Ways you (and your family) can enter into Holy Week
Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ,
Lenten Peace be with you! I pray this finds you healthy, happy and striving for holiness in these days of trial of Corvid19 Pandemic. Holy week 2020 begins this Sunday! As we draw close to Holy Week, we are all aware that it will be challenging to not gather together in the church for worship and devotion. However, we will gather virtually via live steam for all the Holy Week Liturgies! I have also provided some ideas that you can be in solidarity with St. John’s parishioners and friends this Holy Week and make it special for all!
Holy Week Liturgies - Live Stream Schedule - Click Here for More Info
I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following ways to enter fully into Holy Week by being creative and trying some new things!
Palm Sunday - Collect a Branch! While we won't be distributing palms per the request of Archbishop Thompson, I encourage you to pick a branch from a pine tree or flower bush or other live branch and have that in hand for the Liturgy. The Gospels cite both branches and palms that were used to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. If you are with family or friends, do a procession around the house before Mass begins with the branches waving as if you were processing with Jesus into Jerusalem.
Sacrament of Reconciliation - While the Archbishop has asked us to suspend hearing confessions until further notice (exception in the case of death,) one can still reconcile with God during Holy Week by 1) Do a good examination of conscience, 2) Pray a sincere Act of Contrition, 3) Give yourself a penance and do it, 4) Make a firm commitment to go to confession as soon as possible once the church doors open again!
Holy Thursday – Wash Feet at Home! The washing of the feet is always such a special part of the Holy Thursday Liturgy, and we will miss doing that together this year. However, I recommend you do the foot washing this year, if you are with family or roommates. This can be done after the live stream of the liturgy (which starts at 7 pm) at home by simply washing one another's feet, as Jesus did for His disciples. Grab a large bowl or Basin, water and towels If you live alone, you could spend some extra time in prayer contemplating whose feet you would like to wash if you could and even imagine Jesus washing you feet!
Holy Thursday Altar of Repose & Nigh Watch - We will still have an altar of Repose at St. John's so that I can live stream an hour of Night Watch from 8-9pm Holy Thursday. You may sign up for a holy hour of Night Watch with Jesus between 8 pm Thursday and 3 pm Friday. While you won’t be able to physically come to the church to do the watch, I encourage you to take an hour at home and watch the live stream of the altar at St. John’s. To sign up for an hour, email Larry Holbrook at st.johneucharisticadoration@gmail.com
Good Friday - Reverence the Cross at Home! One of the highlights of Good Friday is the Reverencing of the Holy Cross! I want to encourage you to make a simple Cross you can reverence or reverence a cross you have in your home. For those who are handy and like to build things or for those who have kids at home and need a great activity for them... build a large cross together and then reverence it as a family at the Good Friday live streamed service in your home. Then you can keep it from year to year and bring out on Good Friday as a reminder of the year 2020.
Holy Saturday Vigil - Build an Easter Fire and Light Candles! One of my favorite parts of the Easter Vigil is the Easter Fire and lighting of the Pascal Easter Candle. I encourage you to build an Easter Fire outside and then light candles off of it to be carried into your home (all lights shut off) to the place where you will tune into the Easter Vigil at 9 pm live stream from St. John's. You could then sit the candles at a shrine set up around your screen to make it a special worship space for the vigil. The light will represent the light of the Risen Christ that you have welcomed into your Domestic Church/Home!
Lenten Peace be with you! I pray this finds you healthy, happy and striving for holiness in these days of trial of Corvid19 Pandemic. Holy week 2020 begins this Sunday! As we draw close to Holy Week, we are all aware that it will be challenging to not gather together in the church for worship and devotion. However, we will gather virtually via live steam for all the Holy Week Liturgies! I have also provided some ideas that you can be in solidarity with St. John’s parishioners and friends this Holy Week and make it special for all!
Holy Week Liturgies - Live Stream Schedule - Click Here for More Info
- Palm Sunday Mass Live Stream -10am
- Holy Thursday Mass & Night Watch Live Stream - 7pm
- Good Friday Service Live Stream - 3pm
- Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Live Stream - 9pm
- Easter Sunday Mass Live Stream - 10am
- From Facebook (St. John's Indy): https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsindy/
- From St. John's Website: http://www.stjohnsindy.org/mass-feed.html
I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following ways to enter fully into Holy Week by being creative and trying some new things!
Palm Sunday - Collect a Branch! While we won't be distributing palms per the request of Archbishop Thompson, I encourage you to pick a branch from a pine tree or flower bush or other live branch and have that in hand for the Liturgy. The Gospels cite both branches and palms that were used to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. If you are with family or friends, do a procession around the house before Mass begins with the branches waving as if you were processing with Jesus into Jerusalem.
