese Clergy Conference in Scranton.

4:00PM – Holy Mass of Chrism in St. Stanislaus Cathedral, Scranton, PA. — At the Holy Mass, which the bishop concelebrates with his presbyterium, and at which the oils are blessed, manifests the communion of the priests with their bishop. To show the unity of the presbyterium, the priests who concelebrate with the bishop come from different parts of the diocese.

HOLY THURSDAY, April 21st – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The Mass of the Last Supper begins our three days of enacting the Easter mystery. In this rich celebration, we recall tonight the Passover meal that commemorates the liberation of Israel from Egypt, the institution of the Eucharist, and Jesus washing of the disciples’ feet.

6:00PM – Holy Mass in Shenandoah.

GOOD FRIDAY, April 22nd – The Lord’s Passion

According to the Church’s ancient tradition, the sacraments are not celebrated today or tomorrow. The celebration of the Lord’s passion takes place in the afternoon. The celebration consists of three parts: liturgy of the word, veneration of the cross, and Holy Communion. Fasting: all those of post-confirmation age are to fast TODAY limiting themselves to one full meal and two smaller meals, with no snacking between meals. These regulations are recommended for healthy adults. Children under First Holy Communion age, the infirm, those on restrictive medication and the elderly are exempt from the obligation of fasting.

2:00PM – The Liturgy of the Good Friday with adoration of the Cross and Holy Communion in Shenandoah. Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament will be held until 6:00PM.

HOLY SATURDAY, April 23rd

On this day the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on his suffering and death. The altar is left bare, and the Holy Mass is not celebrated. Today’s service is arranged in: a) a brief service of light; b) the liturgy of the word; c) blessing of water.

11:00AM – The Liturgy of the Blessing of Fire, Water and Paschal Candle in Shenandoah. After the Liturgy – blessing of Easter food (baskets)

RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD — EASTER SUNDAY, April 24th

9:00AM – Easter procession. After Procession – Holy Mass – intention: for All Parishioners.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a witness to His resurrection. The messengers at the tomb remind the women of what Jesus had said about His passion, death and resurrection, and we are told that “they remembered His words.” This remembering, this putting the story together is once again to piece the story together for ourselves and see how it helps us to piece together the hopes and joys, the fears, anxieties and sufferings of our own lives. The more we can do that, the more we come to realize that the story of the resurrection is not a historical event, but a living reality.

St. Mark’s terrible cry of desertion is not recalled by St. John. Instead, Jesus’ last words are: “It is accomplished.” He has come to His fulfillment. All through the fourth Gospel John has included mention of Jesus’ “hour”, when He would be glorified, when His task would be complete. Now is the hour for fulfilling His earthly task: our salvation. He reigns from the cross.

As we leave the church in silence this afternoon, we can leave with our minds and hearts focused on the triumph of the cross and remind ourselves that we are called to share with Christ in God’s glory.

Tonight we enter the Easter Triduum – the most important three days of prayer in the year for us as Christians – the days when we recall and retell our story as God’s people. On that first Maundy Thursday, as Jesus assembled the disciples for His Last Supper with them, He was very much aware of who He was, where He had come from and where He was going. St. John reminds us that: “Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” But interestingly St. John, in recalling the supper event – and he spends 5 chapters on it – does not mention the institution of the Eucharist as other evangelists do or as St. Paul does when writing to the Corinthians. It is if John is presuming that we know all about that and wants us to recall other significant moments from that night, beginning with the washing of the disciples’ feet. The importance of that event should not be lost on us, for once again the story ends with a command: “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.”

Ironically this is the one occasion in the Church’s liturgical year when our Mass does not end with us being sent forth: “to love and serve the Lord.” Rather we are invited to accompany Him in mind and heart to the garden of Gethsemane as the Blessed Sacraments is taken to the altar of repose. There, at least for a little while this evening, it might be good for us to think about how we measure up as disciples.

One week before Palm Sunday, housewives stopped baking bread through the fear that the bread they baked throughout the rest of the year would spoil. Not until the Holy Week did they start baking. In some parts they began to do so on Good Friday, in others- it was not permitted to bake anything at all that day. If any housewife violated this ban, the entire village would be in danger of a long drought, which could be repelled only by throwing the pots and guilty housewife into a pond.

