Dear Sacred Heart Parish Family,
We are entering into the climax of our liturgical year: Holy Week and the Triduum will lead us to the great feast of our salvation, Easter. Our Church and Chapel have been barren in decoration over the season of Lent and last weekend the statues and crucifixes were covered, to symbolize the great desert we are in until the Resurrection. We will be more excited when the decorations return! Please consider contributing to the funds to help cover the cost of the Easter flowers.
We begin this most sacred week with the Sunday of the Passion of our Lord, Palm Sunday. You will grab your palms and honor Christ, the Son of David as the crowd did in Jerusalem, the 10 AM Mass will begin outside on the front steps so we can enter the holy city like Christ and his disciples. That evening we celebrate Vespers in the chapel praying the ancient prayers of the Church, the psalms and scripture.
On Monday the Chrism Mass is celebrated at St. Matthew’s Cathedral where Cardinal Gregory will bless and consecrate the holy oils for the upcoming year: the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of the Catechumens, and the Sacred Chrism.
Wednesday of Holy Week is commonly called “Spy Wednesday,” the day Judas agreed to betray his Savior. We will celebrate the ancient liturgy of Tenebrae at 8 PM in the Chapel, also called the Office of Shadows. A form of Matins and Compline (parts of the Liturgy of the Hours) after each psalm, canticle, or hymn is sung a candle is snuffed and the lights of the Chapel get dimmer. We are symbolically entering into the darkness of sin, the darkness which Jesus came to conquer. One candle will remain lit, a sign of the Light of Christ that will come in a short time.
Holy Thursday will begin with Matins and Lauds (morning prayer) in the Church. There is only one Mass on this day: The Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:30 PM. Right before Mass begins we will induct our newest altar servers, we have a great group of young men who will begin their service this evening. Fr. Potts will vest them in their surplice before Mass so that they can join the full corps of servers in the entrance procession.
During the Mass the Mandatum (commandment) or the washing of the feet will take place. What is most beautiful in this liturgy is that at the end of the “supper” we take our Lord in procession up to the Chapel which will be decorated as the garden, just at the Apostles did. As is the ancient custom of the Church, our Lord is then placed in the tabernacle for a period of “adoration,” we are participating in the agony in the garden trying to keep watch until midnight. We are also sharing in the experience of the disciples outside the High Priests’ residence, we are separated from Jesus. The Church will then be stripped bare as we enter Good Friday.
On the day we solemnly remember Christ’s death, we celebrate Matins and Lauds in the morning. Our high school youth group will then perform the Passion Play at Noon in the Church. We will then expose for veneration two relics of the Passion, a piece of the True Cross and a piece of the Crown of Thorns. These will be out until Stations at 3 and then out again until the end of Confessions at 5 PM. We then celebrate the liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 7:30 PM.
Holy Saturday the solemn day when our Lord descended into Hell to conquer death. We hear this proclaimed in the Matins and Lauds that morning at 8 AM. After this we prepare for the Great Vigil of Easter. Altar servers, catechumens, and candidates will practice, we will decorate the Church to celebrate the Resurrection and then at 8 PM light the Easter Fire and begin. This is the highest Mass of the Church’s year, it begins in darkness and progressively lightens until the Paschal Candle is placed in the sanctuary: “The Light of Christ.” We then hear the story of our salvation in the light of the Resurrection. The final lights are lit during the Gloria, celebrating when God became Man. We have several future members of the Church and parish who we will welcome on that holy evening.
We then celebrate Christ, risen from the dead! We hope that you will be able to join us for these sacred liturgies. The Triduum: Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, and Easter Vigil are in fact all ONE Mass, so come and worship!
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Potts and Fr. Russo
Evening of Lenten Reflection and
Sacrament of Penance
Wednesday, March 29, 7-9pm in the Church
Slow down and take this opportunity to spiritually prepare yourself for the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord. Tonight, March 29, from 7:00-9:00 pm we will have a Lenten Reflection. Several priest will be available to hear confessions.
Help us to decorate our altars in the Church and Chapel this Easter season through the purchase of Easter flowers. You may order flowers in memory or in honor of a loved one by visiting the parish website. The 8:00 am Mass on Easter will be offered for those who are remembered through the purchase of Easter flowers.
You are invited to join us for hot coffee, delicious donuts and great conversations this Sunday, April 2, down-stairs in Carroll Hall after the 8:00 & 10:00 am Masses.
All women of the parish are invited to Our Lady's Sodality meeting on Monday, April 3, starting with the Rosary at 6:40 pm and Mass at 7:00 pm in the Chapel.
The meeting will follow at 7:30 pm in Whitemarsh Hall. The guest speaker for this month's meeting is Monsignor Mike Wilson.
With bills now crossed over to the opposite chambers, votes are underway – voting will continue until midnight on April 10 – and conference committees are working out differences between House and Senate versions of the bills to come up with final language.
We are monitoring bills closely and actively advocating on a wide range of bills. Of particular concern:
- Human composting (HB 1060), also known as “natural organic reduction” (NOR): Passed the House and is now in front of the Senate
- Abortion constitutional amendment (SB 798/HB 705): Passed the House and Senate; crossover hearings on the opposite chamber’s bill are being held
- Physician assisted suicide (SB 845/HB 933): No committee votes, but could be added to a voting list at any time
- BOOST scholarships (in budget): Cut by $2 million, with a phase out that bars new families in the House, but passed with full funding and no phase out in the Senate; moving to conference committee
Two actions you can take now:
Speak up. Action alerts for these and other bills are in our Advocacy Action Center. Please take action if you haven’tand share the alerts today with your friends and fellow parishioners. The link is on the home page of mdcatholic.org.
Pray. Please keep these critical issues in your prayers during Holy Week and Easter and pray for our lawmakers that they may be inspired by the Holy Spirit in their work.
Sacred Heart Parish Office:
301-262-0704
Religious Education:
301-262-1221
Youth Group:
Counseling Program:
301-541-3740