By Natalie Bender,
Photojournalist intern, Southern Nebraska Register
By the time you read this column, I’ll be sorting through my share of at least a thousand images captured by the Southern Nebraska Register media team “so far” this Holy Week.
Each year, we photograph the diocesan liturgies of Holy Week: from Palm Sunday and the Chrism Mass on Monday, through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, the Easter vigil and Easter Sunday morning. As daunting as the schedule sounds, I’m reminded each year how much I love Holy Week in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, and how honored I am to have the chance to try to capture and share the experiences with others.
I was fortunate to grow up with a great Catholic education that taught me the beauty of our faith – through my own family, and from my theology teachers at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Elementary and Pius X High School. When I started taking photos for the Register, however, I felt like I got to see a new view of the beauty of the Church’s liturgies.
Through taking photos and waiting for the right moments to capture, I’ve gotten to study the Mass and look at it more closely than I had before. From the experiences of both looking through the lens in the moment, and then looking through the photos again afterward, I’ve been able to spend time focusing on little details that show me the specificity of our liturgies. The more I’ve tried to capture the wonder of the Mass, the more deeply I’ve learned that it’s a gift with a beauty beyond human comprehension.
The Cathedral is my home parish, so the building – including its art, its fixtures, its textured walls, and even its sounds – is comfortably familiar to me. The scenes in the windows helped teach me so much about our faith as I grew up. But each Holy Week, I’m moved again by how it all works together to help me experience the mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection, and how intentionally He gave us Himself in the Church.
I love “coming home” every year to the Cathedral, and taking friends with me to share in the liturgies. My close friends know how special Holy Week is to me, as I’ve invited several over the years. Last year, my sorority sisters from Pi Alpha Chi, the Catholic sorority at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, even made it our evening meeting! It’s my hope that the Register’s photos share the beauty of Holy Week far beyond my reach.
Not everyone in our 23,000-square-mile diocese can attend the Chrism Mass in person, so I’m grateful for the unique experience of being close enough to capture the blessing of the sacred chrism, which is used in sacraments across the whole diocese. I wish there was a way to capture the beautiful scent, as well!
The Chrism Mass also celebrates the institution of the priesthood, and specifically our priests who are marking anniversaries of ordination. Seeing all the priests gathered together to concelebrate the Mass is a reminder of the immense blessing they are for our entire diocese. I love being able to see and capture their friendships as they line up outside the Cathedral and wait to process in. When you see the priests together, you see their joy and their humanity, and I’m more grateful for their sacrifices for us.
Another favorite part of Holy Week is the Saturday morning Tenebrae liturgy. Tenebrae means “darkness,” and put simply, it’s Morning Prayer, in the dark and empty Cathedral. The seminarians from St. Gregory the Great join Bishop Conley and various priests to pray– and laity are welcome, too. I’ve always known our large stone Cathedral was meant to remind us of the empty tomb, and I think it’s at its most beautiful on Holy Saturday morning, completely empty and cold. The stone walls hold the anticipation of what’s to come with reverent solitude as the sunlight slowly filters in through the windows. It’s a solemn reminder of the world being silenced at the death of Christ, before He rises the next morning.
While Holy Week is a solemn walk through the steps of Jesus as He died for our sins, there is light at the end. Throughout Holy Week and the rest of our lives, we’re meant to keep our eyes fixed on the true joy that is to come as God keeps His promise and raises His only Son He sent to die for us.
All of the photos the media team and I take are meant to lead the viewer through each event, and serve as a reminder of the love that God has for us. He loved us enough to let His only Son die for our sins, and He loved us through the fear that comes along with it. But His love is immense, and He keeps His promise of love to raise Jesus on Easter.
Editor’s Note: see the Holy Week photos—and more —at www.lincolndiocese.org/photo-video/picture-gallery