The celebration of Easter is preceded by Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. Palm branches and twigs are indispensable accessories of the events of this day. They commemorate Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. After the festivities, palm leaves were used for magic rites, such as conjuring up storms and consecrating women at childbirth and sick domestic animals. The original palm branch is replaced by a willow or raspberry branch, and is decorated with ribbons, flowers, and leaves. It is believed that swallowing a willow catkin from a branch consecrated by a priest would bring health, and palm branch placed behind a holy image until the following year would bring the inhabitants luck.

The church bells that had resounded from Palm Sunday onwards fell silent on Holy Thursday. Rattles and clappers took their place. Fires were lit at crossroads so that wayfarers and poor people could warm themselves. Meals were also placed at these spots so that these people could nourish themselves – and together with them the good spirits of the house. On the morning of Holy Thursday, the vestments are changed on the miraculous icon in the chapel of the Pauline monastery at Jasna Gora in Czestochowa. This is one of the most important sites of the religious cult of the Poles, and has been venerated as a national shrine since 14th century.

The next, Good Friday, marks the start of the vigil at symbolic tombs of Christ, which lasts until Holy Saturday. Visits are made to “tombs of Christ’. The adoration of the Good Friday tombs is called “the visitation of the tombs’. No animals could be slaughtered or bread baked, and mirrors covered over. The use of combs was not allowed, so Good Friday was a day of mourning. A special kind of bread was prepared for Easter Sunday, called “paska”. It was made of flour and yeast. The surface was spread with fat and decorated with a cross-made of dough. Apart from cross of dough, it was decorated with flowers and birds. The tradition of preparing “paska” involved women. The master of the house was not permitted to take part of preparing the “paska”, otherwise his moustache would go grey and the dough would fail. On that day a “funeral of zur and herring” was organized. A clay pot with zur was shattered and a herring was hung on a branch as punishment “that for six weeks it had ruled over meat”.

On the next day, Holy Saturday, services accompanied by processions are held to commemorate the Resurrection. Inside the churches, priests sprinkled holy water on small baskets brought by believers and filled with “paska”, cakes, eggs, horseradish, sausages, ham, salt, pepper, and tiny sugar lambs. The consecration of eggs refers to egg being an ancient symbol of life. The consecration of horseradish refers to the bitterness of the passion of Jesus which, on the day of resurrection, changed into joy and sweetness. The custom of coloring eggs for Easter is still observed. Eggs which are painted in one color are called “malowanki” or “kraszanki”. If patterns are etched with a pointed instrument on top of the paint, the eggs are then called “skrobanki” or “rysowanki”. Those eggs decorated with the use of treated wax are called “pisanki”. Another technique involved gluing colored paper or shiny fabric on them.

In old Poland, this resurrection service was an opportunity to identify witches, for witches were believed to enjoy eating sausage during sermons, still during Flaxt. It was also believed that a priest could see which of the women attending mass was a witch, but was not allowed to reveal his information. It was also believed that during Easter procession, a female collaborator of Satan was unable to go around the church three times, and had to leave the procession after the second circuit. After resurrection, gunshots were fired as an expression of joy.

On Sunday morning, beautifully laid table is covered with colored eggs, cold meats, coils of sausages, ham, yeast cakes, pound cakes, poppy-seed cakes, and in the middle of it all, a lamb made of sugar, commemorating the resurrected Christ. No smoke was permitted; therefore no warm meals were served. Horseradish was mixed with beets, “cwikla”, traditionally present on polish Easter tables. Sharing a boiled egg with one’s relatives is a national tradition. A piece of egg with salt and pepper, consecrated by priest, is an inseparable accessory in the good wishes we extend to each other at Easter. Each member of the household received also a piece of the consecrated bread. When spread with horseradish, it was supposed to give protection against throat diseases and against illnesses and complaints.
Cakes were very important ingredients of Easter breakfast: gigantic cakes called “baby” as well as “mazurki” were prepared only for those occasion. The “baby” were either plain vanilla, steamed, saffron-flavored, grated with egg yolk, almond flavored, layered, chocolate-flavored, fluffy, lemon-flavored, bread-like, or many other different kinds. “Mazurek” is a flat cake, usually on a pastry or a wafer, covered with paste of nuts, almonds, cheese etc., colorfully iced and decorated with jam and nuts and raisins. On top of this, imaginative decorations were placed, such as eggs of icing; willow branches made of marzipan, chocolate flowers, and other delicacies. Artistic letters made of cream read “Hallelujah” – joy of the Resurrection. The list of possibilities making “mazurek” cake are endless, ranging from almond flavored, marzipan, chocolate, raisins, nuts and figs, poppy-seed, orange, crumbly with wine or vodka, apple, French-style, layered, and many others.

On Easter Monday there is a very ancient Easter tradition called “Smingus-Dyngus” – custom of pouring water on one another. One week later, an interesting event takes place in Krakow. The hero of the festivity is “lajkonik” or a man disguised as Tatar, riding a peculiar kind of hobby horse. The custom dates back to the 17th century. The legend says of an unexpected Tatar foray on the Krakow province in the 13th century. A brave young raftsman, having gathered a group of companions, defeated the invaders and returned to town wearing the colorful outfit of a Tatar khan. During the Tatar attack, the legend then follows, a Tatar arrow struck in the throat a Krakow trumpeter, who from the spire of the church of the Holy Virgin tried to alarm citizens of the danger. Since that time, Krakow bugle-call, sounded every hour from the tower of the church, breaks abruptly.

In Catholic tradition, the conclusion to the week is called the Easter Triduum (a triduum is a space of three days usually accompanying a church festival or holy days that are devoted to special prayer and observance). Some liturgical traditions, such as in the Lutheran Church, simply refer to “The Three Days.” The Easter Triduum begins Thursday evening of Holy Week with Eucharist and concludes with evening prayers Easter Sunday.

Increasingly, evangelical churches that have tended to look with suspicion on traditional “High-Church” observances of Holy Week are now realizing the value of Holy Week services, especially on Good Friday. This has a solid theological basis both in Scripture and in the traditions of the Faith. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was executed by the Nazis, wrote of the Cost of Discipleship and warned of “cheap grace” that did not take seriously either the gravity of sin or the radical call to servanthood: “When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die.”

It is this dimension that is well served by Holy Week observances, as they call us to move behind the joyful celebrations of Palm Sunday and Easter, and focus on the suffering, humiliation, and death that is part of Holy Week. It is important to place the hope of the Resurrection, the promise of newness and life, against the background of death and endings. It is only in walking through the shadows and darkness of Holy Week and Good Friday, only in realizing the horror and magnitude of sin and its consequences in the world incarnated in the dying Jesus on the cross, only in contemplating the ending and despair that the disciples felt on Holy Saturday, that we can truly understand the light and hope of Sunday morning!

In observing this truth, that new beginnings come from endings, many people are able to draw a parable of their own lives and faith journey from the observances of Holy Week. In providing people with the opportunity to experience this truth in liturgy and symbol, the services become a powerful proclamation of the transformative power of the Gospel, and God at work in the lives of people.
The entire week between Palm Sunday and Holy Saturday is included in Holy Week, and some church traditions have daily services during the week. However, usually only Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday are times of special observance in most churches.

Passion Sunday

This Sunday is also known as the 5th Sunday of Lent. Passion Sunday marks the beginning of the Passiontide, the two weeks preceding Easter and marks an increased focus on Jesus’ final agonizing journey to the cross. The English word passion comes from a Latin word that means “to suffer,” the same word from which we derive the English word patient. Catholic Parishes fully cover any marks of joyousness, statues, art, etc. in purple. In the PNCC the doxology, Glory be… is no longer said and is replaced by: “Lord for us Your wounds were suffered. Oh Christ Jesus have mercy on us.”

Palm Sunday

Holy Week begins with the sixth Sunday in Lent. This Sunday observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds who were in Jerusalem for Passover waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king. The Gospels tell us that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, enacting the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, and in so doing emphasized the humility that was to characterize the Kingdom he proclaimed. The irony of his acceptance as the new Davidic King (Mark 11:10) by the crowds who would only five days later cry for his execution should be a sobering reminder of the human tendency to want God on our own terms.

Traditionally, worshippers enact the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem by the waving of palm branches and singing songs of celebration. Sometimes this is accompanied by a processional into the church. In many churches, children are an integral part of this service since they enjoy processions and activity as a part of worship. This provides a good opportunity to involve them in the worship life of the community of Faith. In many more liturgical churches, children are encouraged to craft palm leaves that were used for the Sunday processional into crosses to help make the connection between the celebration of Palm Sunday and the impending events of Holy Week.

