Central to the life of the Church is the Mass, referred to as "the source and the summit of the Christian life". At Mass, when we celebrate the Eucharist, we enter into the Paschal Mystery of Christ's death and Resurrection, the events that brought us our salvation. Through our participation in the Eucharist, we draw closer to that mystery, just as we do during the Paschal Triduum, a momentous time of the Church year indeed. All the other days in the calendar point to this short window of time that gives meaning to the calendar, and to all of our lives for those of us who live by faith.
Years from now, 2020 will be remembered larger by the enormous impact of the pandemic on the whole world. Yet it some strange way, the alterations to our customs forced upon us by the pandemic have allowed us to experience the Paschal Mystery in a deeper way.
Certainly, the experience of Lent was intensified by how much in our lives we had to give up for the sake of the common good, particularly in preventing infection in those who are at higher risk for a more serious case of the virus, even if that meant giving up what is so good for us.
In the latter part of Lent, once suspension of public liturgies was widespread across the United States, I had attended Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (BNSIC) through its website live stream. As I considered how I would observe these sacred days in lieu of attending Triduum liturgies at my own parish, I decided to attend the liturgies live at the BNSIC. I have visited this grand, beautiful church numerous times during visits to Washington, D.C. I always thought it would be nice, some year, to spend the Triduum in Washington, D.C., and attend the liturgies there. This year gave me that opportunity, although in a way I couldn't have fully imagined.
There's something so uplifting and transcendent about attending Mass there, which helps draw me into the Mass at a time when, counterintuitively, the people of the Church are unable to gather at their own churches in the customary way. I sensed that even while watching the liturgies via a computer screen.
So at 11 AM CDT, on April 5, I tuned in for the Palm Sunday Mass of the Lord's Passion. The celebrant was Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio, the Pope's personal representative to the United States government and its Roman Catholic Church. He would be present as celebrant for the liturgies throughout Holy Week. (Monsignor Rossi, the rector of the Basilica, announced at Mass that Archbishop Pierre marked 50 years since his ordination as a priest on April 5.)
At the start of Mass on Palm Sunday, we join with the crowds in acclaiming Christ as King, for He was the One Who suffered and died for us, just as God exalted Him, as described in the 2nd reading from the Epistle of Philippians.
There was something apt about meditating on the Passion of Christ at this time of the pandemic crisis. I realized that Christ came to Earth, not to remove suffering, but to face suffering head on, and then to succumb to it. Like Archbishop Pierre said in his homily, Christ identifies so closely with our suffering, and stands in solidarity with us. But Christ also exerted redemptive power over suffering, which is also an important theme during Holy Week and the Triduum. It is that power of redemption that gives us hope in facing our sufferings in this world.
Later that week, I made one exception to my attendance at the BNSIC for Holy Week and the Triduum. Because of my schedule on Thursday evening, I decided to attend Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, celebrated by Archbishop Lori, who I feel connected to as a Knight of Columbus, as he is the Knights' Supreme Chaplain. In his homily, he talked about how Jesus unleashed a revolution. But unlike the tumultuous revolutions that have occurred throughout history, His revolution was gentler, happening at an intimate meal with His Apostles, and it was of love. Archbishop Lori indicated the words in the Gospel passage from John 13: "He loved them to the last." Indeed, Christ's offering of Himself as the perfect sacrifice was done out of great, unfathomable love. We continue to experience that love when we gather at Church in our sacramental life.
Once Mass concluded there, I hopped around to watch snippets of live streams at other churches, similar to the custom of visiting 7 churches in the night hours following Maundy Thursday Mass. Past 11 PM, I ended up at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver, BC, the church where I attended Mass for the first time outside the United States during a visit there three years ago. They had a short procession to a side tabernacle following the concluding prayer, accompanied by the mystical and majestic hymn "Pange Lingua". It was a wondrous scene to behold the Blessed Sacrament in the side tabernacle. The camera remained fixed on the tabernacle, and it drew me into the scene much like I would pray customarily on Maundy Thursday night following Mass at the side tabernacle at my own parish. I spent some time in quiet prayer with the live stream on. I was so taken in by the scene, I almost wanted to stay up past midnight in prayer.
The following day, Cross Friday, I had numerous opportunities for prayer throughout the day. At 10 AM, I joined the live stream of the Way of the Cross for Abortion Victims prayer service. It was led by Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League at the Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora. I was aware of this prayer service from previous years, but one thing or another prevented me from attending in Aurora or at other locations, whether it was because I was at work, or I was participating in one of many other prayer opportunities offered on Cross Friday.
So, this year, I had my chance. Each of the numerous Stations of the Cross prayer versions helps us meditate on the Passion of Christ as it is manifested in the sufferings of the world today, as is certainly the case for the vulnerable preborn children and their parents who respond to their situation of pregnancy crisis through the death of the preborn.
At 11 AM CDT, I went to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Archbishop Gomez led a prayer service for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a national prayer service in the midst of the pandemic. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is remembered in a special way on the Friday following the Feast of Corpus Christi, but it was apt to pray the Sacred Heart Litany on Cross Friday. In the same spirit of what Archbishop Lori shared in his Maundy Thursday Mass homily, the Crucifixion of Christ reveals the immense depth of the love for humanity that pours forth from the heart of God, opened up by sacred wounds.
