Holy Week Begins

April 2, 2012

For the last ten years the rhythm of my springtime has centered on the season of Lent culminating in Holy Week and the celebration of Easter.With my dramatic change of venues for this Lenten season that rhythm was fundamentally disrupted. There would be no parish setting and no fullness of the traditional liturgies which I had grown to love over the last decade serving as a deacon. This year would be fundamentally different.

As I have mentioned Celebrity Cruise Lines guaranteed a priest on board throughout Lent. So that was one consistent theme during Holy Week, 2012. Of course, the priest was onboard primarily to provide services for the guests. Yet the visiting priests knew the importance of the Eucharist to the crew and easily agreed to celebrating a weekly mass with the crew members in addition to the daily masses they offered with the guests. But what would happen with Holy Week and the fullness of the Triduum? That would take a very real commitment by our guest priest.

I met Fr. Ed Condon on the first day of the cruise even before we sailed. As I crossed Deck 4 just before we departed I encountered a trim, white haired figure in a Roman Collar. We spoke quickly and agreed to meet for coffee the next day to ensure our bases were covered. Over coffee I learned that Fr. Ed had been a Navy Chaplain for 25 years so he definitely had a heart for serving the crew. He agreed to mirror the guest services as much as he could during the Triduum to fulfill the need of our members.

The first liturgy we would celebrate together was Palm Sunday, the kickoff of Holy Week. We had joked that we should have taken palm fronds off of the trees at one of our prior ports to ensure there were palm leaves for the celebration. What a surprise it was to learn that the Apostolate of the Sea had already taken care of that and a shipment of palm leaves had been sent to us. Fortunately the supply was so vast that there were extra above and beyond what was needed for the 400 people who showed up at the guest mass so we were able to bring palms down later that night to provide to our crew. Over 40 crew members were able to attend our Palm Sunday 10pm mass and they were delighted to receive the palms.  It was a great pleasure to narrate the Passion with Father reading the part of Jesus and my crew mates proclaiming the other voices. Holy Thursday was an unexpected blessing for our crew to receive the opportunity to attend the Eucharist, again, on this night at which we remember the institution of this central sacrament of our faith.

Good Friday was a most unusual day. We arrived in St. Maarten that day. Because it was Good Friday all of the shops and most of the restaurants were closed. This busy Caribbean vacation port took on an almost ghostly feel. It did not make many of our guests happy but it made me think of what it would have been like if you had been in the shops in Jerusalem when the spectacle of the Crucifixion was taking place right outside the city walls. It was a strange day and place to adhere to a time of fast and abstinence. For us it was still a business day. But I skipped breakfast and taught my morning class with a true sense of service in the midst of the emptiness of self-denial. For my mid-day meal I went ashore to The Greenhouse and had my one meal of the day, albeit delicious fish tacos. The restaurant was mostly empty except for a few tables of crew members which made it a very surreal experience. I returned to the ship to celebrate the Good Friday Service with our guests in the Silhouette Theater. Due to my schedule I would not be able to join the crew service that night but later heard that there were so many crew standing in the hall outside the training room that Father did not believe he would have enough pre-consecrated hosts to distribute. He completed Good Friday with zero hosts to spare.

Due to a Sign Off meeting on Easter Sunday morning I was unable to serve at the guest Easter mass. However, I did arrive thirty minutes before to ensure they were properly prepared. Between 500 and 600 guests attended that mass, while a non-denominational Christian service at the same time drew another 100 or so guests. I took care of my morning responsibilities knowing that I would celebrate Easter with my crew. The ship put on a nice Easter Sunday brunch in the crew mess and I ate my first waffle in nearly four months! The day was bright and sunny as Easter mornings should be, and it ended once again late at night in my training room, with over 80 crew members in attendance for Easter mass.

It was a very different Holy Week and yet alike in so many ways. Our celebrations were far simpler. There was no Easter Vigil with all its rich symbolism. Yet it was a chance for people from all over the world to come together to celebrate the central truth of our faith. It was still an undoubtedly Holy Week.

And the adventure continues . . .