Holy Week is the final week of preparation before Easter, and there’s a lot to you can do to get ready.

First, you can plan to join us for Mass, either online or in-person (all in-person Masses are now full). Here is our schedule for Easter Triduum:

Holy Thursday (April 1):
• Mass, 7pm Atlantic (online and in-person)

Good Friday (April 2):
• SBPkids Stations of the Cross, 11am Atlantic (online)
• Good Friday Service, 3pm (online and in-person)
• Musical Stations of the Cross, 7pm Atlantic (online)

Holy Saturday (April 3):
• Easter Vigil, 8pm Atlantic (online and in-person)

Easter Sunday (April 4):
• Mass, 9am Atlantic (online)
• Mass, 11:30am Atlantic (in-person)
• Mass, 4pm Atlantic (in-person)

You can watch all our online offerings on YouTube.com/SaintBP, Facebook.com/SaintBP, and at saintbenedict.ca/watch.

Fr. Simon’s Seven Primers

Given the pandemic restrictions, this is a very unusual Holy Week, and yet this also offers a huge opportunity for us to get creative so as to experience Jesus in new ways. This concept of imaginative prayer comes from St. Ignatius, who founded the Jesuits in the 16th century. To learn a bit more about this method of prayerful meditation, you might find this article helpful. Over the next 7 days of Holy Week, we are recommending a combination of art and scripture as primers for imaginative prayer. Feel free to come up with your own list of primers.

  • Monday: Watch an episode of The Chosen
    The Chosen is a recently-created, high-quality production that offers a fresh look at the Gospels by fleshing out the story of different characters who are ‘chosen’ by Jesus. You can find all 8 episodes of the first season through the Chosen app or on YouTube. If you haven’t watched this series yet, you might start with the first episode to help set the scene of the Gospels. Take some time afterwards to close your eyes and imagine Jesus choosing you, personally. Where does he find you? What does he say to you? Jesus wants you to journey with Him through Holy Week.

  • Tuesday: Read & Listen to Mark 14:12-16 (Preparations for the Passover)
    Read the text below and then close your eyes and listen to Fr. Simon as he reads this passage. You might want to use headphones to eliminate other distractions. Feel free to read and listen a couple of times to become familiar with the scene. Imagine yourself as one of the disciples who goes to the Upper Room to clean, set the table, bake unleavened bread, purchase wine, and find a lamb for the meal. As the anticipation builds, imagine the conversation that you are having with a couple of other disciples who are helping with the preparations.

    “On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.”



  • Wednesday: Watch The Prince of Egypt or The Ten Commandments
    The celebration of Passover is a commemoration of the Hebrews being set free from slavery in Egypt. God sent Moses back to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from bondage - a message which was reinforced by Ten Plagues on Egypt. God instructed the Hebrews to sacrifice a lamb, eat the meat, and put the blood on the doorposts and lintel of their houses, so that the Angel of Death (the 10th Plague) would ‘pass-over’ their households. In the end, Pharaoh relented and freed the people, which led to a mass ‘exodus’ out of Egypt. After watching the movie, close your eyes and imagine participating in that first Passover meal. What emotions are you feeling as you shelter in your home to avoid the Angel of Death? What do you hear happening outside? The next day you hear the news that you are being set free! Imagine packing up and marching out of Egypt. How does it feel to be free?

  • Thursday: Read & Listen to Mark 14:32-42 (The Agony in the Garden)
    Read the text below and then close your eyes and listen to Fr. Simon as he reads this passage. You might want to use headphones to eliminate other distractions. Feel free to read and listen a couple of times to become familiar with the scene. Imagine finishing the meal, and then following Jesus as he leads you from the Upper Room, along the streets of Jerusalem and, eventually, outside of the city walls. You walk down the slope into a valley and Jesus stops in the Garden of Gethsemane. Imagine tagging along with Peter, James, and John. What do you see Jesus do? What do you overhear Jesus say? As you’re trying to pray in the garden, and fighting off the fatigue, what does God say to your heart?

    “They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”



  • Friday: Watch The Stations of the Cross and/or The Passion of the Christ
    The Stations of the Cross walk through 14 moments as Jesus is condemned to death, carries the cross, and, ultimately, is crucified. We are streaming the Stations, put to music, at 7pm Atlantic, and you can join us at saintbenedict.ca/watch or on YouTube or Facebook. You might also wish to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ. Many can find these depictions of Jesus’ final hours to be shocking, difficult to watch, or even morbid. But it’s important for us to enter into His pain and suffering, to more deeply appreciate the total gift that Jesus gave that we may have life. He did all of that for you. After watching one of these meditations, close your eyes, and imagine yourself at the foot of the Cross. What do you say to Jesus? What does Jesus say to you?

  • Saturday: Read & Listen to “A reading from an ancient homily on Holy Saturday”
    In the Apostle’s Creed, we profess this belief that Jesus “descended into hell.” This is not to be confused with our current understanding of Hell, which is a terrible place where those people who ultimately reject God are damned for all eternity. Prior to Jesus, it was believed that when everyone died they went to a place in the afterlife called hell (or Hades or Sheol). For many it was a temporary place of waiting until the Messiah would appear. This ancient homily describes the scene when Jesus goes to bring life to those who are there. He encounters Adam, the first man and first sinner, who had been waiting in for the day of salvation.You can read the text of the homily here, or close your eyes and listen to Fr. Simon as he reads this passage. You might want to use headphones to eliminate other distractions. Feel free to read and listen a couple of times to become familiar with the scene. Imagine yourself near Adam when Jesus comes to bring salvation. What do you see Jesus doing? What does Jesus say to you?



  • Sunday: Listen to Jesus Christ is Risen Today and/or Christ is Risen (Matt Maher)
    You can find these resurrection songs, one more traditional and one more contemporary, on YouTube:

    Jesus Christ is Risen Today
     Christ is Risen (Matt Maher)

    Close your eyes and listen to them on repeat. Sit back and enjoy the music. Reflect on the words, or sing along. Imagine yourself being outside the tomb that first Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead and burst forth to new life. What does it look like? What do you see him do? What does he say to you?

10 Ways To Enter Into Holy Week

If you're looking for even more ways to enter into Holy Week, particularly when you're at home, watch Laura and Matt share some ideas: