Dear Friends,
Last Sunday it was good to have so many of the S. Michael’s School community join the Parish for the Mothering Sunday Mass. All played their parts creditably and the atmosphere was good.
We are looking forward now to Holy Week. This is always a time of special witness here at S. Michael’s, as with the whole Church we celebrate liturgically these crucial events in the career of Jesus Christ, events that confronted evil and set us free.
During this week, the Church tells and walks us through the great story that is at the centre of what being Christian is all about. It is good if we can give time to joining the community in paying careful and expectant attention to the story as it unfolds again before us and around us. As we celebrate the Holy Week liturgy together, ‘we are there’, becoming a part of the great story and, by the grace of God, better witnesses to it.
Remember that our liturgical observance of these events provides a very rare opportunity in Christchurch and in New Zealand. Our observance of this week is enriched with the traditional chants and polyphonic music of the liturgy, performed at S. Michael’s to a very high standard. The Scriptures are read extensively, mining the long story of the people of God for the meaning of the events we recall. These are special rites which reach back into early Christian times.
If we can give ourselves to pay careful attention to God, by walking through the liturgy of these precious days, we may well find we emerge as new people. That is why it is so important that we all invite other people, friends, family, strangers, to these Holy Week services. Many of us have found that immersion in them, with their vivid action, powerful story, and exceptional music, has been for us a life-changing experience.
Since the School is finishing the first term on Friday, it will be marking the events of the Passion this week, at three school assemblies in addition to the School Mass on Wednesday.
Remember that next Saturday night clocks go back one hour, but on Sunday the Mass begins at 9:30 am, with the procession of palms from the school atrium to the church. In the evening, as we walk through the Stations of the Cross, the choir will be leading us with a presentation of Liszt’s Via Crucis.
May God bless you all.
Peter Williams
Lent Readings: Week Five
Monday Apocrypha (Susanna 41–62) John 8: 1–11
Tuesday Numbers 21: 4–9 John 8: 21–30
Wednesday Daniel 3: 14–28 John 8: 31–42
Thursday Genesis 17: 3–9 John 8: 51–59
Friday Jeremiah 20: 10–13 John 10: 31–42
Saturday Ezekiel 37: 21–28 John 11: 45–56
