São Paulo, Brazil (Friday, 27/03/2015, Gaudium Press) The Archdiocese of Sao Paulo has organized an extensive and elaborated program for the celebrations of Holy Week.
In parishes of the Archdiocese and in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, the celebrations of Holy Week and of the Resurrection of the Lord will start on Palm Sunday, March 29.
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“Easter is not simply a feast among others,.. it is the ‘Feast of Feasts’, the ‘solemnity of solemnities’, as the Eucharist is the ‘sacrament of sacraments’. St. Athanasius calls Easter ‘the big Sunday’. “The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ triumphs over death, permeates our old time with his powerful energy, until everything is submitted to it” (CCC 1169) .
On the first day, on Sunday at 10.45 am, there will be the blessing of the branches at the Cathedral Square. Then the celebration of the Eucharist inside the Cathedral, presided by Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer.
On Tuesday, March 31, the Way of the Cross of the Brotherhood will take place at 3 pm, followed by Mass at 5 pm.
A Moment with Mary, which invites the faithful to meditate on the Word of God and on the seven sorrows of Mary, will take place on Holy Wednesday, April 1, at 3 pm.
On Holy Thursday, the activities start earlier, at 9 am, with the celebration of Holy Chrism Mass, presided by the Archbishop, Cardinal Scherer, and concelebrated by the auxiliary bishops and priests from the diocese.
In the evening there will be the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, with the rite of the washing of feet. Later, at 9 pm, a time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be available.
The program for Good Friday includes the Way of the Cross with the People of the Street at 9 am. Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, presided by Cardinal Scherer, at 3 pm, followed by a Staging of the Passion of Christ , on the steps of the Cathedral, at 5 pm, and recalling the funeral procession and burial of Jesus and the Sermon of the Seven Last Words, at 6 pm.
On Holy Saturday the program begins at 9 am, with the Office of the Lord’s Grave, with silent gathering in the Cathedral. At 11 am the choir will perform a Musical Concert “The Crucifixion”, along with meditations on the Passion of the Divine Redeemer. And later in the evening, at 8 pm, the Celebration of the Easter Vigil presided over by the Archbishop of São Paulo.
Finishing the schedule of Holy Week, Easter Sunday will include the ceremony of the Lord’s Resurrection, with masses at 9 am, 11 am and 5 pm, the 11 am Mass being celebrated by Cardinal Scherer. (LMI)
