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Show HOLY WEEK. Xext week will wind up the Lenten season. The last week is known as Holy Week. The sufferings of Christ are. commemorated. The Church, in the fulfillment of her mission, carries out the advice of St. Taul to, Timothy: '0, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust."' St. Augustine, ! who flourished in the fourth century, wrote that ! from Apostolic times the Christians celebrated tho j sufferings of their Lord and Master with the most solemn rites and ceremonies. From the fourth i century we are taken back, step by step, to the first, by the Fathers of the Church, who make mention j of the great devotion with which the early Chris-( Chris-( tians commemorated the passion of Christ. St. Chrysostom calls the last week of Lent the "Great Week." The Greeks, according to Cardinal Wise-j Wise-j man, gave it the name of the "Greater Week," bc-j bc-j cause of the greatness of the mysteries eonnnem-i eonnnem-i orated. The Germans call it the "Week of Sor- rows,"' because the Church is dressed in mourning, ! and the plaintive chants recall the sufferings of j her divine Founder from his arrest in the Garden of Olives to his execution on Calvary. In old Catholic Cath-olic England it was called "Holy Week,"' the name still retained by the English-speaking world. j The fasts observed during the l.-i-t week of Lent j were more rigid than those of any other part of the j year. Eastern nations, and especially the Russians, I carried their fasting, during Holy Week, to the greatest, extreme of human endurance. In the early ! ages of the Church Holy Week was also com- memorated by night vigils. On Holy Thursday the j i faithful spent the greater part of the night in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The rich legacy leg-acy left by the Good Master, when, at the Last Supper, he changed bread and wine into his own body and blood, was always the subject of their contemplations. con-templations. On Good Friday their long "watches" before the. open tabernacle were to express their heartfelt sorrow and deep sympathy over the lifeless life-less remains of Jesus in the tomb, whilst those of Holy Saturday night were prolonged throughout the entire night in anticipation of the joys of the Resurrection. In order to devote the entire Holy Week to fasting, prayer and meditation, there was a general cession from all servile work, and legal prosecutions prosecu-tions were suspended. The Gratian and Thoo-dosius Thoo-dosius laws forbade all lawsuits during the "Week of Sorrows."' These laws, enacted in the fourth century, show the profound respect and deep sym- pathy of the early Christians for the passion and death of their crucified Master, who gave up his life to redeem the world. "Greater love than this no man hath." Its reminiscence still lingers in the hearts of all true Christians. Its effects, which meant peace and good will among men, should still ho manifest. At the foot of the cross, with a true Christian spirit, all animosities cease, irritations are forgotten, and, with the dying words of the Savior, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,' ringing in the ears, all should resolve re-solve to follow the example of the divine model. |