With all public celebration of Masses and Holy Week services suspended to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, we are pleased to offer our alternative schedule of online Masses and services as well as resources for praying at home to mark this holiest of weeks as best we can.
Palm Sunday, April 4-5
- Join us for streamed Masses from Queen of Angels Church, available online at 5 p.m. Saturday 4/4 in English and at 10 a.m. Sunday 4/5 in Spanish.
- Unfortunately, due to the shelter-in-place order, blessed palms cannot be distributed or picked up at this time.
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Welcome Jesus into your home as he was welcomed into Jerusalem. Create a simple prayer space at home, and gather there to pray during the week. Make last year’s palms part of your prayer space if you still have them. “Christ reigns here,” they proclaim.
- Read the first Palm Sunday Gospel (Matthew 21:1–11) and meditate on or discuss what Jesus might be thinking as he enters Jerusalem for the last time.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week, April 6-8
- Unfortunately, due to the shelter-in-place order, we are not able to hold confessions in the time leading up to Easter.
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Ready Easter clothes, prepare festal foods, clean the house, beautify the yard.
- Pray the Act of Contrition on your own and resolve to go to confession when the sacrament is once again publicly available.
- Pray for those who have been preparing to receive Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation, including the adults in RCIA preparing to enter the Church or complete their initiation.
Holy Thursday, April 9
- The Mass of the Lord’s Supper will not be streamed from Queen of Angels, but other online options are available:
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Join in the 8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer streamed by our neighbors at St. Benedict.
- Bake bread for dinner and set the table for a special meal.
- Pray for the needs of the poor and for Spiritual Communion.
- In the evening, share Lent’s final meal. Pitcher, bowl, and towel make a fitting centerpiece; perhaps conclude the meal by washing each other’s feet as a sign of service, as Jesus taught his disciples in the Gospel today (John 13:1-15). Make a ritual of stripping the table of all cloths and decorations after the meal, as the altar would be cleared at the end of the evening’s Mass.
Good Friday, April 10
- Please join us for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Death streamed from Queen of Angels Church, available online at 3 p.m. in English and at 5 p.m. in Spanish.
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Observe the paschal fast, limiting the size of your meals and abstaining from meat and snacking.
- Pray the Stations of the Cross, particularly the Stations in the Time of Pandemic video prayer using the images from our church’s Stations.
- Join in the 8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer streamed by our neighbors at St. Benedict.
- At the invitation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pray the Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in English or Spanish, on your own or via livestream at 11 a.m. CDT, for a plenary indulgence. To receive this indulgence, a member of the faithful would need to:
- pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on Good Friday
- be truly repentant of any sins they have committed and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (at the earliest opportunity)
- pray for the Holy Father’s intentions, including prayers for an end to the pandemic.
- Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary on your own or online.
Holy Saturday
- The Easter Vigil will not be streamed from Queen of Angels, but other online options are available:
- 7 p.m. from our neighbors at St. Benedict in North Center
- 7:30 p.m. CDT from the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia
- 8 p.m. from Holy Name Cathedral
- other options may be added during the week as announcements are made — you can report a tip to parish@queenofangelschicago.org
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Read Psalm 64 and break your Good Friday fast solemnly with a simple meal.
- Join in the 8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer streamed by our neighbors at St. Benedict,
- Decorate your home for Easter or dye eggs, giving thanks for whatever you have to celebrate this special feast.
- Pray an at-home blessing of Easter foods in English or Spanish or join in the 12 noon Virtual Blessing of Easter Baskets streamed by our neighbors at St. Benedict,
- Participate in the evening’s Easter Vigil online or on TV with mind clear, stomach empty, and heart full of “holy anticipation” that bursts into living flame when the new Paschal candle is lit.
Easter Sunday
- Join us for Masses of the Resurrection streamed from Queen of Angels Church, available online at 8 a.m. both in English and in Spanish.
- Suggestions for celebrating at home:
- Dress up the dinner table again. Include candles and crosses, so that the baskets and bunnies aren’t the only festive items present.
- Count and give thanks for all the signs of new or renewed life around you — eggs, flowers, baby animals, budding trees, tiny shoots of plants coming out of the earth.
- Sing “Alleluia!” together and read an Easter Gospel (Matthew 28:1-10 or John 20:1-9) with solemnity and joy.
Easter Season, April 12-May 31
- Regular weekend liturgies are available online at 5 p.m. Saturday in English and at 10 a.m. Sunday in Spanish. Health permitting, Queen of Angels intends to continue to stream Sunday Masses online until the shelter-in-place order is lifted, gatherings become less risky to public health, and the Archdiocese of Chicago lifts the suspension of public Masses.
- Cardinal Cupich has suspended for this year the obligation to receive Communion during the Easter Season, which is one of the Precepts of the Catholic Church. Read his decree in English, Spanish or Polish.
- Due to the shelter-in-place order, all parish events and classes, including Queen of Angels School, may not gather in person until at least the end of April. Further updates will be made via the online bulletin and/or emails to parish groups about any events or classes moving online.