This week we enter the most sacred week of the Church’s liturgical year: Holy Week. At the climax of this week, we will celebrate the Sacred Triduum, three days that form a single feast: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Most of us think of these days as three separate feasts, each independent of each other. However, the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil form a single feast whereby we participate in the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s death and Resurrection.
As part of the Sacred Triduum, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin will lead the annual ‘Way of the Cross’ procession in the Phoenix Park this Good Friday, 25 March at 12.00pm. The event is organised by the Catholic movement, Communion and Liberation.
The ‘Way of the Cross’ procession recalls the last stage of the journey that Jesus walked in his earthly life and commemorates the fourteen Stations of the Cross on the day of Christ’s Crucifixion. Due to the deep connection these events have with the Holy Lands, parish communities throughout Ireland take up a collection every Good Friday to support the diminishing number of Christian people who still live in the Holy Land of Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and for the upkeep of many holy places in the region.
This will be the fourteenth ‘Way of the Cross’ procession to be held in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. While it began with modest numbers, it has since become, for many Dubliners, an integral part of their preparation for Easter, with numbers of more than a thousand people from all ages and backgrounds attending each year.
The procession will begin at the Wellington Monument at 12.00pm and it will then proceed to the Papal Cross. There will be five stages along the route at which there will be Gospel readings and reflections given by Archbishop Martin. Music will be provided by the four-part choir of Communion and Liberation.
ENDS
