CCM has a tradition of holding co-ed Bible studies each day of Holy Week walking through the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary. These studies will replace regularly scheduled studies.
Monday: 5:30pm in the Grove Tuesday: 5:30pm in the Grove Wednesday: 8pm in the Parish Hall (replaces Good Cheer) Thursday: 5:30pm in the Grove Friday: 4pm in the Church yard
The Wednesday of Holy Week remembers that Judas negotiated Jesus' life with the high priests for a handful of silver. Before the actual betrayal scene we know, we had betrayed Jesus in his heart.
Holy Week Bible study replaces Good Cheer. Confessions 7-8am & 11am-noon with daily Mass at 12:10pm.
Holy Thursday is the day Jesus institutes the Eucharist and the Priesthood at the Last Supper. Jesus begins the Passover meal, which is paused as they go to pray at the Mount of Olives. The Passover meal will not be finished until Jesus, the Paschal Lamb, is sacrificed and drinks the last cup of wine on the cross.
The Mass begins with the washing of the feet, as at the Last Supper. It proceeds as every Mass is a remembrance of the Last Supper. Just as Jesus left to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Blessed Sacrament will be moved to an altar of repose where adoration takes place until the priest removes the Eucharist to another resting place.
The tabernacle will be empty and the Church stripped bare as Jesus has been betrayed and taken from His disciples.
Bible study 5:30pm in the Grove; Mass at 7pm & Adoration until 10pm.
The priests and elders take Jesus to Caiphas' house and leave him in a cistern in the ground before bringing him to the Sanhedrin, sending him to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate. He is condemned to death.
The Roman soldiers scourge Jesus, crown him with thorns, mock his kingship, and make him carry his own cross outside the city. He is crucified and dies at 3pm.
At 3pm we will walk the Stations of the Cross at St. John's followed by Holy Week Bible study at 4pm and then the Veneration of the Cross. The Veneration is not a Mass - no Mass is celebrated in the whole world on Good Friday. The Eucharist will be brought back into the Church and distributed to the faithful, then reposed again outside the Church.
Jesus is in the tomb. The world is silent, or ought to be. He has descended to the dead to bring up the faithful of old who died before the Savior had come.
Meanwhile, the Church is secretly full of activity. Those coming into the Church at the Easter Vigil will practice at 10am and the Church will be decorated for Easter glory.
Jewish tradition states a new day begins at sundown, and we carry that tradition for big feast days. Easter, then, begins this night at the Vigil.
The Vigil begins when it is dark outside, symbolizing the darkness of the world. We gather outside around the new fire which lights the Easter candle, symbolizing Christ the light of the world. We process into the Church and each person lights their candle as the light spreads.
We read from the Ole Testament the story of salvation, culminating in the Resurrection of Christ. After the homily, baptisms will take place, then confirmations, then the Eucharist. After the Mass, there will be a reception for our new Catholics.