***I love the blogging world because all of you wonderful readers help ME to learn new things as well! Passontide USED to start on the 5th Sunday of Lent and with the new liturgical calendar has moved to being celebrated only during Holy Week starting Palm Sunday. In hearing from all of you it seems that some Churches do follow the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which still typically celebrates two weeks of Passontide. Read all about it HERE!***
Did you notice something different at your church today? Did you remember to veil your crosses at home? Today is Passion Sunday (the 5th Sunday of Lent) and the beginning of Passiontide. It is said that:
"Crosses and statues are veiled now and will remained veiled for two full weeks. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes this custom as follows: "Before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday (i.e. the 5th Sunday of Lent) the crosses, statues, and pictures of our Lord and of the saints on the altar and throughout the church, with the sole exception of the crosses and pictures of the Way of the Cross, are to be covered with a violet veil, not translucent, nor in any way ornamented. The crosses remain covered until the solemn denudation of the principal crucifix on Good Friday. The statues and pictures remain their covering, no matter what feast may occur, until the Gloria in Excelsis of Holy Saturday".
Our oldest son loved going around the house with me to find all of our crucifixes to veil in purple cloth. It is a good reminder to us that we continue to lose things during Lent as our Church experiences a "holy death" before the feast of the Resurrection. We prune ourselves during Lent from giving up the Alleluia on Ash Wednesday, of certain music and flowers and also even from the image of the cross. "This liturgical death of the Church reveals how Christ emptied Himself of His glory in order to save us from our sins and to teach us who we are. The Church then gloriously springs to life again at the Vigil of Easter." - Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Reflection: God please help us during these last few weeks of Lent to focus on what is most important and to draw our hearts close to you. Please let us die to ourselves and find love in You.
We have never done this at home, but today at Mass our priest explained how the statues were veiled, including the large statue of St. Benedict in our church. Beside the statues is a relic of St. Benedict in a lit glass box. Very special! :) May your Passiontide be blessed!
ReplyDeletePS: And the statues at the church were covered with red cloth instead of purple
ReplyDeleteI have read that some use red cloth as well! Thanks for sharing
DeleteI have not veiled our Crucifix in our home, either, but I love the idea! It is always so sobering to see the Crucifix and other statues veiled in church ... I guess it is meant to have us feel like we are missing something (or Someone). I grew up in a parish that did not do this, and now I am SO glad we belong to parish that partakes in all of these beautiful customs. I love our Catholic traditions!
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