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Welcome to the Society of Saint John the Evangelist
2019 Holy Week H

For the 2019 Holy Week Schedule of services at the Monastery, click here. 

Praying Holy Week: Resource Pages

Each day of Holy Week offers a fresh invitation to engage with this most sacred season. 

Below you'll find a resource page for each day of Holy Week. We hope these selections of music, sermons, videos, and photographs will help you pray along the road to Calvary and the Empty Tomb.

Praying Palm Sunday

Praying Monday in Holy Week

Praying Tuesday in Holy Week

Praying Wednesday in Holy Week

Praying Maundy Thursday

Praying Good Friday

Praying Holy Saturday

Praying Sunday of the Resurrection

 

  • Palm Sunday
    We hear anew the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Monday in Holy Week
    An invitation to experience spiritual mystery on its deepest and most cosmic scale.
  • Tuesday in Holy Week
    Transformed into the Body of Christ, we are given for the world.
  • Wednesday in Holy Week
    Sustained reflection on the Lord’s suffering and death.
  • Maundy Thursday
    The beginning of the holiest three days in an already holy week.
  • Good Friday
    We commemorate the Lord’s crucifixion and death.
  • Holy Saturday
    A day of waiting, anticipation, and preparation. 
  • Easter Sunday
    Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Holy Week Videos: 2014 School of Prayer on the Holy Week Liturgies

During Holy Week 2014, the Brothers offered a daily “Holy Week School of Prayer" – short videos on how to pray and experience the deep meaning available in that day’s liturgy.

School of Prayer: Wednesday in Holy Week

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The first of four short videos by the SSJE Brothers, reflecting on Wednesday in Holy Week’s service of Tenebrae.

School of Prayer: Maundy Thursday

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The second of four short videos by the SSJE Brothers, reflecting on Maundy Thursday’s Liturgy with Foot-washing.

School of Prayer: Good Friday

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The third of four short videos by the SSJE Brothers, reflecting on Good Friday’s Liturgy of the Passion with Veneration of the Cross.

School of Prayer: Holy Saturday

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The fourth of four short videos by the SSJE Brothers, reflecting on Holy Saturday’s Liturgy of the Word.

Holy Week Videos: "Praying Our Lives" in Holy Week

In Lent 2013, the Brothers offered a video series on “Praying Our Lives,” exploring the gifts and modes of prayer. Click on the videos below for inspiration on how to pray each day of Holy Week. All of the Holy Week videos are available here. 

Palm Sunday: Vulnerability

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What is it that makes you vulnerable? In our lifetimes, we don’t lose our spiritual vulnerability. We wouldn’t want to lose it. How we come to know God, how God breaks through to us, is probably through something that is broken in our lives. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint John the Evangelist To…

Monday in Holy Week: Compassion

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During this week, these last days of our Lord’s life, we try to enter imaginatively into the story of Christ’s passion, to try, each one of us, to feel the weight of the cross, to understand a little of the immensity of God’s sacrifice for us, and the immensity of God’s love for us. –…

Tuesday in Holy Week: Experience

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We lift our hearts to God in whatever state they are in. If our hearts are happy, we lift them to the Lord. If our hearts are broken or heavy with grief, we lift them to the Lord. If our hearts are anxious or afraid, we lift them to the Lord. We “come as we…

Wednesday in Holy Week: Paradox

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There is something about our suffering in life – what we would not have chosen but cannot avoid – when we say “yes” to God, when we show ourselves ready to bear our suffering before God, that opens the door for transformation, for consecration. There is something about facing the dark night that allows us…

Maundy Thursday: Revelation

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Take up these symbols of the new life: towel and basin and water. Let them be for you a sign of your love for him and your gratitude for all that he has done for you. Let them be for you a pledge of your commitment to serve – not out of duty, but out…

Good Friday: Suffering

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It was not because Jesus was oblivious to pain that enabled him to undergo such cruelty. It was because he knew the depth of human grief and loss and despair. And he knew that, because he loved. – Br. James Koester Society of Saint John the Evangelist To Read More, Click Here Video not displaying?…

Holy Saturday: Emptiness

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Love the emptiness. If you do not have space in your soul – if you keep yourself filled on food or constant activity or ever-new ideas– your desire will be blunted or even perverted. We have been created with the gift of desire, to long for, to anticipate. – Br. Curtis Almquist Society of Saint…

Holy Week Videos: 2012 School of Prayer on Images of Jesus

During Holy Week 2012 Br. David Vryhof led a daily “School of Prayer” in the Monastery Chapel, inviting prayer with central images for Jesus. We wanted to make these teachings available to all. Click below to view each day’s video, as well as to read the materials Br. David prepared for each day.