In most Protestant traditions, the liturgical color for The Season of Lent is purple, and that color is used until Easter Sunday. In Catholic tradition (and some others), the colors may be changed to Red for Palm Sunday. Red is the color of the church, used for Pentecost as well as remembering the martyrs of the church. Since it symbolizes shed blood, it is also used on Palm Sunday to symbolize the death of Jesus.

Increasingly, many churches are incorporating an emphasis on the Passion of Jesus into services on Palm Sunday as a way to balance the celebration of Easter Sunday. Rather than having the two Sundays both focus on triumph, Passion Sunday is presented as a time to reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus in a Sunday service of worship. This provides an opportunity for people who do not or cannot attend a Good Friday Service to experience the contrast of Jesus’ death and the Resurrection, rather than celebrating the Resurrection in isolation from Jesus’ suffering. However, since Sunday services are always celebrations of the Resurrection of Jesus during the entire year, even an emphasis on the Passion of Jesus on this Sunday should not be mournful or end on a negative note, as do most Good Friday Services (which is the reason Eucharist or Communion is not normally celebrated on Good Friday).

Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday

There are a variety of events that are clustered on this last day before Jesus was arrested that are commemorated in various ways in services of worship. These include the last meal together, which was probably a Passover meal, the institution of Eucharist or Communion, the betrayal by Judas (because of the exchange with Jesus at the meal), and Jesus praying in Gethsemane while the disciples fell asleep. Most liturgies, however, focus on the meal and communion as a way to commemorate this day.

During the last few days, Jesus and His disciples had steadily journeyed from Galilee toward Jerusalem. On the sunlight hillsides of Galilee, Jesus was popular, the crowds were friendly and the future was bright. Even his entry into Jerusalem had been marked by a joyous welcome. But in Jerusalem there was a growing darkness as the crowds began to draw back from the man who spoke of commitment and servanthood. There was an ominous tone in the murmuring of the Sadducees and Pharisees who were threatened by the new future Jesus proclaimed.

Even as Jesus and his disciples came together to share this meal, they already stood in the shadow of the cross. It was later that night, after the meal, as Jesus and His disciples were praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, that Jesus was arrested and taken to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest. On Friday He would die.

There is some difference in the chronology of these events between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and John’s account. In the Synoptics, this last meal was a Passover meal, observing the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt when death “passed over” the Hebrew homes as the tenth plague fell upon the Egyptians. Yet, in John’s account the Passover would not be celebrated until the next day. And while the Synoptics recount the institution of Communion (Eucharist) during this final meal, John instead tells us about Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet as a sign of servanthood.

In any case, this Thursday of Holy Week is remembered as the time Jesus ate a final meal together with the men who had followed him for so long. We do not have to solve these historical questions to remember and celebrate in worship what Jesus did and taught and modeled for us here, what God was doing in Jesus the Christ. And the questions should not shift our attention from the real focus of the story: the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Traditionally in the Christian Church, this day is known as Maundy Thursday. The term Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (from which we get our English word mandate), from a verb that means “to give,” “to entrust,” or “to order.” The term is usually translated “commandment,” from John’s account of this Thursday night. According to the Fourth Gospel, as Jesus and the Disciples were eating their final meal together before Jesus’ arrest, he washed the disciples’ feet to illustrate humility and the spirit of servanthood. After they had finished the meal, as they walked into the night toward Gethsemane, Jesus taught his disciples a “new” commandment that was not really new (John 13:34-35):

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also ought to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The colors for Maundy Thursday are usually the colors of Lent, royal purple or red violet. Some traditions, however, use red for Maundy Thursday, the color of the church, in order to identify with the community of disciples that followed Jesus. Along the same line, some use this day to honor the apostles who were commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world.

The sharing of the Eucharist, or sacrament of thanksgiving, on Maundy Thursday is the means by which most Christians observe this day. There is a great variety in exactly how the service is conducted, however. In some churches, it is traditional for the pastor or priest to wash the feet of members of the congregation as part of the service (John 13:3-15).

In some church traditions all of the altar coverings and decorations are removed after the Eucharist is served on Maundy Thursday. Psalm 22 is sometimes either read or sung while the altar paraments are being removed. Since the altar in these traditions symbolize the Christ, the “stripping of the altar” symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion. This, like the darkness often incorporated into a Good Friday service, represents the humiliation of Jesus and the consequences of sin as a preparation for the celebration of new life and hope that is to come on Resurrection Day. Some churches only leave the altar bare until the Good Friday Service, when the normal coverings are replaced with black.

