Archbishop Gomez to celebrate Holy Week & Easter Liturgies
Archbishop Gomez to celebrate Holy Week & Easter Liturgies at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and Catholic parishes across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and around the world will celebrate Holy Week and Easter Masses and services this week. Holy Week began with Palm Sunday and continues with special Masses and services leading up to Easter. This is a special time known as the Easter Triduum – from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday marks the end of the Lenten season, and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.
“This is a moment for us to really reflect on the mystery of our redemption – the mystery of God’s love for us, Jesus carried his cross for us and he died for us. To set us free to live a new life – to live for God and for the love of our neighbors and families,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez.
Archbishop Gomez will celebrate the following Holy Week and Easter liturgies at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.
- Holy Thursday or Mass of the Lord’s Supper: April 17 at 7 p.m. – bilingual Mass with washing of feet. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated on the evening of Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday. It inaugurates the Easter Triduum (three days before Resurrection Sunday) and commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, more explicitly than other celebrations of the Mass. It includes the traditional washing of the feet of 12 Cathedral members by Archbishop Gomez. Msgr. Antonio Cacciapuoti, Cathedral’s pastor, will be the homilist.
- Good Friday or Passion of the Lord: April 18 at 12 p.m. (noon) – Stations of the Cross service in English. During the solemn liturgy, the Lord’s passion from the Gospel of John will be proclaimed, and a special prayer will be dedicated to the catechumens or brothers and sisters who will be baptized and welcome into the Catholic Church on Easter Vigil. As in previous years, the faithful will have an opportunity to venerate the cross.
- Holy Saturday or Easter Vigil: April 19 at 8 p.m. – bilingual Mass, which celebrates Christ’s Resurrection from the dead, will begin outside with the blessing of the fire at the Easter Fire Hearth on the Cathedral Plaza. The vigil consists of a brief candlelight service and a service of the Word. The Paschal Candle for this year will be lit for the first time. Dating from at least the mid-second century, this is one of the oldest Christian celebrations. The Vigil is a culmination of the entire Church year, an encapsulation of the Paschal Mystery and a rehearsal of salvation history in word and song.
- Easter Sunday – The Resurrection of the Lord: April 20 at 12:30 p.m. – Mass in Spanish celebrating the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ is the oldest and most important Christian celebration. Christians believe that, by rising from the dead, Jesus demonstrated his power over sin and death, manifesting his divinity as the Son of God. Mass will be livestreamed and will also be available as a live broadcast through localish channel ABC 7.2.
In addition, Archbishop Gomez will lead the blessing of animals, at Placita Olvera, (424 N Main St.) on Holy Saturday, April 19, from 2-3 p.m.
The liturgies celebrated at the Cathedral is downtown Los Angeles will be livestreamed on youtube.com/olacathedral and lacatholics.org/holyweek. For more information, lacatholics.org/holyweek.
####