{"id":159,"date":"2011-04-15T11:25:12","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T15:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/?p=159"},"modified":"2011-04-15T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2011-04-15T15:25:12","slug":"holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html","title":{"rendered":"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The close proximity in time between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week is no accident; one could write for volumes of its deeper meaning. However, as I prepare to enter into Holy Week as a Catholic Deacon, I was reminded of the question usually asked by the youngest at the Passover Seder, “why is this night different from all other nights?”\u00a0 Other Christians might ask, particularly of Catholics, a variant of the question as we enter into Holy Week, \u201cWhy is This Week any Different from other Weeks?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liturgy of Palm\/Passion Sunday, with its re-presentation of the triumphal entry of the Master into Jerusalem leading into the first Passion Narrative sets the Liturgical framework for a week filled with invitations of grace for all who choose to receive them. To be “Holy” is to be set aside for God. Lord knows, we all need help on the path to being “Holy”, set aside for God. Entering fully into the Liturgical celebrations of this extraordinary week has the potential to change us. Now it begins…now it all begins.<\/p>\n

There is no better book to assist Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and lay men and women charged with the task of preparing truly good liturgies in the Modern Roman Rite than Monsignor Peter J. Elliott’s “Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year”<\/a> Monsignor Elliott writes these insightful words: “Christians understand time in a different way from other people because of the Liturgical Year. We are drawn into a cycle that can become such a part of our lives that it determines how we understand the structure of each passing year.<\/p>\n

“In the mind of the Christian, each passing year takes shape, not so much around the cycle of natural seasons, the financial or sporting year or academic semesters, but around the feasts, fasts and seasons of the Catholic Church. Without thinking much about it, from early childhood, we gradually learn to see time itself, past, present and future, in a new way. All of the great moments of the Liturgical Year look back to the salvific events of Jesus Christ, the Lord of History.<\/p>\n

“Those events are made present here and now as offers of grace. This week is Holy not only because of what we remember but because of what it can accomplish within each one of us as we give our voluntary “Yes” to its’ invitation. To put it another way, in Christ time takes on a sacramental dimension. The Liturgical Year bears this sacramental quality of memorial, actuation and prophecy.<\/p>\n

“Time becomes a re-enactment of Christ’s saving events, His being born in our flesh, His dying and rising for us in that human flesh. Time thus becomes a pressing sign of salvation, the “day of the Lord”, His ever present “hour of salvation”, the kairos. Time on earth then becomes our pilgrimage through and beyond death toward the future Kingdom. The Liturgical Year is best understood both in its origins and current form in the way we experience time: in the light of the past, present and future.<\/p>\n

Holy Week invites us to let go of self and embrace the Lord anew. To begin again! How desperately the current age needs to hear this Good news that we can all begin again! The real question is not whether we will mark time but how we will do so? For the Christian time is not meant to be a tyrant ruling over us with impunity. Rather, it is a teacher, inviting and instructing us to choose to enter more fully into our relationship with the Lord and in Him with one another for the world.<\/p>\n

Time is not our enemy, but our friend. It is a part of the redemptive loving plan of a timeless God who, in His Son, the Timeless One, came into time to transform it from within. He now gives us time as a gift and intends it to become a field of choice and a path to holiness in this life and the window into life eternal. Through time the Lord offers us the privilege of discovering His plan for our own life pilgrimage. Through time He invites us to participate in His ongoing redemptive plan, through His Son Jesus Christ who has been raised, by living in the full communion of His Church. That plan will in its final fulfillment recreate the entire cosmos in Christ.<\/p>\n

Time is the road along which this loving plan of redemption and re-creation proceeds. We who have been baptized into Christ are invited to co-operate in this Divine Plan. The Christian understanding of time as having a redemptive purpose is why Catholic Christians mark time by the great events of the faith in our Church calendar. At the very epicenter of that Calendar is the great Three days we will celebrate this Holy Week, the “Triduum” of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Resurrection of the Lord.
\n\u00a0
\nAs we live the liturgical calendar we can experience the ever-deepening call to conversion and find the deeper mystery and meaning of life by responding. Christians believe in a linear timeline in history. There is a beginning and an end, a fulfillment which is a new beginning. Time is heading somewhere. That is as true of the history of the world as it is our own personal histories. Christians mark time by the great event which forever redeemed it, the saving Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Good Liturgy is not a re-enactment of something that happened over 2000 years ago but an actual participation in the events themselves, by faith. They are outside of time and made present in our Liturgical celebrations and in our reception of the Sacraments. Every Liturgy is an invitation to enter into the sacrifice of Calvary which occurred once and for all. That one Sacrifice is re-presented at every Altar in every Holy Mass.<\/p>\n

Our Holy Week invites us to participate in the timeless Paschal Mystery, the saving life, suffering, passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Over the course of this Holy Week we attend the Last Supper and receive the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We enter into the deep meaning of the Holy priesthood and are invited to pour ourselves out like the water in the basins used to wash feet on Holy Thursday. We are asked with the disciples in the Gospel accounts we hear proclaimed to watch with the Lord and to enter with him into his anguish by imitating His Holy surrender in his Sacred Humanity in the Garden of Gethsemane.<\/p>\n

