CATHOLIC BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
PALM SUNDAY
PURPLE CHASUBLE – Garment worn during Lent or Advent, purple represents penance, preparation, and sacrifice. It is may also be worn, at times, during funerals because of its connection to mourning.
GREEN CHASUBLE – is worn during Ordinary time. Green symbolizes hope and life.
WHITE CHASUBLE - is used for a number of feast days, including the feasts of the Lord (except for feasts of the Passion) as well as many saints who were not martyred and angels. The white or beige color in the chasubles also represents Easter joy, happiness, purity, life and light. The white or beige chasubles are worn during the Christmas and Easter celebrations which are dates full of joy for the Birth and resurrection or our Lord Jesus Christ.
RED CHASUBLE – The red represents Christ’s Passion and the bloodshed in martyrdom by Him and the saints. The red is seen on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost when commemorating the Lord’s Passion and feasts of the Apostles, Evangelists and Holy martyrs.
ROSE CHASUBLE – Worn by priests on the third Sunday od Advent (Gaudete Sunday) and the fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday). The rose color symbolizes joy and hope in the midst of the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent.
CASSOCK – Black robe-like garment with a Roman Collar at the top. In a Roman cassock, the significance of those 33 buttons represent the 33 years of Jesus life. Monsignors wear a black cassock with purple buttons and purple piping and a purple sash. In addition, bishops wear a purple zucchetto (yarmulke-like cap) and a pectoral cross around their neck. Cardinals wear red cassocks and red zucchettos and a pectoral cross. The red is a symbol for their devotion to the church and the pope.
ROMAN COLLAR – is a white band that goes around the neck of a priest and remains one of the most distinctive and symbolic elements of any clergy ensemble. It speaks more loudly than any words and clearly identifies clergy members in a crowd of any size. The Roman collar also symbolizes obedience. The Roman collar identifies bishops and priests (and often deacons and seminarians) and manifests their proximity to the Divine Master by virtue of their free consent to the ordained ministry to which they have been called.
SURPLICE - From the Latin superpelliseum “over” and “fur garment”. It is a form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, worn over the cassock, reaching to the knees with wide or moderately wide sleeves. It is worn in religious services and, sometimes, during Mass when distributing Holy Communion.
LENTEN REGULATIONS FOR CATHOLICS
Time for us to prayerfully consider our spiritual preparations for the season of Lent is upon us. The Lenten Season begins with Ash Wednesday, this year [2024] that is February 14th.
ABSTINENCE forbids the eating of meat. Abstinence obliges from the 14th birthday throughout one’s life. All Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat.
FASTING prescribes that only one full meal be taken a day. Two smaller meals may be taken to maintain strength, but these taken together should not equal another full meal. Fasting obliges from the 18th to the 59th birthday.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the two days of Fast AND Abstinence from meat.
There is a serious obligation for Catholics to observe these penitential practices in a substantial way. Those whose work or health would be impaired are excused from fast and abstinence. Individual conscience should decide proper cause for excuse.
Lent, in a very special way, points out that we are pilgrims. For seven weeks we walk with Christ, in response to His invitation, “Let us go up to Jerusalem.” The penances, the fasting and all the other aspects of Lent are the hardships of the journey.
“If anyone should say to you, “Why are you doing this? reply, ‘The Master has need of it …’
...Rather He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Mark 11)
The Church has named this Holy Week. It is holy because of what we pause to recall, the unfolding of God’s plan for our salvation. The whole purpose of Holy Week, therefore, is the remembrance of Christ’s passion and death which led up to the glory of His Resurrection. For Catholics, this is, indeed, the most holy as well as unique week of the entire church year. It begins with the gracious invitation to re-enter the Holy City with Jesus and share in the Pascal Mystery of His suffering, dying and rising from the dead. To accomplish this end, Jesus instructs all “the Master has need of it.” As we hold the blessed palm branch, may we see it as our ticket or pass to enter all the events, which Jesus experienced, and which we will remember and celebrate this week.
This week is holy, because we will respond through our prayers, fast and abstinence and our participation, in the ritual of walking with Jesus, dining with Him at the supper, and being with Him on Calvary and, later on, in the quiet of His tomb. Each event, every moment is directed by the Lord at the will of His Father. The chalice will not pass Him by. He will indeed drink of it. He requires us to respond to His saving actions and not simply remember. We are not to be detached observers….we are to try our best to be caught up into the joy and rapture of the Sacred Mysteries, which bring us ever closer to salvation.
As we now begin this holy week, let us commit ourselves to do our best to immerse ourselves in the Triduum for two reasons. “The Master has need of it,” and because we have need of Him. The sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist and the institution of the holy priesthood, all have a special significance for us this Holy Week. We ask all to join in prayer for the church and for our parish. “The Master has need of you.” “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Via Delorosa – Way of Sorrows
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed Him to a tree? Were you there when they laid him in a tomb? Please try and make this traditional and very beautiful form of worship a part of your Lenten practice.
(Streamed recordings.)
“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor 5:20-21 |
A blessed Ash Wednesday to you. As we enter this season of Lent, let us reflect on the gift of reconciliation, and the love of the Lord that is poured out in each reconciliation. Whether it is reconciliation between each other or the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which our relationship with the Lord is mended, the Lord is present. In the Sacrament, the priest acts “in persona Christi” or “in the person of Christ,” through which Jesus forgives us of our sins. In our relationships with each other, we all know how challenging it can be to forgive each other. It is only with the grace of the Holy Spirit that we can truly forgive.
With thanks to the Lord for all the ways He works, let us thank the Lord for our priests, and let us pray for each other that this Lenten season may be a time where we open our hearts more fully to the Lord. Let us also keep our brothers and sisters in Ukraine in prayer.
Here are some resources for our Lenten journey:
Watch: Ready Reasons: What’s the Deal with Ashes on Ash Wednesday
Listen: My Beloved Son: Meditations for Lent
Watch: Ready Reasons: Was Jesus’ Sacrifice Enough?
Listen: https://watch.formed.org/meditations-for-lent-by-jacques-benigne-bossuet
USCCB Daily Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/
To read more about the sacrament of Reconciliation:
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c2a4.htm