We find ourselves in a pretty unprecedented time as we will not have a public celebration of the Holy Week liturgies, and I know many people are curious as to how to continue to pray and enter into the spirit of Holy Week away from the parish. As I spend my time praying and studying in quarantine I wanted to offer my humble suggestions for this time and I came up with 5 ideas. Hopefully one or more of them can help you throughout this most holy week of the year.
In Christ,
Zach Jones
Scripture, daily readings
It is always a good practice to keep the scriptures at the forefront of your mind and your heart, but especially now in this extraordinary time this can be a vital aspect of your relationship with the Lord. The liturgies found in Holy Week are full of beautiful readings from the Word of God that prepare us for the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, the saving mystery of our faith. I suggest praying each day with the readings of that day's mass, even if you are unable to physically attend the mass. The readings for the mass each day can be found here www.usccb.org/bible/readings. In order to let these readings sink in and give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to move your heart I suggest you move through these readings slowly, possibly read them two or three times (especially the Gospel). Here is a brief video on the practice of Lectio Divina, a traditional Catholic way of letting the scriptures speak to you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKYEOc3ik9k.
Talk to your mother. Pray the Rosary
It is a good idea to talk to your earthly mother, but also your spiritual mother Mary. As Christ endured his Passion, his mother Mary was walking beside him suffering her own spiritual Passion. Because of this, she can play a prominent role in our walk through Holy Week. Mary saw Christ arrested, scourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified. She also saw him gloriously resurrected. Therefore Mary can help guide us through this week. Particularly this can be done with the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross. If it has been a while since you last prayed the rosary here is a link with a brief walkthrough https://www.catholiccompany.com/content/how-to-pray-the-rosary. Also the Stations can be very fitting this Holy Week, especially on Good Friday when we recall Christ’s Passion. There is a video of the stations found on the St. Joseph website https://www.stjosephmilford.org/ and here is a video of the Stabat Mater, a traditional hymn which sings of Mary’s part in the Passion https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/ , sung in Latin but with the English translation also.
Keep Silence
We read in 1 Kings 19:11-13 that God speaks in a gentle whisper, we see Jesus go off to pray alone in quiet several times in the Gospels, and throughout the history of the Church countless saints have written about the necessity of silence in prayer. It would be a good practice this Holy Week to spend some time in silent prayer meditating on the scriptures and on the mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection and its impact on your life. Silence is not common in our culture and it may be difficult at the beginning but start with a short period of time, even 10 minutes, and continue with the practice throughout the week, slowly building a habit, each time opening the door for Christ to enter and show you His immense love.
Fast
It may seem like much of our fasting and penance this season have been built into our daily lives with this crisis we are currently enduring, but I challenge you to continue to make small fasts and sacrifices for our Lord. This does not have to be from food, especially in a time when it is so important to stay healthy. Instead try fasting from technology, social media, swearing, television, or other habits or activities that may take you away from a spirit of prayer and peace. These do not have to be huge fasts, but could be things as simple as “for the next hour I won’t watch TV” or “Today I will try not to speak ill of others”. Ask God for the grace to offer little sacrifices back to Him and He will place opportunities into your life. Look for little moments in which you can sacrifice and say yes to them.
Stay Connected with the Liturgy
As much as possible try and watch the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter) online. It is much different than actually being there but trust that God will continue to shower His grace upon us all even though you are not in the parish church. I suggest doing this in a quiet room, keeping all other distractions away during the liturgies, try to enter in with a prayerful spirit, and begin with this prayer for spiritual communion:
My Jesus,
I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
And I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You Sacramentally,