Stations of the Cross during Lent:
Noon at St. Mary’s Church
5:00 pm at Sacred Heart Church
From the Desk of Father John
Holy Week 2026
Holy Week stands at the head of our calendar, the holiest week of the entire liturgical year. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday—recall both Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his Blessed Passion– and continues until Easter Sunday. It celebrates the Paschal Mystery, the passion and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and his victorious resurrection, his triumph over sin and death and his glorification by his Father. The week comes to its climax with the Sacred Triduum, the three holiest moments of the whole year: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the solemn Veneration of the Cross and Liturgy of Good Friday, and the Solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection at the Great Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday. These are the holy days in which the Church commemorates the mystery of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. These days are of utmost importance in the spiritual and pastoral life of the Church and l invite you to join us in our beautifully celebrated Holy week liturgies that we may all enter and join Christ in his GREAT ACTION of our redemption–dying He destroyed our death and rising He restored our life.
So today (March 29) Palm Sunday Mass, there is a blessing of palms which the faithful will hold as they process into church. The blessed palms are later kept in the home as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday recalls the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem with the residents greeting him with palm and shouts of “Hosanna! (Save us!)” The complete narrative of the Lord’s Passion will be read during Mass “as a reminder of the total obedience of Christ to the will of the Father which, through His Holy Cross, brought salvation to the world.
Each year in Holy Week, the bishop of a diocese blesses and consecrates the holy oils to be used at Easter and through the coming year in local parishes. This will happen at the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral in Rochester celebrated by our New Bishop John Bonnici. Here the bishop blesses three oils — the oil of catechumens, which is used in baptism, the oil of the infirmed, which is used for the anointing of the sick, and holy chrism, which is used for baptisms, confirmation and ordinations. The Mass of Chrism gathers the faithful of the diocese at their mother Church with their shepherd to prepare for celebrations of Christ in all our churches throughout the year. In the same Eucharistic celebration, the bishop exhorts the priests to fidelity in fulfilling their office in the Church and invites them to renew publicly their commitment to priestly service.
On Holy Thursday, April 2nd, the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper with the Washing of Feet and procession with the Eucharist will be celebrated at 6.30 PM at St. Joseph Church, Wayland. We commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and ministerial priesthood, by which Christ’s mission and sacrifice are perpetuated in the world. The institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood (as distinct from the ‘priesthood of all believers’) for in this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day presents this same sacrifice, by Christ’s authority and command, in exactly the same way. The traditional English name for Holy Thursday, “Maundy Thursday”, comes from the Latin phrase Mandatum novum – “a new command” (or mandate) – which comes from Christ’s words: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn 13:34). “Repeating this gesture of washing the feet in the liturgy, we are also called to actively bear witness to our Redeemer’s love.” The church will remain open until 11.00 PM for any who wishes to come and pray before the Blessed Sacrament reserved and exposed at the repository shrine erected at the back of the church!
On Friday evening, April 3rd, 3.00 PM. we will have the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion at St. Joseph’s Church, Wayland. This liturgy includes the proclamation of the Passion from the gospel of John, the annual Solemn Prayers of the Faithful, the procession with and Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion. The quietness of the rites of this day reminds us of Christ’s humiliation and suffering during his Passion. Everybody present in this liturgy is invited to approach and venerate the cross by touching, reverential bowing, genuflecting or kissing it. In this way each person acknowledges the instrument of Christ’s death and publicly demonstrates their willingness to take up their cross and follow Christ, regardless of what trials and sufferings it might involve. We shall participate in the Ecumenical Cross walk which begins at noon at Wayland Town Hall! And also, Station of the Cross at Sacred Heart Church, Perkinsville, 5.30 PM!
On Saturday night, April 4th at 8.00 PM. the Easter Vigil will begin outdoors with the lighting of the New Fire outside St. Mary’s Church, Dansville. This is followed by the procession with the Easter Candle and the candlelit proclamation of the Easter Exsultet. A series of vigil readings and sung responses will trace our salvation history right up to the gospel account of the Resurrection. And during this solemn Easter Vigil, “mother of all vigils”, the Good Friday silence is broken by the singing of the Alleluia which announces Christ’s Resurrection and proclaims the victory of light over darkness, of life over death. On this holy night the Church keeps vigil, waiting for the Resurrection of the Lord, and celebrates the Sacraments of Christian Initiation. This year we welcome Four New OCIA candidates to the Lord’s Table of the Eucharist as they complete their sacrament of initiation through confirmation. Welcome to Holy Family Catholic Community
On Easter Sunday, April 5th, Masses will resume the normal schedule: 7.30 AM Wayland; 9.15 AM Perkinsville and 11.00 AM at Cohocton! I hope that many people will join us for this wonderful celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Masses includes a renewal of
Baptismal Promises by everyone. Those who engage themselves wholeheartedly in living the entire paschal cycle (Lent, Triduum and Easter’s Fifty Days) discover that it can change them forever. This is especially so of the Triduum which, standing at the heart of the Easter season, is an intense immersion in the fundamental mystery of what it is to be Christian. During these days, we suffer with Christ so that we might rise with Him at His glorious Resurrection. Holy Week is a time to clear our schedules of unnecessary activities. Our minds and hearts should be fixed on Jesus and what He did for us. Let us bear the Cross so that may be worthy of wearing the crown He wore. Fr. John.
Mission Statement
To live the Great Commandment
Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ And
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22: 37-38