At noon, I was back in Chicago when I watched an ecumenical Stations of the Cross prayer service. Archbishop Cupich started the time of prayer. The Stations were done a bit differently than the customary Roman Catholic stations, but each station was based on some event in the Passion of Christ. Those who offered the prayers at each Station included a Scripture passage, a short reflection, and then a prayer. These people came from all walks of life in the Chicago area, and from various denominations. Chicago's Mayor Lightfoot was at the beginning. After seeing her on the news talk insistently about following the steps to mitigate the spread of the virus, there was something touching about seeing her offer a prayer for our afflicted society. There were ordained clergy from other denominations, and lay people, including a Chicago police officer, a doctor, and a restaurant owner. It was a touching scene to see how Christ comes to be present in our lives, no matter what our work or circumstances may be, for He seeks to accompany us through whatever our circumstances are. And it was stirring to see people of various denominations come together, as we acknowledge that people all over the world are all affected in some way by this pandemic, and so it's right that we come together before our God, Who came to save all.
At 1:30, I was back at the BNSIC for the Cross Friday Liturgy of the Lord's Passion. The small choir sang various choral meditations in the half-hour before the liturgy started. Monsignor Rossi, the BNSIC rector, spoke in his homily about the deep anguish of the Cross that is so emblazoned on our minds that it never fades into the background. It fixes itself firmly as the only pathway to Life. And the Cross gives us access to God, Who is present to strengthen us in carrying whatever crosses we face in our lives.
Later, I watched Bishop Barron's homily in his celebration of the Cross Friday Liturgy in California. He spent much of his homily helping us understand how ignominious the Cross was in the ancient Roman world. With that understanding, we can more deeply appreciate the amazing victory that Christ won by His death and Resurrection. Indeed, Christ overcame the brutal instrument of death, and it became the means for our salvation. Certainly, Cross Friday helps us remember this astounding truth at the heart of our faith, lest we mute the powerful message of the Cross.
The following morning, on Holy Saturday, my annual custom is to help decorate the Ascension church sanctuary beautifully for Easter Sunday and Easter Season. Wanting to keep up that routine in some fashion, I walked over to Church again on this Holy Saturday morning 2020. Aptly, I saw Clem out walking, who also helps decorate the church not only on Holy Saturday, but also at other times when there's a change of liturgical seasons. Later, I played a song on the piano that I had from a worship aide from a previous year's Holy Saturday morning prayer. It is usually a time when we anticipate ritually proclaiming the most important event in all of human history.
Following dinner, as the sun was setting, I got myself in attire like I would have worn to my own home parish and went once again to the BNSIC. I found a thin taper candle that is like those distributed at the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass at my own parish that are lit from the Paschal Candle at the start of the vigil Mass.
Directives stated the Paschal Candle wouldn't be lit from a fire outside church. So someone came with a candle lighter to light the Paschal Candle, and then began the vigil Mass. The choir sang the Exultet. It was so mystical and moving to hear the Exultet, as it is always. The lyrics help lift me into the spirit of what this glorious feast is all about, that the fullness of God's plan to save the world culminated when Christ triumphed over death. In His triumph, we have hope, for we are confident that God has overcome victoriously evil, sin, suffering, and even death.
During the proclamation of the reading of the Creation account in Genesis, the camera focused on imagery in a piece of artwork in the BNSIC that depicts this story, which provided some great visuals.
Then came the Alleluia acclamation. I'm so used to hearing the voice of Ascension's music director, David Anderson, ring out a stepped Alleluia on Holy Saturday night, which is often an emotional moment. Attending the vigil Mass at a different Church, I wasn't sure what to expect. But then, I heard the choir ring out the stepped Alleluia, and hearing it stirred something in my soul, a joyful realization that Christ has truly risen from the dead, and His triumph truly means something for the whole world and for me.
In his homily, Archbishop Pierre reflected on various phrases in the Exultet, especially the idea of the letting the Earth be glad because Christ, by His Resurrection, has shined a great light through the gloom in the world. He said that in this world, we are fragile, even though we sometimes have the illusion that we are masters of this world. So we only have strength in God, Who, out of great Love for us, gave us His Son to ransom us. Indeed, His Love is stronger than death. Our God doesn't abandon us, and He makes all new, giving us New Life now, and for all Eternity.
Those words helped enhance the joyful tone as the great celebration continued. And once the vigil Mass ended at the BNSIC, in a celebratory spirit, I felt the urge to walk over to Church, so, like in the morning, I could say that once again, as in years past, I had been at Ascension Parish on Holy Saturday night. I walked around as light rain fell, waved my taper candle, and thought of all those celebratory songs that are part of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass at Ascension.
