Holy Week

What Is Holy Week?

Holy Week—the week from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday—falls this year on March 24-30. Holy Week is a sacred time on the Catholic calendar, for it is the period when we commemorate the last week of Jesus’ life on this earth. These are the days leading up to the great Easter Feast. The Lenten season of sacrifice and self-denial is about to come to an end, but this coming week is extremely important for all Christians. The greatest focus of the week is the Passion (suffering) and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the events that led up to it.

As early as the fourth century, the Church celebrated this “Great Week” with profound sanctity. It begins with Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, with a procession of palms. At the Palm Sunday liturgy, the Passion narrative is read in its entirety.

Especially important for Catholics is the Easter Triduum, the three days just before Easter.

On Holy Thursday, we re-enact the Lord’s Last Supper, which He shared with His apostles on the night He was betrayed and arrested. At the Mass, the priest will wash the feet of twelve men, just as Jesus did. Also on this night, priests all over the world will renew their sacred vows. This is because at the Last Supper, Jesus not only instituted the Mass (Eucharist) but also the ministerial priesthood.

On Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion and death of our Lord, Catholics participate in the veneration of the Cross. A service is held at three o’clock in the afternoon (the hour He is believed to have died) and another service is held later in the evening. We go forward and kiss Jesus’ feet on the Cross in order to show honor and respect for Christ’s sacrifice for our sake. There is no Mass, hence no consecration of the Eucharist on this day; and the Communion we receive will have been reserved in the tabernacle from the previous day.

On Holy Saturday, we keep watch expectantly for the rising of Our Savior. This was the day He went down into the netherworld in order to bring back up with Him into heaven those who had died before His coming. Up to this time, the gates to heaven were closed and no one could go there because of the original sin of Adam. Jesus changed that: By paying the price for our sins on the Cross, He gained for us our eternal salvation, and heaven was opened once more.

Also on this night, persons who have spent months of preparation will be received through Baptism and Confirmation into the Catholic Church for the first time. It is a joyous occasion.

This Holy Week, Travel to Calvary and Beyond—With “The Cross and the Light”

For just one week, the stage at Detroit’s Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts will be transformed into the hills and dusty roads near Jerusalem, as “The Cross and the Light” is performed live each day from Palm Sunday through Easter.

The acclaimed musical dramatization of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection is the creation of executive producer Kelly Nieto. The first half of the program, titled “The Living Stations of the Cross”, was produced first at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Farmington, Michigan—moving in 2011 to Detroit’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, where it attracted more than 22,000 audience members. This year for its debut at the Music Hall, Nieto has added a second act which covers the period from the Resurrection through Pentecost.

I wrote about “The Living Stations” when I first viewed the production two years ago; and I was even more enthused this year, watching the new cast and the new second act during the media night presentation this week. As originally presented, the production ended with the Crucifixion of Christ; and while you understood the victorious ending that was to come, nonetheless the crowd left the Cathedral subdued, reflective, even saddened. This time, watching Act 2 with its joyous presentation of the period following Christ’s Resurrection, the audience was enlivened and there was a happy buzz as people rose to their feet to applaud the performers.

The talented cast of the epic production includes 45 professional and amateur actors including Kenny Watson as Jesus, and Candice Jackson portraying Mary Magdalen. Watson has toured nationally and internationally, and has vocal versatility that spans across the genres of R&B, jazz, alternative, classical and hip-hop. He is engaged in social activism, serving as co-music director and headline performer for AfroFlow, a cancer awareness initiative of the American Cancer Society. Candice Jackson is an accomplished actress and singer, worship arts director at Faith Church in Lansing, and has performed in opening acts for well-known individuals including Mandisa from “American Idol”, Kurt Cameron from “Growing Pains” and Governor Mike Huckabee.

Other cast members include Julie Craigo (Michigan Opera Theatre) as the Blessed Mother, Brian Leduc (Michigan Opera Theatre) as Peter, and Matthew Peckham (Ann Anbor Ballet Theatre, Spotlight Players, Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, Comic Opera Guild, U-Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, U-M Opera Studio) in the role of St. Thomas the Apostle.

Kelly Nieto, executive producer whose vision brought the story to the stage, is a former Miss Michigan, Miss America Runner Up, and Miss America Talent Winner. She is a dynamic entertainer, fiddle player, and musical comedienne, and has performed her one-woman show in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, on cruise ships, and for corporations worldwide, as well as performing the opening act for Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, and Charlie Daniels. She has emceed the Miss Michigan Pageant for 23 years and recently emceed the Miss America Pageant Prelim nights in Las Vegas. Kelly is married and has five children, ages 6 to 18.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the production, show times, or to purchase tickets, visit www.crossandlight.com or www.ticketmaster.com.