Pieta by Michelangelo, photo by PH Morton
A Blessed Holy Week
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
– John 3:16
Category: Easter/Lent
Just after Palm Sunday Service, iPhone photo by JMorton
Palm Sunday 2018
Today is Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, where the crisis of the cross is imminent.
Let us take this Holy Week as a time to ruminate the lives we lead.
To start with, here is a wonderful food for thought:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
~ Martin Luther King Jr
Ash Wednesday
Following Shrove Tuesday yesterday, today is Ash Wednesday, the official first day of Lent during the Christian year and the prelude to Easter.
Lent represents the 40 days that Jesus Christ spent in the wilderness, fasting and contemplating his mission on earth.
Today is known as the ‘Day of Ashes’ because of the practice of having ash rubbed & drawn on the forehead in the shape of a cross (representing Christ’s crucifixion), by a priest at the dedicated Ash Wednesday church service.
The priest and participants from the church congregation intone the phrase either the words:-
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.”
Anglican, Catholic, and most Protestant and Christians hold Ash Wednesday services around the world. Following the service, participants observe some sort of fasting, abstinence and spiritual contemplation for 40 Days, ending on Maundy Thursday in 2018.
The practice of using ash comes from the 11th Century and is taken from the Biblical Book of Daniel, where ashes are regarded as a sign of Penance & fasting.
The ashes are normally made by the burning of palm crosses. These palm crosses were handed out to church congregations during the previous year’s Palm Sunday service (commemorating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem to crowds waving palm leaves in celebration) and given back to the priest shortly before Ash Wednesday.
The priest will then burn the crosses and mix the ash normally with Holy Oil to sanctify and make a ‘paste’ with which to rub on the participant’s forehead.
The Roman Catholic 5-Points of Ash Wednesday.
Father Rix, a young Filipino Catholic priest had very succinctly put that putting ashes on your forehead without knowing or practice the five embodiment of Ash Wednesday was just like putting dirt on your forehead and nothing relevant about it.
What are the 5 Points?
- Repentance; we have to accept our sins, change and not do it again then move forward.
- Quaresma is the 40 days of repentance before Easter, where you give up something you enjoy as a reminder that you are in repentance.
- Fasting and Abstinence.
- Prayers and Alms-giving
- Ash reminds us of our mortality that we came from dust and in dust, we shall return.
Post Crucifixion. photo by PH Morton
Black Saturday
Black Saturday comes by many names. It is also known as Holy Saturday, Sabado de Gloria and Easter Eve.
It is the final day of the Holy Week. It is a day of contemplation and mourning Christ’s death so we may be reborn in the newness of life.
Jesus with a crown of thorns, photo by PH Morton
Good Friday: Crown of Thorns
According to the Gospels, a woven crown of thorns was forcibly placed on Jesus’ head prior to his crucifixion. The crown was a weapon to torture Jesus as well as to mock him. The crown was in reference to Jesus being the King of the Jews.
The above wooden sculpture was on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is carved from oak, made around ca. 1500-1520 by an unknown artist. This wooden sculpture is big so it is probably a standalone rather than an alter-piece.
Jesus on the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
- St Francis of Assisi