Show HOLY WEEK the following timely article from tle the pen of rev father john walsh of st peters church will be read with interest the holy week in the catholic church to Is a week fraught with tremendous interest tor for all christians it is corn com in symbol and in reverent memory the church recalls recall th the tragic events which closed the life life 0 of her divine founder every day tells its own story from palm sunday to faster easter the interval traverses the wide gulf that yawns between the favorite and the hated of the kopul populace ice popularity and ignominy hosannah hosannas of wel come and shrieks of vengeance palin branches and scourge and crown of at thorns and croes creep betrayal and execl tion shameful death by the cross and alia triumphant resurrection the victim in the son of godana god and god the execution ere era the jewish priests and their servants roman authority conniving con iving and aard winking at the outrage them the injustice suffering suffer inso e and death are self willed and voluntarily submitted to inno senoa sena wae the victim helpless except the excess of his own divine love to sut out fer and die for the sins sine of men and to restore to them the inheritance min bin had ha forfeited at any moment he pleased he could have foiled jewish brutality and roman acquiescence acquis cence by force or 0 omnipotence nl ni or invisibility he came to die he chose to die and therefore he be elects to appear and he elects to be the innocent lamb led to the slaughter the growth of the divine tragedy it in easily followed palm sunday christ e enters jerusalem amidst the pl plaudit audits of the people with palm palin find and strewn garments they honestly welcome him and give him royal reception the chek palms of palm sunday in the hands of Christal ns express the welcome and A thi ao boy dibut but not fhe the treV treacherous vacillation of the jews the interval between sun lay day and Thurs thursday dav night is filled with plot tings his enemies are i awake to the feebleness ot their calise cause and must resort to desperate expedients to give their murderous cruelty the appearance of legality judas is being tampered with and found a ready tool meanwhile the divine object of all this hatching conspiracy and treachery is actually conscious of every hidden dark plot and makes no move until they are ready to strike the blow then he convenes for the last supper and eucharist on thursday night and afterwards goes to gethsemane to meet judas and begin his passion after his arrest he spends the night in prison and early on friday suffers the preliminaries to the crucifixion and then death friday evening and saturday and saturday night the tomb holds all that is mortal of him and sunday easter sunday with the sunrise the resurrection becomes a fact a hope and a fulfillment these tragic details are typified in the churchs churche ceremonial in holy week by the of wednesday thursday and friday evenings the repository of thursday the mass and adoration of the cross on friday and the blessing of the fire and the paschal candle on saturday the blessings of the water on saturday and in episcopal copal functions of the holy oils on thursday is an adjunct having no special relation to the passion save in the matter of deriving all their sacramental efficacy from it and because of their importance in sacramental administration are thus closely identified with it from the seventh century the holy otla chrism oil of and oil of the sick formerly consecrated at any time have been blessed by the bishop in the mass of this day twelve priests and seven deacons assist in the ceremony the bishop aia and priests breathe three times upon the sacred oils to signify that efficacy of the holy ghost to descend them and Is i i about upon after consecration they are saluted with HSI holy oil 11 ll hall haal holy chrism in england it is known as passion week in germany and denmark the popular title Is still week in allusion to the holy quiet and abstention from labor in the middle ages it was called the great week Wee kand and the authentic Anthen tic the general features of the holy we week k celebration are increased sobriety and and a deepening of lenten lente n bloomi penitential rigor and mourn rog ot of ito ritualistic rank excludes till after easter all festivals fing falling within it all instrumental music and the rin ringing gIzIN of bells to is sils su bended p ded inthe in the services from thursday ru mil saturday morning to express tho steni grief of the church in its bereavement rea rV ement St statues atties and pictures ahe the are veiled in purple atje emblem of mourning the rigor of df la increased the duty of almu alms en enlo pined laed and in cat catholic holle coun tz 0 nanual manua labor to is voluntarily interrupted for three centuries the christians lived in persecution and concealment this led to the th selection of night as tj th lafeat time for the celebration of thear rites the office 0 of darkness Is do the midnight prayer of that age it is composed compo Oed of lamine or morning office and lauds TIM I 1 three divisions of matins are kara knan as bt br night prayers Th meuse euse of light was therefore an ob necessity nece afterwards dg modified suggest a deep mys which the early christians so much lowa loved ip in tha the is omitted as lessons of fief affeld the lessons of the first noe hae tuxa are taken from the lamentations of Uj jah at the beginning of the fo function action thirteen lighted candles are placed owed on a triangular candlestick candle stick 4 V which hach as the office progresses asea we SAM gradually extinguished till only one Is in left lighted at the top of the triangle during the Bened benedictus letus the candles on the altar are ateo allo extinguished while at the antiphon and prayer after the benedictus the single lighted candle is taken from the triangle and concealed for a time at the epistle corner of the altar and then produced again with some clamor the from the extinction of these candles illustrates the darkness of the world when christ its light was removed the last candle is hidden not quenched to show that christ could not be the subject of death forever and the noise and confusion at its reappearance represent the chaos and disquietude of his death the high altar is stripped of its ornaments and lights through thursday and friday and the tabernacle door to is unlocked and thrown open to show abow that the divine prisoner is no longer among his own and has been stripped of Ms his garments the ordinary place of real dence of god in the real presence is the tabernacle of the high altar at this season this tabernacle is sydonya i with the church and life aready already on thursday morning the ceremonial anticipates the arrest and death and burial of christ and because he temporarily departs from this life and his baurch and exchanges his ordinary habitation for the tomb therefore is the altar dismantled and the door of the tabernacle opened wide and a special abode erected in another part of the church called a repository or sepulchre which really stands for the tomb in which his hi sacred body was deposited the ornaments and light and flowers denied defiled the altar are given in richest profusion to the repository because the blessed sacrament is 10 treasured there and though some of these accessories are incongruous with grief the desire to show forth his godhead and worship the divine body inthe tomb for the time oer masters the consciousness of affliction and seeks express expression ioli by these comely ornate objects friday is darkened under the shadows of a syms sym s boac calvary the again hangs on the ignominious tree and the he falth faithful ful are close by the church mourns all her services are emblematic of sorrow azid and death black sombre vestments are hor her garments the passion la is solemnly chanted the improper ia rude latin for claI dIngs are walled out conspicuous among all ajl is the crucifix all Alil eye leye and hearts are centered on the crucified one ohe the keynote of the service bervice is atlon and adoration of the divine victim the sacred hot hok bonse consecrated on thursday is brought ht from the repository to the high hilah altar where it is consumed in that trucked unique mass called agthe af the pra its ita consumption sands for complete cone var tion est redemption to is completed and man to ie fr free e god i la in overcome bedeth by death deth but ufa his temporary defeat bri brings nap amending triumph t to th the race fow is ga throbbing robbing iq in t the h L air of good arv X friday ay god 41 bied ed to secure it and the church in the mas maps odthe of the day beseeches bes eaches pardon for all in t terms er IM 0 0 pathetic and significant abdy already on thi the glories of faster easter are shedding their radiance the ritual of the catholic church is strangely because 1 it to Is at ardently dently hopeful easter and its are ab already leady assured because faith teaches that the hd victim te is god and god cannot cachot be stub subdued dudd not nor always 1 dead thi the of divi tilty naw now t and that must mast dome come affie the blean of the fire started not ty by modern commonplace pha ob aus and suP sulphur hur but buttny by spark of df sturdy rink alln fram which all lamps and candles candle in the thel church th mart at r receive ece th theft 6 rr III it milts tion to is a figure of the risen savior who again eneth every man that cometh t h into this world and will art ark erom sleep like the sun aun in ita lt strength 11 so to is also the candle which the th deacon carriea carries up to the chanting as he lights each candle mece bece lumen christi behold the light of christ bearing similar type is also jhb great paschal candle blessed by the deon deacon with his triumphant chant the Exult eth fixing into it the five grains of incense in the form of 0 a cross significant of the wounds of christ and the spices with which he was anointed for the grave and lighting it from the light of christ the triple candlestick sl the paschal candle is then placed place conspicuously on the gospel side of the altar where it remains until aa censino day and disappears because christ whom it represents remained forty days wih his church after his ea tion then men follows the solemn blessing of the baptismal water which is scattered toward the four quarters of the earlb to signify the worldwide world wide spread of ahw church and the universal applications and d efficacy of baptism the pasc paschal bAT candle to is immersed in it for the power of christ and the merit of his bis deach are to mix with it and the sacred chrism and oil of catechumens catechu mens aret arc 1 poured out on it to Indi indicate date the close identity between the ofte sacrament and A christ the anointed one the mass which follow to joyful at ar the gloria the bells swo are rung and the organ peals forth again alleluia ls f heard with victorious resonance and purport after the epistle and the en service Is suggestive of easter tion why this so early on saturday admitting that the church in her bir vigg does anticipate the solemnity any andal of the coming feasts it tar most unusual to extend this foreseeing beyond the evening of the previous day a holy saturday tn mass is the solitary tary exception cep tion from the beginning tin the en am of the middle ages no mass waa in the day hours of holy saturdays the office began at the ninth hours or 3 p m and the kept watch in tha church till midnight when mass was celebrated this amadew made it mote more an early planter easter service then wi fl saturday ceremony and will explains the reference to night in the exa ex the preface and the collect the prominence given to the abts the resurrection sto etory kyin in thi the copl the resonant alleluia and the genelay gie neter tone and air of loy joy though the has bag chat aged the words wid andl of the office remade the mass however bowelet Is ia in an offertory agitta det kiss kids of peace and the communion anaf poet communion com the me idey vt ef pece becala be ibe cana eads the were am aar I 1 ciza tomed to gatet deneh other U t tl tb i break of day Wilt with wiltone rne the T lora ana and were weft to f tai reasons tar few the th other waw t bofto are but not tory troy press |