Sacrament of Reconciliation - While the Archbishop has asked us to suspend hearing confessions until further notice (exception in the case of death,) one can still reconcile with God during Holy Week by 1) Do a good examination of conscience, 2) Pray a sincere Act of Contrition, 3) Give yourself a penance and do it, 4) Make a firm commitment to go to confession as soon as possible once the church doors open again!
Holy Thursday – Wash Feet at Home! The washing of the feet is always such a special part of the Holy Thursday Liturgy, and we will miss doing that together this year. However, I recommend you do the foot washing this year, if you are with family or roommates. This can be done after the live stream of the liturgy (which starts at 7 pm) at home by simply washing one another's feet, as Jesus did for His disciples. Grab a large bowl or Basin, water and towels If you live alone, you could spend some extra time in prayer contemplating whose feet you would like to wash if you could and even imagine Jesus washing you feet!
Holy Thursday Altar of Repose & Nigh Watch - We will still have an altar of Repose at St. John's so that I can live stream an hour of Night Watch from 8-9pm Holy Thursday. You may sign up for a holy hour of Night Watch with Jesus between 8 pm Thursday and 3 pm Friday. While you won’t be able to physically come to the church to do the watch, I encourage you to take an hour at home and watch the live stream of the altar at St. John’s. To sign up for an hour, email Larry Holbrook at st.johneucharisticadoration@gmail.com
Good Friday - Reverence the Cross at Home! One of the highlights of Good Friday is the Reverencing of the Holy Cross! I want to encourage you to make a simple Cross you can reverence or reverence a cross you have in your home. For those who are handy and like to build things or for those who have kids at home and need a great activity for them... build a large cross together and then reverence it as a family at the Good Friday live streamed service in your home. Then you can keep it from year to year and bring out on Good Friday as a reminder of the year 2020.
Holy Saturday Vigil - Build an Easter Fire and Light Candles! One of my favorite parts of the Easter Vigil is the Easter Fire and lighting of the Pascal Easter Candle. I encourage you to build an Easter Fire outside and then light candles off of it to be carried into your home (all lights shut off) to the place where you will tune into the Easter Vigil at 9 pm live stream from St. John's. You could then sit the candles at a shrine set up around your screen to make it a special worship space for the vigil. The light will represent the light of the Risen Christ that you have welcomed into your Domestic Church/Home!
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Decorate Your Home for Easter! Please consider decorating your home for Easter so that you are in the spirit of the Pascal Mystery of the Resurrection. Families can have kids make their glass and doors into stain glass windows (see examples). Perhaps there is a way you can even decorate outside so others can see that you are celebrating Easter as the Domestic Church!
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Invite someone to attend Easter Mass with you! This is such a great time to invite others to attend Easter Mass live stream with you. Who can you invite? A Family member or friend who has been away from the Church? A Coworker? A Neighbor? Perhaps you could call to invite them or send them a personal note this week. I have been amazed at the many people who are not Catholic or have fallen away from the church who have joined us recently for live stream Mass! God wants to build His Church in these days in a most creative way… let’s join Him!
Easter Sunday – Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate! Make Easter special this year in ways that you may not have before. Join us for live stream of the Easter Mass at 10 am or anytime after. You can access the Easter Mass Live Steam here:
- From Facebook (St. John's Indy): https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsindy/
- From St. John's Website: http://www.stjohnsindy.org/mass-feed.html
Join us for Virtual Narthex after the Mass by Zoom small groups at http://www.stjohnsindy.org/sunday-small-groups.html. Make a special Easter meal. Color and hunt Easter eggs and candy. Sing Easter songs together in the home and outside on an Easter walk for the neighbors to hear. Facetime loved ones who are separated from you and share your love for them. Make an Easter video and share it on social media or more privately with loved ones.
Buy a Easter Lilly for one of our Elderly Shut Ins and brighten their Easter! We will still be receiving all the Easter Lilies ordered from Heidenreich Greenhouses, but will only use a few in the church. The remainder will be gifted to the elderly to brighten their Easter and let them know our love for them! You can share some sunshine by making a gift for the Easter flowers here: https://osvonlinegiving.com/4408/DirectDonate/69362
Share Your Creative Ideas with Others! During this Holy Week, I am confident God doesn’t want us to just get by and get through it. No, He is inviting us deeper into the New Evangelization through new and creative methods of sharing the Good News with even greater ardor! Share your ideas with others via social media, texts, phone calls and by posting them on the St. John’s facebook page, Instagram, twitter, etc (find us at StJohnsIndy). The more we share with one another, the more the world will also see the creative and life giving ways we are journeying through Holy Week as a people of faith. This is no time to be shy! As St. John Paul II encouraged us… Shout it from the rooftops! Perhaps our rooftop today is the gift of social media!
Stay strong and courageous in these days and make Holy Week one to remember… not because of the Coronavirus, rather because you entered more deeply into relationship with God and His Holy Church through new and creative ways!
With a father’s love,
Father Rick Nagel