However it is celebrated, the Eucharist of Maundy Thursday is especially tied to the theme of remembering. As Jesus and his disciples followed the instructions in the Torah to remember God’s acts of deliverance in their history as they shared the Passover meal together, so Jesus calls us to remember the new act of deliverance in our history that unfolds on these last days of Holy week.

Good Friday, or Holy Friday

Friday of Holy Week has been traditionally been called Good Friday or Holy Friday. On this day, the church commemorates Jesus’ arrest (since by Jewish customs of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial. Since services on this day are to observe Jesus’ death, and since Eucharist is a celebration, there is traditionally no Communion observed on Good Friday. Also, depending on how the services are conducted on this day, all pictures, statutes, and the cross are covered in mourning black, the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are extinguished. They are left this way through Saturday, but are always replaced with white before sunrise on Sunday.

There are a variety of services of worship for Good Friday, all aimed at allowing worshippers to experience some sense of the pain, humiliation, and ending in the journey to the cross. The traditional Catholic service for Good Friday was held in mid-afternoon to correspond to the final words of Jesus from the cross (around 3 PM, Matthew 27:46-50). However, modern schedules have led many churches to move the service to the evening to allow more people to participate. Usually, a Good Friday service is a series of Scripture readings, a short homily, and a time of meditation and prayer. One traditional use of Scripture is to base the homily or devotional on the Seven Last Words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel traditions.

1. Father, forgive them . . . (Luke 23:34)
2. This day you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)
3. Woman, behold your son . . .(John 19:26-27)
4. My God, my God . . . (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)
5. I thirst. (John 19:28)
6. It is finished! (John 19:30)
7. Father into your hands . . . (Luke 23:46)

Some churches use the Stations of the Cross as part of the Good Friday Service. This service uses paintings or banners to represent various scenes from Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and death, and the worshippers move to the various stations to sing hymns or pray as the story is told. There is a great variety in how this service is conducted, and various traditions use different numbers of stations to tell the story.

Another common service for Good Friday is Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows” or “darkness”). Sometimes this term is applied generally to all church services on the last three days of Holy week. More specifically, however, it is used of the Service of Darkness or Service of Shadows, usually held in the evening of Good Friday. Again, there are varieties of this service, but it is usually characterized by a series of Scripture readings and meditation done in stages while lights and/or candles are gradually extinguished to symbolize the growing darkness not only of Jesus’ death but of hopelessness in the world without God. The service ends in darkness, sometimes with a final candle, the Christ candle, carried out of the sanctuary, symbolizing the death of Jesus. Often the service concludes with a loud noise symbolizing the closing of Jesus’ tomb. The worshippers then leave in silence to wait.

Good Friday is not a day of celebration but of mourning, both for the death of Jesus and for the sins of the world that his death represents.

Yet, although Friday is a solemn time, it is not without its own joy. For while it is important to place the Resurrection against the darkness of Good Friday, likewise the somberness of Good Friday should always be seen with the hope of Resurrection Sunday. As the well- known sermon title vividly illustrates: “It’s Friday. But Sunday’s a’comin’!”

Holy Saturday

This is the seventh day of the week, the day Jesus rested in the tomb. In the first three Gospel accounts this was the Jewish Sabbath, which provided appropriate symbolism of the seventh day rest. While some church traditions continue daily services on Saturday, there is no communion served on this day.

Some traditions suspend services and Scripture readings during the day on Saturday, to be resumed at the Easter Vigil after sundown Saturday. It is traditionally a day of quiet meditation as Christians contemplate the darkness of a world without a future and without hope apart from God and his grace.

It is also a time to remember family and the faithful who have died as we await the resurrection, or to honor the martyrs who have given their lives for the cause of Christ in the world. While Good Friday is a traditional day of fasting, some also fast on Saturday as the climax of the season of Lent. An ancient tradition dating to the first centuries of the church calls for no food of any kind to be eaten on Holy Saturday, or for 40 hours before sunrise on Sunday. However it is observed, Holy Saturday has traditionally been a time of reflection and waiting, the time of weeping that lasts for the night while awaiting the joy that comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).