Passion Week

Last Sunday, during the parish notices, I offered an exhortation to be present for as much of Holy Week as possible. The various liturgies that comprise the Church’s observance make the final week of Jesus’ life, and the events that lead to his death, come alive. We experience and appropriate the drama of salvation as we follow our Lord in his story. In the following, it becomes our shared story.

One of my favorite aspects of Holy Week is the liturgy of the hours from noon to 3pm. After each of the meditations, a series of collects is prayed. Many of the collects come from the proper Good Friday liturgy found on page 276 of the BCP. The collects are from among the most ancient collects the Church possesses. For a bit of history related to the Solemn Collects, click Solemn Collects.

My favorite Solemn Collect follows. I think it captures the heart of Holy Week and the heart of the Gospel.

“O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”