Top Ten List:
1) Palm Sunday Palms
Have the kids trace their palms (hands) onto paper. On each finger have them write a prayer intention for Monday through Friday of Holy Week. You could also use Pope Francis’s “Five Finger Prayer.”
2) Watch All of the Triduum Liturgies
Maybe you’ve never gone to all of the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday because your schedule wouldn’t allow it. Now it does. Join us on our live stream for these liturgies of the Sacred Triduum!
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Thursday, April 9, 7 PM
Good Friday Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion: Friday, April 10, 3 PM
The Easter Vigil: Saturday, April 11, 8:45 PM
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: Sunday, April 12, 9 AM
3) Pray the Liturgy of the Hours
Download the app “iBreviary” and join us live on Facebook and Youtube to learn and pray the “official prayer of the Church.” Need a little guide to get started? Click here.
Palm Sunday, April 5:
Evening Prayer at 5 PM
Monday, April 6:
Evening Prayer at 5 PM
Tuesday, April 7:
Evening Prayer at 5 PM
Wednesday, April 8:
Evening Prayer at 5 PM
Holy Thursday:
Morning Prayer at 7 AM;
Rosary and Midday Prayer at 12 PM;
Night Prayer at 9 PM
Good Friday:
Morning Prayer at 7 AM;
Rosary and Midday Prayer at 12 PM;
Night Prayer at 9 PM
Holy Saturday:
Office of Readings and Morning Prayer at 7 AM;
Rosary and Midday Prayer at 12 PM;
Evening Prayer at 7 PM
Easter Sunday:
Morning Prayer at 9 AM
4) Build a Little Oratory
Your home is a domestic church and every church needs a place to pray. A great first move in building your domestic church is establishing a place in the home designated for prayer. Learn more.
5) Movie Nights
The 6-hour epic “Jesus of Nazareth” directed by Franco Zeffirelli aired as three-part mini-series on NBC in 1977. After Evening Prayer on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday watch a couple hours. On Good Friday, watch Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”
6) Holy Thursday Supper and Foot Washing
Have you ever baked bread? You should try! Get the whole family involved in a “Lord’s Supper” in your home and simply have a family dinner night with a feast giving thanks to the Lord for the gift of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Husbands and fathers, wash the feet of your wife and children after dinner.
7) Read the Passion Narratives
Sit down , quiet down, and enter the presence of God through a prayerful reading of the Passion Narratives from the four Gospels:
Matthew 26:17 – 27:66
Mark 14:1 – 15:47
Luke 22:1 – 23:56
John 18:1 – 19:42
8) Divine Mercy Novena and Veneration of the Cross
On Good Friday we venerate the Crucifix at church. Do this in your homes (during the livestream or at some time in the day).
Jesus asked that Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) be preceded by a Novena to Divine Mercy. It starts on Good Friday. You can find the prayers here.
9) Still and Silent Saturday
The day of Christ’s rest in the tomb on Holy Saturday is one of stillness and silence; a day of waiting with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fast from television, the phone, and social media (except for the cool prayer stuff with St. John the Baptist) and let it be a day of true rest and reverence, quiet prayer, reading good spiritual books, and family time.
10) Bedsheet Banners
During Holy Week, turn a bedsheet into a banner of hope and joy, and hang them from your windows on Easter Sunday, evangelizing your neighborhood, with one of the following Saint quotes or Scripture verses:
- “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry” – St. Padre Pio
- “He is Risen!” – Matthew 28:6
- “I am with you always!” – Matthew 28:20
- “Be not afraid!” – Matthew 17:7
- “Love begins at home.” – St. Mother Teresa
- “Small things, great love.” – St. Therese of Lisieux
- “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God.” – St. Augustine