Laetare (“Rejoice”) Sunday was a gracious pause to our Lenten penance. After enjoying its light-heartedness, the Church now doubles down. With the flowers, music and rose vestments of Laetare Sunday behind us, we are now called by the Church into the somber “second phase” of Lent. It is time for us to enter Passiontide.

During the first part of the Lenten season, we focused on examining where we stand in our own relationship with the Lord Jesus and on acts of penance, as we try to heed the call of St. Paul:

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

 

Shifting Our Focus

In this second part of Lent, we shift our focus. We are now called to unite ourselves to the Lord Jesus and spiritually prepare for his Paschal mystery.

As believers, we now move from the work of penance and self-scrutiny into a concerted recollection of the Lord’s forthcoming sorrows and sufferings. We draw closer to the Lord Jesus as he prepares for his passion, death and resurrection. 

Those who wish to follow the way of the Lord Jesus must be willing to die to themselves, to their sinfulness, their fallenness, their preferences and desires and so walk with the Lord as true disciples — namely, as men and women who will love, trust and authentically follow him to the cross.

St. Paul helps us to understand the purpose of our sufferings and penances when he wrote:

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

We are called to union with the Crucified Christ. Our penances and sacrifices are not for their own good. They serve as a help for us to be united to the Lord Jesus, who will suffer and die (and gloriously rise) for our salvation.

Traditionally called Passiontide, the next two weeks of this second part of Lent form an intense interior period of recollection and spiritual solidarity with Christ.

Passiontide is a fortnight of deep interior union with the Lord Jesus and a profound contemplation on his passion as we proximately prepare ourselves for the Upper Room, the Garden of Gethsemane, the false trial before the Sanhedrin, the crowning with thorns, the scourging at the pillar, the carrying of the cross, the mockery, the stripping of clothes and dignity, and the excruciating pain and asphyxiation of the cross.

Passiontide is a summons to go deeper, to cling more closely to the Lord Jesus as his passion and death quickly approach.

As spiritual wisdom teaches us: “no cross, no crown.” If we want to share in the glory of the Resurrection, we must be willing to embrace and carry the weight of the cross. And so, Christian believers are summoned during the Passiontide to begin their contemplation of the Lord’s Via Dolorosa (“Way of Suffering”). This is the time to ready our hearts for the liturgical reliving of the horror of the Lord’s passion and death on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, so that we can worthily set the stage for our souls to gloriously celebrate and share in his triumphant Resurrection at Easter. 

 

Prepare for Triduum

Simply put, Passiontide should aid believers in preparing themselves to celebrate a profoundly spiritual Triduum. It is a sacred time to direct the energies of our souls to Jesus Christ.

Passiontide, therefore, is a time to go deeper in our Lenten observance by readying ourselves for the Sacred Triduum or, if it’s been a bad Lent so far, it can be an opportunity to reinitiate a mini-Lent for the next two weeks. Either way, Laetare Sunday was the transitional festival. We’re in Passiontide now.

Next week, we will be in Jerusalem with the Lord for Palm Sunday. The following Thursday and Friday, we will see his ignominious passion and death.

Will we be ready to be with the Lord in his sufferings? Will we allow ourselves to accompany him spiritually and be transformed by his radical act of love? Will we do the spiritual work of Passiontide so that we can fully celebrate the Lord’s glorious resurrection?

 

Prayerful Observances

As a help to us in this spiritual work, the Church recommends certain external observances. Each of these customs, while optional in many places, is proposed as a means to make Passiontide more visible to us.

The most observable of these customs is the covering of statues. In many parts of the church, statues are veiled from this weekend until the Easter vigil. The practice might seem odd to believers and guests alike, but the tradition has been observed for generations. It’s meant to calm the spiritual landscape of the church, draw the eyes of our hearts to a deeper reflection on Jesus Christ, and heighten our anticipation for the full revelation of his glory at Easter.

As the liturgist Msgr. Peter Elliott writes:

“The custom of veiling crosses and images in these last two weeks of Lent has much to commend it in terms of religious psychology, because it helps us to concentrate on the great essentials of Christ’s work of Redemption.”

Complementing the veiling of holy images, the Church asks that liturgical music take on a more subdued expression. Passiontide is not the occasion for any type of festive overture. The Church is in deep prayer and spiritual recollection.

Relating to the musical settings, the Church asks that all bells be silenced during Passiontide. If bells are used at Mass, it’s requested that they be suspended. In the Christian tradition, bells are not seen as mere reminders to believers (a kind of, “hey, wake up”), but are seen as sacramental expressions of the joy and glory of the Resurrection. Bells announce that Christ is risen. They manifest the joy that God is with his people.

During Passiontide, therefore, any use of bells is asked to be suspended. This is also done so that the bells at Easter are even more fully appreciated and contribute to the believers’ joy that the Lord has been raised from the dead.

These customs, however they may or may not be observed in local parishes, are meant to help us understand the severity of the next two weeks. We are preparing to walk with the Lord along the most difficult and treacherous path in human history. 

We must take seriously the pivotal spiritual work of the Passiontide. We must calm our hearts and reflect on the sorrows and sufferings of the Lord and so prepare ourselves for the sacred Triduum. This is the focus of Passiontide. This is the invitation of this second part of the Lenten season.

FURTHER REFLECTION VIA EWTN

Find reflections from Father Joseph Mary this Lent, based on The Seven Last Words EWTN Learning series.  Also sign up for two free eBooks from Father Joseph, as well as his reflections emailed each Sunday through Easter.

In addition, find a separate eBook (in Spanish) from Father Pedro Nunez, with his reflections emailed each Sunday through Easter, plus related video archive.