Morning: the Mass with the Patriarch and washing the feet
The scent of incense fills every corner of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, the procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament moves slowly around the Empty Tomb of Christ, with the steps marked by the guard of honour of the Kawas. A procession of small candles goes round three times, including the Stone of the Unction and Calvary the last time, as the Gregorian chanting echoes through the basilica. This is the most evocative moment of this Holy Thursday morning, the conclusion of the Mass with which the Church of Jerusalem started the Holy Easter Triduum.
The “Missa in Coena Domini” – presided by the Latin Patriarch His Beatitude Mons. Fouad Twal – commemorates today the Last Supper of Jesus, before his arrest. This is the moment when, offering the Father his body and his blood – bread and wine – the Son of God established the Eucharist and, when he asked the Apostles to perpetuate this offer, the priesthood.
In the Anastasis, opposite the edicule that contains the stone that received the dead body of Christ and then saw him resurrected, the celebration takes on a special aspect: the unity of the Easter mystery shines brightly.
“Now in the Easter Triduum, with this celebration, we approach the heart and the climax of our faith, in the sense of the death and Resurrection of our Lord.”
In his homily, Mons. Twal, recalls that with the Eucharist “Christ approaches. Like us, He loves friendship; like us, He knows pain and anguish. The love expressed at this supper is still today what nourishes us, when we approach Holy Communion. What He gave once for everyone, he wanted to give it over and over again. It is not a model to imitate as a simple commemoration, but an assimilation of His life.”
A gesture of love, like washing the feet of the Apostles, repeated by the Patriarch before the blessing of the Holy Oils – of the Ill and of the Catechumens – and the Consecration of the Chrism.
“Jesus makes a gesture which only the slaves did, he becomes small and vulnerable. It is a gesture that is difficult to accept, but Peter and all the disciples after him will be able to understand the mystery of the Son of God only on condition of accepting and receiving this act of love and humility. We have to let ourselves be washed, let ourselves be forgiven by Him, be the object of divine mercy. The two gestures of this celebration together take on all their meaning: the Eucharist, the real bread of life, is the source of all our acts of love for our brothers and even our enemies.”
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso
After the solemn mass in the morning, the doors of the Holy Sepulchre were closed. The Tomb is no longer empty, it has become the place holding the Blessed Sacrament.
Some faithful have let themselves be shut up inside, in a silent Basilica of the Resurrection, to savour the joy of Easter in these first few moments.
The opening of the doors in the afternoon was very particular. First of all, because the key of the basilica had been given for half an hour to the Vicar of the Custody, the friar Artemio Vitores, by its usual custodians, the Muslim Nusseibeh and Joudeh. Together, they took it in a procession from St. Saviour’s convent to the Holy Sepulchre.
Secondly, there is the local police who have to contain the crowd of pilgrims who would like to be able to enter, but the doors will only be opened for a few minutes and then be closed again until the evening. Screaming and crying changes nothing. The Franciscans are allowed to go in, escorting the seminarians of the Latin Patriarchate, some canons of the Holy Sepulchre and Mons. William Shomali representing the Patriarch. Only about twenty faithful were able to join them to take part in the afternoon offices: the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, the office of Tenebrae and Vespers. It was only just that Brother Armando, who conducts the Franciscan choir, was able to enter the basilica!
The Holy Sepulchre is calm during the moments of silence of the liturgy, in the Copts’ Chapel, the regular ticking of a pendulum clock could be heard!
Almost all the participants found a place in front of the tomb, so that the empty building can be seen in all its architectural beauty, also perhaps thanks to Slav benefactors, the stones have been cleaned as never before. The circumferences of the edicule and the ambulatory also offer another, more luminous, appearance.
At 6.00 p.m., when the doors open, most of the pilgrims who had been waiting there, had left. Others hoping to enter will again be disappointed.
It is till a moment of prayer and silence.
