Holy Tuesday

 

Today the Passion account of St. Mark is read.   The connection to the Last Supper and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist is omitted in the 1962.

The text is Mark 14:1-72; 15:1-46

The Gospel is separate from the Passion.  It is Mark 15: 42-46.

Palm Sunday

Pre-1955 Holy Week

The 1962 Missal was the beginning transition into the Novus Ordo.  The reformers began small, but rapidly picked up the pace.  It all began with the changes to Holy Week in 1955.  Palm Sunday and the Easter Vigil suffered the greatest damage, but Holy Thursday and Good Friday were significantly affected too.  

PALM SUNDAY

 The ceremony for the Blessing of the Palms was much longer and more solemn.  On Candlemas and Ash Wednesday, there was the blessing ceremony of candles or ashes before Mass.  In both, there are 4 or 5 blessings that the priest gives before distributing them to the people.  In the reformed Palm Sunday, the blessings are reduced from 6 to only one!

Here is the ancient ceremony:

 Antiphon:  Hosanna Filio David

Collect

Epistle

Responsory

Gospel

Blessing #1

Preface and Sanctus

Blessings #2-6

Sprinkling and Incensing of Palms

Distribution of Palms

Final Prayer

Procession outside of church

Singing Gloria, Laus et Honor at the closed church door

Re-entry into the church while singing Ingrediente

Then Mass begins!

There are some interesting things to note in this.  First it is a very solemn ceremony.  Secondly this takes place at the main altar inside church, not outside at a designated location.  It also shows continuity between the 3 major blessings of the Church in the Candles, Ashes and Palms, including the color of Violet for all three Blessings.  (Not Red as in the new Palm Sunday).  Note that the Gospel is read BEFORE the palms are blessed and distributed. (This will be important later in the reading of the Passion at Mass.)

The Procession is the most beautiful and symbolic part of all.  Since the Blessing was in the church, the procession leaves the church and goes around the church grounds while several Antiphons are chanted.  When it returns to the church, the doors are closed and no one can enter.  From inside two cantors begin singing “Gloria, Laus et Honor”.  The people outside sing the chorus after each verse.  Once the hymn is finished, the priest (or deacon) knocks on the door with the processional cross.  The door is immediately opened and all enter the church.  The symbolism is beautiful!  The cantors inside represent the angels in heaven.  The closed doors show that after Original Sin, the gates of heaven were closed.  It was only through the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross that heaven was reopened to us.  Now why would anyone want to remove this precious symbolism from Palm Sunday? 

The Mass of Palm Sunday is basically the same except for:

1)      The Asperges Me is still done before the Blessing of the Palms

2)      The prayers at the Foot of the Altar are still prayed, except the Psalm Judica Me

3)      There is the Passion AND Gospel

4)      The Last Gospel is read.

Reading of the Passion

1)      Remember that the palms were not blessed until after the Gospel earlier.  We are to hold our palms during the Passion. 

2)      Dom Gueranger says in TLY, “in order that we may show both heaven and earth that we are not scandalized, as were the disciples, at the sight of His apparent weakness and the triumph of His enemies, we hold in our hands the palms, wherewith we have been proclaiming Him as our King.”

3)      All the Passion accounts are shortened in the reformed Holy Week.  The connection to the Last Supper is removed.   This includes Holy Tuesday and Spy Wednesday.

4)      Today for Palm Sunday it should be Matthew 26:1-75; 27:1-66.

5)      The Passion concludes with a Gospel

6)      At Mt 27:62-66, the Missal is incensed and the tone of chant changes to the Gospel tone. 

 If you are lucky enough to have a Father Lasance or older St Andrew Missal (before 1955), you can read through the ancient Holy Week.  And of course, Dom Gueranger's The Liturgical Year has it all, along with his eloquent commentary. 

To read through the prayers of the pre-1955 Palm Sunday, you can go here:

www.pre1955holyweek.com/_files/ugd/01/15a_eb53c0d433f5464689e3b90e5d9a69a2.pdf  

Pope St. Gregory the Great

 

Not only was St. Gregory the Great a pope, he is also a Doctor of the Church.  If his feast is celebrated rather than the Lenten feria, there would be a Credo. 

Pope St. Gregory the Great, pray for us! 

St Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas who is a Doctor of the Church.  If his Mass is celebrated today, rather than the Lenten feria, there would be a Credo. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!