Holy Week Traditions to Start While You're Single

Growing up, my family didn’t really do anything special during Holy Week. As I grew into my faith in my young adult years, through the influences of people in my Catholic community, I soon discovered a whole slew of Holy Week traditions.

Now, I can confidently say that Holy Week is my favorite week of the year. And the best thing about my “discovering” these traditions while single was that it gave me time to incorporate them into my spiritual life, at a time when I was forming my own ideals and norms. There’s really no better time than when you’re single to start these Holy Week traditions and make them your own.

1. Palm Sunday: Shrouding

Though Palm Sunday Mass is typically marked by its reading of the Passion narrative and people busily folding palms into crosses, you might not have heard of this tradition. It used to be customary for crucifixes and holy images to be shrouded with purple cloth in the last weeks of Lent, or “Passiontide.”

This is a beautiful tradition to do at home. The shrouded images visually remind us of our own need to repent and lay bare our souls as we await our salvation. The joy we receive in uncovering the images on Easter, mirrors the Church’s joy in Jesus’ triumph over death.

A few years ago, we had workmen in our house during Holy Week, and as they were leaving, one shyly asked why all of our pictures of Jesus were covered up. It allowed for a funny and unique way of sharing the importance of remembering Jesus’ passion.

2. Holy Thursday: Mass and Adoration

On Thursday evening, attend the Mass of the Last Supper.

At the end of Mass, the Eucharist is typically carried out of the sanctuary into a smaller area in the church, called the “chapel of repose.” This replicates Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples after the Passover meal. You are then invited to spend time in prayer with Jesus. Most churches will continue Adoration until midnight, at which time the priest reposes the Eucharist to reserve it for the services on Good Friday.

I usually find this night to contain particularly impactful prayer, because in a way, it is as if I am in the Garden with Jesus. An added tradition you can try out: after spending some time in prayer at the end of Mass, travel around to all of the nearby parishes and visit Jesus in the chapels of repose. See if you can get to all of them before midnight...making sure to remain respectful and prayerful.

Even if you can't make it to Mass on Holy Thursday, one tradition you can participate in with roommates or your family is the washing of the feet.

“If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14

3. Good Friday: Silence

Last year, our parish priest boldly claimed that if you are in the working world and do not have Good Friday off, you should insist upon it.

Good Friday was the day of our redemption, and as Christians, it should be regarded as a most solemn and sacred day. Whether you are able to get the day off or not, you can—and should—still go about the day in a prayerful manner.

One way to achieve this is to observe silence between the hours of 9am and 3pm, during which Jesus experienced His passion. If physical silence is not an option due to obligations, strive for internal silence, by refraining from consuming any type of media: social texting, taking non-essential phone calls, browsing the Internet, etc. And if possible, attend a Good Friday service.

4. Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil

My senior year of college, I attended my first Easter Vigil. Honestly, before then, I kind of thought that you only attended an Easter Vigil if you knew one of the candidates or catechumens becoming Catholic, and that you wouldn’t want to attend otherwise because of how long it is. However, my expectations were completely blown away during my first Easter Vigil.

From the bonfire outside the church at the beginning, to the readings that bring you through salvation history, the sudden burst of light and music at the Gospel reading, and witnessing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church’s newest members, this is seriously the best way to bring in Easter.

And out of all of these traditions, this is the best one to start while you’re single, because a three hour Mass is much more difficult with little kiddos. Afterwards, maybe grab some friends and throw a resurrection party, because Easter is finally here!

It might seem tempting to view Holy Week as just another week until Easter. But, rushing past Holy Week just to get to Easter is kind of like only eating pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and missing out on the turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Fully entering into Holy Week—especially while single—can help you better connect with Jesus’ passion and death while uniting yourself to the family of the Church.

Cover photo of Cardinal Sean O'Malley celebrating Easter Vigil in 2014.