My Holy Week To-Do List

• Go to the Sacrament of Confession (if we haven’t recently gone).

• Check Easter basket supplies and decide what Holy Week activities we will focus on.

This year we will choose two films to watch, we will pray the Stations of the Cross together, and we will make Hot Cross buns for Holy Thursday. I am debating a shaving cream, food coloring, egg-decorating effort, but we shall see…

• Make sure everyone has clean and weather-appropriate church clothes for the Triduum (and shoes…winter boots tend to mean that shoes are too small by Spring.)

• Determine when and where we are celebrating Easter.

This looks different for us because of our call to ministry, but we have a conversation about who we will celebrate with and how it will look: will we host? Will we bring something to someone else who is hosting? Will we have time to celebrate the Resurrection as a small family before the outside holiday rituals take over? Will we/I attend Mass on Easter morning (this is because sometimes I like to worship at a Mass where I’m not “on” in my ministry role)?

• Check in with friends or family who might need community to celebrate with.

• Rest, rest, rest - not an easy feat for most of us, but especially me with a couple of teenagers, dogs and all the other things that vie for my attention. The journey of Holy Week through God’s word and sacrament is the core of what I believe as a Catholic Christian. It requires a mental and emotional grounding and a desire and capacity to receive what God is offering.

I choose a spiritual tool that is different from my regular devotions and make sure I know when I’m going to take that intentional time with God each day.

I get to bed on time and nourish myself with healthy foods and hydration.

I recently read that like Jesus, once we do the hard work of Holy Week, encountering the Jesus in the sacraments and banishing sin from our lives, God easily accomplishes Easter Sunday.