Holy Week School of Prayer: Wednesday

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Meditations for Holy Week – Wednesday “I am the Light of the World” The service of Tenebrae is a service of shadows, which highlights the contrast between light and darkness.  It is a meditative experience, the service itself being held in semi-darkness, and is meant to set the mood for the somber days which follow.  It draws…

Holy Week School of Prayer: Thursday

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Meditations for Holy Week – Thursday: “I am the Bread of Life” The Maundy Thursday liturgy at the monastery has three elements:  First, we re-enact the footwashing, which is the focus of John’s account of the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples.  Then, we share in the Eucharist.  And finally, we follow Jesus to the…

Holy Week School of Prayer: Good Friday

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Meditations for Holy Week – Friday: “I am the Good Shepherd” The Good Friday liturgy is one of the most dramatic liturgies of the year.  In it, we listen to the entire Passion narrative from John’s Gospel (John 18 and 19) and join in praying the Solemn Collects.  We also have a unique opportunity to express…

Holy Week School of Prayer: Saturday

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Meditations for Holy Week – Saturday: “I am the Resurrection and the Life” “Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness.  The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep…” So begins an ancient homily for Holy Saturday, which we will hear at today’s midday…

11 Comments

  1. Spiritual Formation for Lent 2018 - Spiritual Formation on March 25, 2018 at 15:03

    […] Each day of Holy Week offers a fresh invitation to engage with this most sacred season. Go to https://www.ssje.org/praying-holy-week/ to […]

    Reply
  2. Fr Roger Marsh on April 15, 2017 at 12:22

    I have found the Lent course of Marks of Mission invaluable as a starter for sermons and other reflexion during the run up to Easter. I have appreciated how rewarding it is to be drawn to contemplate more deeply the five wounds of Christ at this time.
    I was pleased to see that your videos are once again being shown daily in the cathedral in Canterbury.
    Thank you for your inspiration from across the Pond!
    Have a joyous Easter

    Reply
  3. Reborn | The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana on April 15, 2017 at 00:05

    […] Holy Week at the Monastery: “By his wounds, we are healed” […]

    Reply
  4. Pam Stone on April 14, 2017 at 06:39

    Powerful, inspirational and comforting. Thank you, and may God bless you.

    Reply
  5. Healed | The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana on April 14, 2017 at 00:05

    […] Holy Week at the Monastery: “By his wounds, we are healed” […]

    Reply
  6. Attention | The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana on April 11, 2017 at 00:07

    […] Holy Week at the Monastery: “By his wounds, we are healed” […]

    Reply
  7. Constance Holmes on April 10, 2017 at 10:05

    Once again we have been blessed by the fruits of your continual prayer.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Betray | The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana on April 9, 2017 at 00:06

    […] Holy Week at the Monastery: “By his wounds, we are healed” […]

    Reply
  9. Marjorie Fawcett on April 6, 2017 at 11:17

    The Lenten Study, “Marks of Mission” has been a source of growth and a deeper consciousness and inspiration of the love of Christ in our lives and how we (I) can reach out in faith to serve others in a loving, caring way to the glory of God.

    Reply
  10. Caroline homer on March 23, 2016 at 04:41

    Thank you for Lenten journey. It is so good to feel part of this virtual community. I continue with you in prayer.
    Caroline

    Reply
  11. stanley haskell on April 3, 2015 at 10:42

    As someone who remembers Father Banner at the old wooden
    church on Bowdin Street in Boston, it’s reassuring to see that
    SSJE is still providing its healing services.

    Reply

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