Triduum Sanctum

Buona Pasqua! (Italian greeting for "Happy Easter")

I had begun planning this post yesterday (Holy Saturday) but did not have a chance to finish it, due to all of the preparatory activities for our celebration of the Easter Vigil here.

According to Wikipedia, which cites catholicliturgy.org, the Paschal Triduum is "the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday (the vigil of Good Friday) and ends with evening prayer on Easter Sunday, the three-day period therefore from the evening of Maundy Thursday (excluding most of Thursday) to the evening of Resurrection Sunday."

My Holy Week observance began with the celebration of Passion (Palm) Sunday, on which we commemorate Jesus' joyful entrance into Jerusalem and then anticipate his Passion and death. That liturgy really set the tone for the week, giving us a dramatic descent into the tomb to await the Resurrection the following Sunday.

We took the men who are visiting us this week to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the Chrism Mass on Tuesday. It is a beautiful expression of the union of the ordained ministers, as deacons (both permanent and transitional), priests, bishops, and the Metropolitan of the local Greek Orthodox church attended. The priests all renew their promises to the Church and the bishop blesses the oils of the sick and of catechumens and consecrates the holy Chrism after mixing the balsam perfume into the olive oil. Chrism is used in consecrations and recalls the ancient practice of anointing prophets and kings, and in the Christian tradition, priests (on the palms) and bishops (on the head). This three-fold office that the Chrism is used to set someone apart for is the central mystery of Christ's work: he commissioned his disciples, and in turn, all believers, to participate in his work of ordering creation to himself [kingly], which includes discipline of ourselves to curb vices and cultivate virtue; his work of announcing the Word that He is [prophetic], including the teaching office of the Church (Magisterium) as well as the example of our own lives; and consecrating the world to Him and offering our lives as a sacrifice along with Him on the Cross [priestly]. All the baptized are called to participate in this work that Christ showed us, and in so doing, open themselves to receive sanctifying grace in abundance.

I always enjoy attending the Chrism Mass to see that grand expression of the priesthood, with over 200 priests from all over the Archdiocese in attendance, all praying together the Eucharistic prayer to consecrate the bread and wine, acting in the person of Christ (in persona Christi) and all in unison. It is an occasion that easily brings to mind my own calling and an opportunity to renew my spirit of surrender to that call, praying for the grace to continually accept God's will for me and to do it both with humble resignation and with the zeal that His Call stirs up in me. It is also an opportunity for the Cardinal to address his priests assembled and give them some advice and direction for the coming year. This year, he recalled advice he had given in years past and added to it continuing formation, according to every aspect of Blessed John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis ("I give you shepherds," on the formation of priests in the circumstances of the present day) – that is, the four pillars of academic (theology), human, pastoral, and spiritual formation.

Whew, that was just Tuesday! Wednesday evening, we held a Tenebrae (Latin for "shadows" or "darkness") service here at St. Clement's (there was also one at the Cathedral). In it, we prayerfully, with readings, psalms, and hymns, commemorate Jesus' sacred wounds on the cross, and His death, in a special candle-light service in the dark; at the end, a sound like a clap of thunder represents the resurrection to come, and the faithful in attendance file out in silence by the light of the Paschal candle. It was the first time I had attended one, and because it was done so tastefully, and was well-rehearsed, I was really drawn into the sorrows of Christ and the significance of Mary's accompaniment during His Passion, which was also represented by a steady blue candle present throughout.

Thursday we had our last class of the week and then began our preparations for that day's service, the celebration of the Last Supper. I joined the choir for this liturgy, which was a very beautiful yet bittersweet celebration of the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood and then the emptying of the Church as Jesus left the cenacle to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was tormented by temptations to give up and not offer His life for our salvation. The Eucharist is completely removed from the church and the faithful walked in procession to our side chapel while singing the Eucharistic hymn by St. Thomas Aquinas, Pange lingua gloriosi. After the Mass, we piled into cars and set off on a prayerful and somber visit to seven nearby churches, an ancient tradition that likely goes back to visiting the seven station churches (basilicas) in Rome. We would arrive at each church, enter their altar of repose, where the Eucharist is reserved for adoration that night only, and spend a few minutes there in prayer, answering Christ's request of his disciples in the Garden to "keep watch." We used the Taize chant "Stay with Me" which meditatively sets that solemn tone of the vigil.

Good Friday saw many more preparations for the commemoration of the Lord's Passion that evening. I helped Fr. Peter Grover, OMV lead the Stations of the Cross at noontime; he stops four times during the fourteen stations to give a little reflection on the Passion. The one that struck me the most was that we can place ourselves in the scene in the person of Barrabas at Jesus' condemnation by Pilate – he is a sinner (a "notorious murderer" or "revolutionary", according to the various Gospels) that received life from Christ's sacrifice, and his name means "son of the father" (bar-abba). At 3pm, we began observed the first day of the Divine Mercy novena, chanting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together in the empty church. I served the liturgy that evening, a very solemn liturgy with a silent entrance and closing procession, and a special procession of the cross after the homily and an opportunity for the faithful present to come up and reverence the cross, either by a bow or a touch or even a kiss. The cross is set out in a prominent place for the faithful to stay and pray there. We watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to further enter into the spirit of the day.

Holy Saturday saw many preparations for the great solemnity of the Easter Vigil. All five of us postulants served the Mass together, each taking on specific roles during the liturgy; I was placed in charge of the fire and incense for the night, a role with which I am very familiar. One of my favorite parts of the Easter Vigil is the Gloria, during which bells are rung, the lights in the church come on, and we open the reredos doors, revealing lots of flowers and the angels on either side of the tabernacle, which were hidden behind those closed doors for the duration of Lent. The opening prayer is said, and we enter into the readings that celebrate the Resurrection, after hearing a snapshot of salvation history that prepared the way for this culmination. Following the Easter Vigil, after greeting people and cleaning things up, we gathered around the table for some Easter munchies in a humble "Resurrection Party," sharing stories of our family traditions for celebrating Easter and recalling various Oblate stories.

After retiring last night around 1:30am, I rose today at 7 with a song in my head: a praise and worship tune called "Mercy is falling." I had not heard this song in a couple years, and yet I rose practically singing it right away, and it is indeed relevant. Of all the times in the year, this week of the Glorious Easter day is certainly the time at which the Church commemorates the opening of the floodgates of salvation, the gates of heaven, the pierced side of Christ from which flowed blood and water, life for the world. Mercy is indeed falling like a "sweet spring rain" giving life, cleansing and purifying and renewing the earth.

May you and your family have a most blessed Easter season and rejoice with the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, (Regina caeli, laetare!) for the Lord has risen as He said (Resurrexit, sicut dixit!), and beg her intercession for us (Ora pro nobis Deum) as we press on with renewed strength and vigor to draw close to Christ and bring many others with us by our example and the offering of our lives with His.

Happy Easter!

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia!
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia!
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia!
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia!


Gaude et laetare Virgo Maria, alleluia!
Quia surrexit Dominus vere alleluia!


Oremus: Deus qui per resurretionem Filii Tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi mundum laetificare dignatus es, praesta quaesumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_coeli

Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca