Solemn Holy Week ceremonies begin today with the annual Palm Sunday blessing of palms and procession followed by Mass and the reading of the Passion.

A fixture on today’s Palm Sunday agenda is the Society of St Vincent de Paul Palm Sunday Walk. The Walk begins at two points – Nazareth House, Duncan St, Port of Spain and the Cyril Ross Nursery, El Dorado Rd, Tunapuna – and ends at the Church of the Holy Family, Mount Lambert.

In Port of Spain the Palm Sunday Procession of the Downtown Ministers’ Fellowship begins at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, at 2.30 p.m. and ends at the Holy Trinity Cathedral

Archbishop Gilbert will preside at today’s 9.00 a.m. Mass and procession at the Cathedral. Tomorrow, April 2, he will be at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the celebration of the annual Chrismal Mass. The Mass begins at 5.00 p.m.

Holy Week is the most sacred time of the Church’s year, when Christians commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. In parishes all over the world, liturgical ministers, choirs and altar servers are busy rehearsing for the ceremonies, which are also the most elaborate of the year.

Easter Triduum

The Easter Triduum begins with the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening and ends with evening prayer of Easter Sunday.

It celebrates the paschal mystery, that is, the passing of the Lord from this world to his Father, Christ the paschal lamb whose blood is poured out for our redemption and the sealing of the new and everlasting covenant, Christ who defeats death so that we might live for ever.

Even though the events are celebrated in chronological order (from the Last Supper through the crucifixion to the resurrection) the celebration is not a historical representation of past events, like a visit to a museum, but as the paschal mystery is celebrated through liturgical signs and sacramentals we are united to Christ in intimate communion.

The celebration of the Triduum is seen as one unit – we begin the Triduum on Holy Thursday evening with the sign of the cross and a greeting but there is no dismissal at the end.

The Good Friday service has no opening greeting or dismissal as the celebration flows from its start on Holy Thursday and continues on to the Easter Vigil which also has no opening greeting (the opening as it were being on Holy Thursday) but there is a dismissal at the end of the Vigil service and Mass.
Thus, the Triduum begin with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday and ends with the Easter Vigil Mass, having celebrated Christ crucified, buried and risen – one great act of God.