Article and photos by Marie Armelle Beaulieu
The scent of incense fills every corner of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, the procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament moves slowly around the Empty Tomb of Christ, with the steps marked by the guard of honour of the Kawas. A procession of small candles goes round three times, including the Stone of the Unction and Calvary the last time, as the Gregorian chanting echoes through the basilica. This is the most evocative moment of this Holy Thursday morning, the conclusion of the Mass with which the Church of Jerusalem started the Holy Easter Triduum.
The “Missa in Coena Domini” – presided by the Latin Patriarch His Beatitude Mons. Fouad Twal – commemorates today the Last Supper of Jesus, before his arrest. This is the moment when, offering the Father his body and his blood – bread and wine – the Son of God established the Eucharist and, when he asked the Apostles to perpetuate this offer, the priesthood.
In the Anastasis, opposite the edicule that contains the stone that received the dead body of Christ and then saw him resurrected, the celebration takes on a special aspect: the unity of the Easter mystery shines brightly.
“Now in the Easter Triduum, with this celebration, we approach the heart and the climax of our faith, in the sense of the death and Resurrection of our Lord.”
In his homily, Mons. Twal, recalls that with the Eucharist “Christ approaches. Like us, He loves friendship; like us, He knows pain and anguish. The love expressed at this supper is still today what nourishes us, when we approach Holy Communion. What He gave once for everyone, he wanted to give it over and over again. It is not a model to imitate as a simple commemoration, but an assimilation of His life.”
A gesture of love, like washing the feet of the Apostles, repeated by the Patriarch before the blessing of the Holy Oils – of the Ill and of the Catechumens – and the Consecration of the Chrism.
“Jesus makes a gesture which only the slaves did, he becomes small and vulnerable. It is a gesture that is difficult to accept, but Peter and all the disciples after him will be able to understand the mystery of the Son of God only on condition of accepting and receiving this act of love and humility. We have to let ourselves be washed, let ourselves be forgiven by Him, be the object of divine mercy. The two gestures of this celebration together take on all their meaning: the Eucharist, the real bread of life, is the source of all our acts of love for our brothers and even our enemies.”
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso
After the solemn mass in the morning, the doors of the Holy Sepulchre were closed. The Tomb is no longer empty, it has become the place holding the Blessed Sacrament.
Some faithful have let themselves be shut up inside, in a silent Basilica of the Resurrection, to savour the joy of Easter in these first few moments.
The opening of the doors in the afternoon was very particular. First of all, because the key of the basilica had been given for half an hour to the Vicar of the Custody, the friar Artemio Vitores, by its usual custodians, the Muslim Nusseibeh and Joudeh. Together, they took it in a procession from St. Saviour’s convent to the Holy Sepulchre.
Secondly, there is the local police who have to contain the crowd of pilgrims who would like to be able to enter, but the doors will only be opened for a few minutes and then be closed again until the evening. Screaming and crying changes nothing. The Franciscans are allowed to go in, escorting the seminarians of the Latin Patriarchate, some canons of the Holy Sepulchre and Mons. William Shomali representing the Patriarch. Only about twenty faithful were able to join them to take part in the afternoon offices: the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, the office of Tenebrae and Vespers. It was only just that Brother Armando, who conducts the Franciscan choir, was able to enter the basilica!
The Holy Sepulchre is calm during the moments of silence of the liturgy, in the Copts’ Chapel, the regular ticking of a pendulum clock could be heard!
Almost all the participants found a place in front of the tomb, so that the empty building can be seen in all its architectural beauty, also perhaps thanks to Slav benefactors, the stones have been cleaned as never before. The circumferences of the edicule and the ambulatory also offer another, more luminous, appearance.
At 6.00 p.m., when the doors open, most of the pilgrims who had been waiting there, had left. Others hoping to enter will again be disappointed.
It is till a moment of prayer and silence.
Article and photos by Marie Armelle Beaulieu