Through the stark and solemn Liturgy of the Friday we call “Good”, we stand at the Altar of the Cross where heaven is rejoined to earth and earth to heaven, along with the Mother of the Lord. We enter into the moment that forever changed – and still changes – all human History, the great self gift of the Son of God who did for us what we could never do for ourselves by in the words of the ancient Exultet, “trampling on death by death”. We wait at the tomb and witness the Glory of the Resurrection and the beginning of the New Creation.<\/p>\n

At the Great Easter Vigil we will be invited to join the new members of the Body of Christ and affirm once again that we believe what we profess in that great Creed, the symbol of our ancient and ever new faith. We can be Catholic, as I like to say, “by choice”, by exercising our human freedom and choosing what is true. The Liturgical year in the words of Monsignor Peter Elliott \u201ctransforms our time into a sacrament of eternity.” Let us enter fully into this Great and Holy Week by reaching out to receive all of the graces offered to us in these wonderful Holy Week Liturgies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The close proximity in time between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week is no accident; one could write for volumes of its deeper meaning. However, as I prepare to enter into Holy Week as a Catholic Deacon, I was reminded of the question usually asked by the youngest at the Passover Seder, “why…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[89,236,102,103],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-week","tag-catholic-deacon-keith-fournier","tag-holy-week","tag-palm-sunday","tag-passion-sunday"],"yoast_head":"\nHoly Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks? - Catholic by Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks? - Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The close proximity in time between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week is no accident; one could write for volumes of its deeper meaning. However, as I prepare to enter into Holy Week as a Catholic Deacon, I was reminded of the question usually asked by the youngest at the Passover Seder, “why…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-15T15:25:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/beliefnet-Holy-Week-2-this-one.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Keith Fournier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks? - Catholic by Choice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks? - Catholic by Choice","og_description":"The close proximity in time between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week is no accident; one could write for volumes of its deeper meaning. However, as I prepare to enter into Holy Week as a Catholic Deacon, I was reminded of the question usually asked by the youngest at the Passover Seder, “why…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html","og_site_name":"Catholic by Choice","article_published_time":"2011-04-15T15:25:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/beliefnet-Holy-Week-2-this-one.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Keith Fournier","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html","name":"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks? - Catholic by Choice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/beliefnet-Holy-Week-2-this-one.jpg","datePublished":"2011-04-15T15:25:12+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-15T15:25:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/909624e873e50d92ecdd9d770939b3ce"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/beliefnet-Holy-Week-2-this-one.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/beliefnet-Holy-Week-2-this-one.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/holy-week-why-is-this-week-different-from-other-weeks.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Holy Week: Why is This Week Different from other Weeks?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/","name":"Catholic by Choice","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Deacon Keith Fournier","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/909624e873e50d92ecdd9d770939b3ce","name":"Deacon Keith Fournier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a31\/a31a3d7bdef162866a3fb2de941a42b3x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a31\/a31a3d7bdef162866a3fb2de941a42b3x96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Keith Fournier"},"description":"Deacon Keith Fournier is the Editor in Chief at Catholic Online, one of the largest integrated Catholic Media Networks on the World Wide Web. He is a widely recognized voice in the Catholic and broader Christian community. He is a member of the Clergy of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. In his fifteenth year of service as an ordained Catholic Deacon, he is currently assigned to St Stephen Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is also authorized to serve the Liturgy of the Greek Byzantine Melkite Catholic Church. Deacon Fournier and his wife Laurine have been married for 34 years and have five grown children and six grandchildren. Deacon Fournier holds his Bachelors degree in theology and philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville (BA), his Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Theology from the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University (MTS), his Juris Doctor Law Degree Law (JD) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is a PhD candidate in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America where he is currently writing his Doctoral Dissertation. Deacon Fournier also holds two honorary Doctorates, a Doctor of Laws (L.L.D. 1994,Honoris Causa) from St. Thomas University - Given for pro-life legal contributions, and a Doctor of Divinity Degree (D.D. 2005, Honoris Causa ) from the National Clergy Council and the Methodist Episcopal Church for his contributions to authentic ecumenical efforts toward Christian unity. Attorney Fournier is a constitutional lawyer who appeared as co-counsel in cases before the United States Supreme Court on Pro-Life, Religious Freedom and Pro-family issues. He served as the first Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice for seven years. He then served as a public policy activist for the causes of life, marriage and family issues for a number of years. He has extensive experience in nonprofit and for profit leadership. He has taught at the College level and served in Academic administration. He was a Dean of Students and the Dean of Evangelization at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Deacon Fournier is, above all, a communicator. His faith informs his passion to share the fullness of life which he has found in the heart of the Catholic Church. He has written eight books on matters of faith, family and the Christian life and is widely published in the broader Christian community on matters of life, faith, family, and cultural and social issues. He hosted two daily national radio programs, Purpose for Living, and Millennial Moment. He hosted several television series on Christian family and contemporary faith issues on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). He is actively involved in preaching and teaching in the Catholic Church and the broader Christian community. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, Deacon Fournier is the John Paul II Fellow and special counsel for the National Pro-Life Center in Washington, D.C. and is the president of Third Millennium, LLC, a communications and consulting company. He views his role on Beliefnet as an opportunity to share his Catholic Christian faith in what he calls a new areopagus. The areopagus is referred to in the 17th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian New Testament. Also called Mars Hill it was there where the Apostle Paul shared the Christian faith with the early Greeks in their temple.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/author\/deaconfournier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}