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 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 not just a story that is out there; it is a story that is really ‘for us.’ It is good then 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.
This evening, in the place of Evensong we shall walk the Way of the Cross, in a liturgical presentation of Liszt’s Via Crucis. And next Sunday, Palm Sunday, we arrive at 9:30 am for the Procession of Palms and Solemn Liturgy.
Remember that our liturgical observance of all the events of this season provides a very rare opportunity in Christchurch and in New Zealand. The special rites of Holy Week reach back into early Christian times. They are 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.
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 the Holy Week services. Many of us have found that immersion in them, with their vivid action, powerful story, and exceptional music, has been a life-changing experience.
The School will be marking the events of the Passion at daily services during Holy Week, before their term ends on Maundy Thursday.
May God bless you all.
Fr Peter Williams
Lent Readings: Week Five
Monday Susanna 41–62 (Apocrypha) 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
Holy Week at S. Michael’s
2010
Palm Sunday, 28 March
8:00 am Low Mass
9:30 am Blessing of Palms in the School atrium
Procession in honour of Christ the King
Solemn Mass with choral reading of the Passion
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7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Holy Week
Monday
8:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation
Tuesday
10:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation
Wednesday
7:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation
The Triduum Sacrum
Maundy Thursday, 1 April
7:30 pm Solemn Mass of the Last Supper
foot-washing
procession to the Altar of Repose stripping of the altars.
Watch of the Passion until 9:00 am Good Friday.
Good Friday, 2 April
10:00 am Children’s Tableau
12 noon Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion
Holy Saturday, 3 April
7:30 pm The Easter Vigil:
The New Fire
Service of Light
Renewal of Baptismal Vows
Solemn Mass of the Resurrection
EASTER
at S. Michael’s
EASTER DAY, 4 April
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass and Procession
Renewal of Baptismal Vows
7:00 pm Solemn Festal Evensong & Benediction
In Eastertide
Easter Week
Monday to Easter Saturday 5–10 April
Low Masses at the usual times
Low Sunday, 11 April
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Taizé Evening Service
Sunday, 18 April Harvest Festival
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction
Sundays of Easter, 25 April, 2, 9, 16 May
Services at the usual times:
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction
Parish Annual Meeting
Sunday 2 May, after the Solemn Mass
Ascension Day, Thursday 13 May
7:00 am Low Mass
12:15 pm Low Mass, with laying-on of hands for healing
7:30 pm Solemn Mass & Procession at S. Luke’s
Pentecost, Sunday 23 May
8:00 am Low Mass10:00 am Solemn Mass and Procession
7:00 pm Festal Evensong & Benediction
