By: Roberto Chavez
If you are anything like me, this Holy Week really snuck up this year. Lent was a bit of a blur. What are some ways to really dive into the Holy Week and prepare for the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday)?
1) Make sure you don't throw away your palm branches. These are blessed objects and should either be buried or burned. If you want to keep yours around, a good place to keep them is tucked behind a crucifix in your house or behind a holy image.
2) You still have a few days left to give you Lenten sacrifice one final effort. Even if you decided to give up chocolate and you are right now reading this while knocking back a king-sized bag of M&M's- there are still several days left of Lent to fast from chocolate (or anything else you may have set out to do).
3) Tidy up. This has become a yearly practice for me and helps me go into the Easter season feeling much less cluttered. First: Get rid of the stuff that you don't use, don't need, or don't know why you even bought it in the first place. Donate it only if it still has some usefulness left to it. Second: Delete any apps on your phone that are time wasters, offer too many reminders, or otherwise take up space and time that can be spent living outside of the digital world. Third: This one is much more of a stress reliever than I had ever imagined- click UNSUBSCRIBE from the advertising emails that clog up your email inbox... Do you need daily prayers and Scripture readings to kick off your day? Yes! Keep that one. In fact, once you clear out all of the others, this one is no longer one of 80 emails you wake up to in the morning, and the time you would spend clearing out the junk mail each morning can be spent in prayer and reflection on Scripture.
4) Enter into the Triduum by planning these next few days around the liturgies. Check the parish bulletin for Mass times, show up at least 15 minutes early (or more if you go to an especially large parish) to get a seat and spend some time in prayer. Be especially courteous and patient with your fellow parishioners- for some this may be their first-time celebrating Easter in-person in over two years.
5) Finally- take a few deep breaths and smile knowing that God loves you more than you will ever know.
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