Holy Week begins this Sunday.
In four days, we will wave palms and cry "Hosanna." By the end of that same liturgy, we will stand in the crowd that shouts "Crucify him." The Church holds both realities together deliberately, because this is the week that contains the whole mystery - the King who is welcomed and the King who is condemned, the triumphal entry and the road to Golgotha.
I want to encourage you: enter into this next week - Holy Week - Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday - as fully as you possibly can.
At the Right Hand
I published a new reflection this week on something I ponder almost every time I'm at the altar. I wrote it two months ago via audio dictation on the drive home from my monthly meeting with my spiritual director.
During the Eucharistic Prayer, as the priest raises the sacrifice to the Father, the deacon stands to his right. It's his proper place - the rubrics say so. But there's something deeper happening in that positioning.
The Son who emptied himself now sits at the right hand of the Father in glory. And at the altar, the deacon stands at the right hand of the celebrant. This isn't liturgical accident. It's theology made visible.
The post traces the chain - from the deacon's position, to Christ's place in heaven, to Mary's place at the right hand of her Son - and lands on the chalice: the cup of Gethsemane, proper to the one ordained as servant.
The Triduum: One Liturgy in Three Days
The Easter Triduum - Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil - is not three separate liturgies. It is one single liturgy stretched across three days, the most sacred three days of the entire year.
If your schedule allows it, be present for all of it. Walk with Christ from the Upper Room to the Garden, from the Cross to the tomb, and from the darkness of Holy Saturday into the light of Resurrection.
If you can only make one additional service beyond your Sunday obligation, make it the Easter Vigil. There is nothing else like it in the liturgical year - the fire, the candle, the Exsultet, the readings that trace the whole story of salvation, the baptisms, the first Alleluia after forty days of silence. It is the night the Church keeps watch, and it is profoundly worth keeping.
This is the week that changes everything. Do not let it pass you by.
This Week's 2 Minute Homily
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion — USCCB Readings
We begin the holiest week of the year. What unfolds over these next seven days is not simply a remembrance of something that happened long ago - this is the moment of our salvation.
Watch: The Week That Changes Everything →
An Easter Gift That Says Something
Looking for something meaningful for an Easter basket - or just a gift for someone you love?
The Phil 4:4 shop has a shirt that says what we all need to hear right now:
"I love you, even if we disagree."
Simple. Countercultural. True.
It's the kind of thing that starts conversations - and maybe softens a few hearts along the way. Still time to order before Easter.
And for Easter - we'll give you 15% off any purchase over $10 (any shirt purchase). Just use the code "EASTER".
What I'm Reading
"A Simple Guide to Holy Week" — A clear, practical walkthrough of each day from Palm Sunday through Easter, with the theology woven in. Good for sharing with someone who's never experienced the Triduum. Read it →
Catholic Answers Guide to Holy Week 2026 — A more comprehensive resource covering the history, the liturgies, and the spiritual meaning of each day. Worth bookmarking for the week ahead. Read it →
Pope Leo XIV's Angelus (March 22) — Last Sunday the Holy Father reflected on the raising of Lazarus and the approach of Holy Week: "The liturgy invites us, in light of the fact that Holy Week is drawing near, to relive the events of the Lord's Passion... so that we may grasp their most authentic meaning and open ourselves to the gift of grace they contain." Read it →
The Catholic Cartoon
From the Catholic Cartoonist, Joshua Masterson
A Final Word
"The Easter Triduum, which we will celebrate as the summit of the Lenten journey, will unleash all its beauty and meaning. This will take place if we participate, through penance, in the passage from death to life, from powerlessness to the possibilities of God."
— Pope Leo XIV, Ash Wednesday Homily, February 18, 2026
Until next Wednesday,
Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Michael, defend us in battle.
What's on your mind? Just hit reply - I read every response.
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