With today’s Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord we begin HOLY WEEK. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated this week in our parishes on Monday (6:30 PM at Boyceville) and Wednesday (7:30 PM at Elmwood). The last opportunity for Confession before Easter is Monday at 6:00 PM at Boyceville (and following the 6:30 PM Mass if necessary).

With the participation of the faithful from all parts of the Diocese of La Crosse, Bishop Callahan concelebrates the CHRISM MASS with his Priests at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman on Tuesday at 10:30 AM. Our own soon-to-be-baptized Ben Blegen is accompanying Father Louis and Deacon Kevin Ray to La Crosse for this Mass. During this Mass the Bishop exhorts the Priests to fidelity in fulfilling their office in the Church and invites them to renew publicly their commitment to priestly service. The Bishop also consecrates the Sacred Chrism and blesses the Oil of the Infirm and the Oil of the Catechumens. The stocks containing the Sacred Chrism and the Holy Oils for use in our parishes are filled and brought back for the celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Anointing of the Sick in Spring Valley, Elmwood and Boyceville throughout the coming year of faith.

The liturgical celebrations marking the climax of Holy Week – the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday through Evening Prayer of Easter Sunday – are known as the SACRED PASCHAL TRIDUUM or the three holy days “of the Crucified, Buried, and Risen” (Congregation for Divine Worship, The Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts [hereafter PS], 38). “Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through His Paschal Mystery: dying He destroyed our death and rising He restored our life. Therefore, the Easter Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord is the culmination of the entire liturgical year . . . These days are . . . of utmost importance in the spiritual and pastoral life of the Church” (Congregation for Divine Worship , Ceremonial of Bishops [hereafter CE], 295-296). I strongly encourage you to carefully plan your week so that you might be able to participate in these celebrations hosted at Elmwood and receive the abundant graces God wishes to bestow.

With the HOLY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER – celebrated at 7:00 PM at Elmwood – the Church “devotes herself to the remembrance of the Last Supper. At this Supper on the night before He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus, loving those who were His own in the world even to the end, offered His Body and Blood to the Father under the appearances of bread and wine, gave them to the Apostles to eat and drink, then enjoined the Apostles and their successors in the Priesthood to offer them in turn . . . This Mass is, first of all, the memorial of the institution of the Eucharist . . . (It) is also the memorial of the institution of the Priesthood, by which Christ’s mission and sacrifice are perpetuated in the world. In addition, this Mass is the memorial of that love by which the Lord loved us even to death” (CE, 297). Immediately following this Mass until 10:00 PM, we have the opportunity to be with the Lord in prayerful ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. It was after the Last Supper that Jesus asked His disciples to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He extends that same invitation to us! I strongly encourage each family of our parish to accept this divine invitation and commit itself to some time of prayer before our Eucharistic Lord Holy Thursday evening. Let us not have the Lord say to us as He said to the Apostles: “So you could not stay awake with me for even an hour?” (Matthew 26:40). The time of adoration concludes with the celebration of NIGHT PRAYER at 9:45 PM. All are welcome.

At the GOOD FRIDAY CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S PASSION – celebrated at 1:00 PM at Elmwood – “the Church meditates on the Passion of her Lord and Spouse , adores the cross, commemorates her origin from the side of Christ asleep on the cross , and intercedes for the salvation of the whole world” (PS, 58). Also, at 6:00 PM at Boyceville there will be a service of prayers and mediations on the SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST concluding with the veneration of a relic of the true Cross belonging to Father Louis. Good Friday is a day of penance for Catholics “because the Spouse has been taken away” (see Mark 2:19-20): abstaining from eating meat for those 14 years of age and older, and fasting (one full meal and two smaller meals) for those who are 18 but not yet 59. “It is also recommended that Holy Saturday be so observed, in order that the Church with uplifted and welcoming heart be ready to celebrate the joys of the Sunday of the Resurrection” ( PS, 39).

The EASTER VIGIL MASS OF HOLY SATURDAY – celebrated at 8:00 PM at Elmwood– “according to a most ancient tradition . . . (is) ‘one of vigil for the Lord’ (see Exodus 12:42), and the vigil celebrated during it, to commemorate that holy night when the Lord rose from the dead, is regarded as the ‘mother of all holy vigils’ (Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 219). For in that night the Church keeps vigil, waiting for the Resurrection of the Lord, and celebrates the Sacraments of Christian Initiation” (PS, 77).

“The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith and hope, and through Baptism and Confirmation we are inserted into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, dying, buried, and raised with Him, and with Him we shall also reign” (PS, 80). The Masses of EASTER SUNDAY are 8:30 AM at Boyceville and 10:30 AM at Spring Valley).

Father Kevin C. Louis, STL