Palm Sunday Appearance: A mom and dad returned home from church on Palm Sunday. Their little son, who was ill that day, stayed home with an older sibling. The little guy was intrigued by the palms his parents brought home. He decided to pepper his parents with questions about the palms and the Palm Sunday liturgy. They described how they started outside and then processed with the palms, almost as if in a parade, to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. At one point in the dialogue the little guy said, “Wouldn’t you know it, the very day I stay home from Church, Jesus finally shows up.”
Holy Week: Today we begin our solemn journey with the Lord. We have celebrated his entrance into Jerusalem and now we journey with him to the cross and ultimately stand as witnesses to his glorious resurrection. These sacred days are filled with beautiful liturgies that have special meaning for us as Christians. I hope and pray you and your family will make the time to attend as many of these liturgies as possible because we celebrate events that changed the world and events that changed your life and mine.
Many of us approach this sacred week with lots on our minds. We might be helping extended family members work through a tragedy or maybe our own family is dealing with a heavy cross. As you reflect on these situations in your own life, place them at the foot of the cross and know that just as God had a plan for Christ and asked him to embrace the cross for a reason, God likewise has a plan and a destiny for you. The events of this week are certainly centered on the saving reality of the Cross of Christ but it is also about the saving reality of the crosses that Christ asks us, in the name of the Father, to embrace for the world’s salvation.
The Paschal Triduum: What exactly does
Triduum mean?
Triduum comes from two Latin words (
tres and
dies) meaning a space of three days. We calculate these days in the same way the Jews count days and festivals, that is, from sundown to sundown. Thus, the
Triduum consists of three twenty-four hour periods. The
Triduum starts with sundown on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and concludes with evening prayer at sundown on Easter Sunday.
“The liturgy we celebrate these days is far more than an objective recall of the events of first century Palestine, or even a prayerful recollection by means of which we understand and appreciate more fully what God has done for us. Despite the dramatic impact of these liturgies we do much more than dramatize what happened once in the history of salvation. More fundamentally, the liturgy these days is our present privileged experience of these same saving mysteries in Christ. Through these liturgies we are inserted into and are made sharers of the same saving deeds Christ accomplished for our salvation and sanctification. We do not
observe again what Jesus accomplished; we
share in the accomplishment of salvation. Through the symbols and gestures, scripture proclamation and prayers, we participate in the same redeeming actions which Christ underwent for our salvation. What Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection is actualized and made real in the liturgy. Through the various celebrations over three days we are progressively and more intimately brought into the paschal mystery. What God accomplished in Christ continues to draw us into the love of God. This incorporation into Christ makes us the body of Christ on earth (Kevin W. Irwin,
A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours: Easter, p. 14).”
The liturgies we are about to celebrate are sacred indeed. They are filled with much symbolism and ritual. In celebrating the memorial of the institution of the Eucharist and the command to be of service as ritualized in the washing of the feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we enter more deeply into the paschal mystery. From hearing the proclamation of the Lord’s Passion to our gentle kiss on the wood of the cross on Good Friday, we enter more deeply into the paschal mystery. From seeing the fire being blessed, hearing the proclamation of the Easter
Exultet, to witnessing the baptism of those in the RCIA, the reception of those being brought into the Church, to our own renewal of baptismal promises where we reject Satan and profess our faith in Christ Jesus, we enter more deeply into the paschal mystery. But this entering into the paschal mystery is not just a once a year occurrence. We need to
live the paschal mystery each day of our lives. We need to die to self by doing God’s will and serving others so we can rise to new life. Living the paschal mystery is about putting God and others ahead of ourselves. Living the paschal mystery is about keeping Christ as the center of our lives. “As we live this Christian mystery we gradually grow in our awareness and experience of the reality that the only way to live as Jesus taught us is to die to self. Indeed, in the paschal mystery dying to self and rising to new life collapse into the same reality of surrendering ourselves to allow God to work in and through us. The paschal mystery is living the rhythm of dying and rising as a people who are on a mission – with Christ we bring salvation to those who hunger for justice and truth, forgiveness and reconciliation, mercy and peace. We are a people on a mission – and this is what these days are about (Joyce Ann Zimmerman, C.PP.S.,
et al., ed., Living Liturgy, p. 102).”
As you and your family make plans for Holy Week and Easter, please consider attending these sacred liturgies, especially those you have never experienced before. You should also consider inviting a family member, a friend or someone who may not attend church regularly to come along with you; the experience and prayer may bring them closer to Christ and allow them to come to a fuller understanding of the saving reality and the very beauty of the cross of Christ.
Have a blessed and prayerful Holy Week. Let us keep one another in prayer. See you in Church!