The Holy Week It is the annual Christian commemoration of the Passion of Christ, that is, the entrance to Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Stations of the Cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the sixth and last week of Lent from Palm Sunday to sunset on Holy Thursday, between sunset on Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, called the Easter Triduum.
SUMMARY OF HOLY WEEK
PALM SUNDAY
This day commemorates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, in which the people praised him as a King, acclaiming him and waving olive branches to greet him. That is why parishioners usually take twigs from this tree to mass, to be blessed, and keep them at home the rest of the year.
HOLY MONDAY
The Anointing at Bethany is commemorated. According to the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus visited the house of Lazaruswhom he had resurrected. Lazarus had two sisters: Martha and Mary. Marta was in charge of preparing and serving the food, complaining that her sister did not help her. What was Maria doing? Anointing the feet of Jesus with her best perfumes, and drying them with her own hair.
HOLY TUESDAY
In the mass of the Tuesday before Easter, the passage in the Gospel of Saint John is also read in which Jesus, chatting with his disciples, anticipates that Peter will soon deny him three times, and that he will be betrayed by one of them. While Peter affirms that he would never deny Jesus, Judas does not respond.
HOLY WEDNESDAY
It marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Easter. This day remembers the moment when Judas agrees to deliver Jesusin exchange for 30 coins, with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious court.
HOLY THURSDAY
The Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles is remembered, in which he washed their feet as a sign of love and service. It was during this meal that Jesus established the Eucharist, blessing the bread and wine and inviting the apostles to him, telling them to receive his body and blood from him. At the end of supper, Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Olives, preparing for what was to come. There they went to look for him to apprehend him.
HOLY FRIDAY
The Passion of Christ, his scourging, the crowning with thorns and the crucifixion are remembered. It is commemorated with the Via Crucis, which in Latin means “The way of the cross”. It is a set of fourteen pictures or crosses that indicate 14 different moments of the Passion of Jesusfrom his capture to his burial, with the aim of spiritually walking the path of Jesus to Mount Calvary, while carrying the cross.
HOLY SATURDAY
It is regarding the day that passed between the death and resurrection of Jesus. During Holy Saturday, Mass is not celebrated, and the altar is kept without tablecloths. At night, an Easter vigil is held in the churches to await the return of Jesus to life.
EASTER SUNDAY
It is the most important festival of Christians, where the moment in which Jesus was resurrected is remembered. Every time we write the year we are in, we do so in reference to the resurrection of Christ.
