Holy Week is the culmination of Lent, carrying the Church from Palm Sunday through the Cross, the tomb, and into the first proclamation of Easter. The BCP 2019 gives these days unusual weight because they draw us again to the saving work of the crucified and risen Christ.
On Palm Sunday, the Church greets the humble King with palms and praise, only to confront the cost of his kingship in the Passion Gospel. Drawing on Scripture and early Christian processions from Jerusalem, this day invites us to walk the way of the cross that leads to life.
March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation — nine months before Christmas. Today we celebrate the moment the eternal Word became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. An angel’s message. A young woman’s humble yes.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent. Passion Sunday. The collect does not ask for feelings appropriate to Holy Week. It asks that the heart would be fixed where true joys are to be found amid the swift and varied changes of this world. The cross is one week from Palm Sunday. Lent is sharpening.
March 19 is the feast of Joseph, Guardian of Jesus. He never speaks in any Gospel. His entire portrait is obedience: he named the child, fled to Egypt, returned, searched three days in Jerusalem. Upright and obedient — the collect asks us to imitate exactly that.
Four times a year, the Anglican calendar sets aside three days for fasting, prayer, and intercession for the Church's ministry. Most Anglicans have never heard of them. Here's what Ember Days are, when they fall, and how to observe them.