10 THE KEYS TO MY LENTEN JOURNEY Spotlight on Holy Week HolyWeek is the last week of Lent. It opens with Palm Sunday, which celebrates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem amid the cheering of the crowd waving palm branches. To recall this event, processions are organized in churches, and the palm branches are blessed. Punctuated by rituals and celebrations, Holy Week brings us into the mystery of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. It ends on the night of Holy Saturday. The Triduum Celebrations The mystery of the Passion of Jesus and of his Resurrection is called the Paschal Mystery; it is the central point of the Christian faith. By the sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the cross, and his Resurrection on Easter day, God offers us salvation: eternal life, the victory of love over death and sin. The three days that celebrate this mystery are called the Sacred Paschal Triduum. The Triduum begins on the evening of Holy Thursday and ends at Easter Sunday vespers, on the evening of Holy Saturday. █ Holy Thursday celebrates the Last Supper, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples before being arrested and sentenced to death. It is also when Jesus instituted the Eucharist. At the end of Mass, the faithful are invited to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a way to “keep watch” for a moment in the night, near Jesus, in the Garden of Olives. The crosses and the statues are veiled, and the bells stop ringing until Easter.
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