Inhabiting the Christian Year: Holy Week
This is part 6 of a series exploring the Western Christian year ( liturgical calendar ) . For other posts in this series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 . So far, we've looked at Advent , Christmas, Epiphany and Lent . The first three constitute what some call the cycle of light. Lent then begins the cycle of life , which continues with Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. In this post, we'll explore Holy Week, which includes Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (with the last three often referred to as the "sacred Triduum"). Let's begin with a quote from Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. It will provide some important historical context. Originally, the first Christians recalled and celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus in a single day---and they did so once a week, on the Lord's Day! But it was not long, probably by the end of the first century, before a more...