Greetings in the
Lord Jesus Christ! I just wanted to take
this opportunity to highlight the very special nature of these last days of
Lent: so special, in fact, that we even close down the school and start Spring
Break early. Many of you will be
traveling, so I would like to highly encourage you to visit www.masstimes.org to find the parish
closest to your vacation destination.
Have you ever
participated in your parish’s Triduum services?
Please consider the following my strongest recommendation, highest
encouragement, and most sincere invitation!
The liturgical
celebrations of the final three days before Easter Sunday are known as the
Sacred Paschal Triduum (from the Latin tria
“three” and dies “day”), wherein each of the three days follows precisely what
was occurring in Our Lord’s life some 2,000 years ago. The Triduum is one act of worship spread out
over the three days of Our Lord’s Passion.
On the evening
of the first Holy Thursday, Our Lord met with His apostles in the upper room to
celebrate the Passover. He gave them His
greatest commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34) and washed
their feet as a sign of the type of leadership they were to exercise in His
name. Then He gave the greatest gift of
all, Himself as the Eucharist, as He took the unleavened Passover bread and the
chalice of wine for blessing and said, “This is my body which is given for you…This
cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke
22:19-20). He was then betrayed,
arrested, and imprisoned overnight, so the surplus Eucharist consecrated for
Good Friday will be taken out of the main body of the Church and placed at an “altar
of repose” where people will gather to keep vigil with Him before his Passion.
There is no final blessing at the end of Mass…just a procession to the altar of
repose.
Then on the
first Good Friday, the Lord was brought to His trial and punished with death by
crucifixion. The liturgy that day begins
without the sign of the cross as Mass normally does, to signify that we’re
still in the midst of the same prayer we began the day before. The whole Passion narrative from the Gospel
of St. John is recited, and, after the homily, everyone is invited to venerate
the cross. What a profound moment to
show our gratitude to Jesus for sacrifice of love He made for us! It’s perhaps a little awkward to walk up and
kiss the cross, but what the cross of Our Lord shows us is that humility is the
true way of love! Then the Eucharist
consecrated the day before is brought into the Church for the faithful to
receive. This was why He died, that we
might have life. The Commemoration of
the Lord’s Passion ends without a final blessing…Jesus has died, but the event
isn’t over yet…
During the day
on Holy Saturday, nothing happens in the Church. In fact, the altar itself is stripped bare. No Sacraments at all are celebrated, for Our
Lord is in the tomb and we are meant to spiritually go there with Him. Holy Saturday should be a quiet day and a day
of preparation. As the evening draws
near, a fire is lit outside each parish, the “paschal fire” from which the
Easter Candle is lit. This candle,
representing the Christ, the Light of the World, is processed in to the darkened
sanctuary of the Church, and the flame is shared from it to each person in the
Church. And the Easter Vigil begins.
This epic
conclusion to the Triduum is unmatched in beauty, power, and grace. It is the liturgy above all liturgies, the
Mass above all Masses! Special (and more
numerous) readings that highlight the most significant points of Salvation History…Creation,
the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing of the Red Sea, Ezekiel’s “I will give you
a new heart,” just to name a few will be proclaimed. Then the alleluia,
which we’ve omitted all of Lent, comes back in force as we hear of the empty
tomb and Christ appearing in the flesh and alive. This Vigil is the main Mass in which new
Catholics are made, as people make a profession of faith and join in full communion
with the Church around the altar of the Lord.
Some, who were never baptized, receive that great Sacrament alongside those
adults being Confirmed and those receiving their First Holy Communion. The Church celebrates the “new birth” of
these her newest members. As the Mass
draws to a close, we receive for the first time in three days the concluding
blessing, and we’re sent to proclaim Christ risen from the dead to every corner
of the world.
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