Before I went to bed, I watched pieces of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. While on their website earlier, I had seen a headline for a special candle lighting program. Anyone who made a donation could have a candle lit in the Cathedral from the Paschal Candle. As I made a donation, I offered an intention for my RE students. At the conclusion of the Vigil Mass, those participating in the liturgy lit the candles in four different rolling carts from the Paschal Candle. It was a poignant moment as the cantor sang the hymn "Christ be our Light", to see the light, representing the victory of Christ, spread out, and to take comfort in Christ's light in the midst of the darkness we face with this pandemic. And like the Exultet says, the light of the Paschal Candle is not diminished as it is distributed.
The next morning, I awoke with a spirit of joy, on Sunday, April 12, though the celebration of Easter/Resurrection Sunday would be very different. I joined my parents for a grand breakfast, including orange oatmeal pancakes. Then, I walked over to Church on what was a rather pleasant morning--I had thought it would be a rainy, cool day. I saw some others out walking around Church, and I greeted Father Hurlbert when he stepped out for a walk.
Mass at the BNSIC carried on that same spirit of joy and celebration from the night before, especially with the hymn, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today". The celebrant was Archbishop Gregory, of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. His homily started out discussing the importance we have in our society of keeping time, and from there, he stated that the Resurrection of Christ reset the clocks of Earth, refocusing our world and giving us a whole new lease on life. We who God created are now re-created in the Resurrection so that we are more like God. We shall attain fully to the New Creation at the end of time, yet even now, we live anew.
Later in the day, it rained in the afternoon. I stepped outside and stood in the rain, getting sprinkled the natural way, similar to how we customarily get sprinkled at Mass on Easter/Resurrection Sunday, to celebrate how we have been made anew by our baptism, when we are brought to share in the Paschal Mystery.
The celebration continued as I sat down to dinner with my parents, and we enjoyed ham, among other dishes. Then, for dessert, we enjoyed a new recipe I tried out for the first time: upside down peach cake. It was delicious, and we all enjoyed it.
As I reflect on the Triduum 2020, I keep coming back to this idea of "gladness" from the Exultet, which has a very distinct meaning.
It's pretty obvious from following the coverage about the pandemic that there is no shortage of bad news as our entire world is afflicted, although there are some positive glimmers.
And then there are the troubles we all have to face in putting aside and altering the vast majority of those activities that are part of our lives, especially gathering for communal worship and other church functions. It's like we're in an extended Lent.
At one point in March, when it became clear to me how prolonged our sheltering mode would last, preventing us from communal worship during Holy Week and the Triduum, the thought came into my mind that maybe we should postpone the Triduum until Church functions resume and we could gather again.
Yet as we neared Holy Week, I realized that keeping to the calendar as it is already set would do us great good. In the midst of this heartbreaking pandemic situation, meditating on the Paschal Mystery in the Triduum observances would help us embrace what it means, and how we're living it now.
I think about how our last time at Mass was like Maundy Thursday. Then, the day when church functions were suspended was like Cross Friday, a Crucifixion of an important part of our lives. Now it's like we're in an extended Holy Saturday. We're devastated by how the pandemic has altered our lives in a variety of ways, whether it be that someone has lost a loved one, suffers financially, or struggles with the inconvenience of missing out on enjoyable activities.
It's not all that unlike the first Holy Saturday. True, Christ had told His disciples repeatedly that He would suffer, die, and rise again. Yet His disciples were sunk deep in hopelessness and despair on that day. They really didn't have a strong sense of what would happen next. At the time I write this post toward the end of April 2020, no one is really sure when and how this virus will finally cease.
Even when the disciples discovered the Empty Tomb, and saw evidence of the Resurrection, they weren't filled with joy, as they continued to struggle with what it all meant. On the evening of that first Resurrection Sunday, the disciples were locked inside a room, afraid of those who might harm them, much as we're inside our homes, afraid of what an invisible enemy might do to us.
Yet Christ passed through the locked doors, and made His very real Presence known to them, as the Risen Savior, alive forevermore. He spoke peace to them, and they rejoiced.
And so we rejoice today, as Christ makes Himself known to us, and we recognize that He is alive always. For nothing, not even a vicious virus, can cancel the meaning of the Triduum, and especially the Resurrection. While death may have overpowered Him for a time, it could not hold Him, and He rose triumphantly, and now lives forever. It is marvelous to behold how He could have power over, and redeem any wrong in the world, including death.
What's more, the Paschal Mystery is not something that just happened to Christ, while we watch from the sidelines. We join with Christ in the Paschal Mystery, which happens to us at baptism. This week, as I publish this post, I mark two anniversaries: April 28 is the anniversary of my baptism. May 2 is the anniversary of my first communion. While I didn't fully understand it at the time of these events, my sacramental experiences on these days were powerful as I entered into the Paschal Mystery.
And entering into that mystery more deeply is something we continually do day after day, as we grow in relationship with God through encounters with His living Presence as He comes alongside us, just like He did the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Indeed, each day brings an opportunity to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery and to be changed for the better as a result. I know in my own experiences of faith life, I have built upon what happened in those encounters on April 28 and May 2 many years ago. As I encounter the Risen Christ, He transforms the moments of my life and I gain a new lease on life. My joys are amplified when I recognize them as blessings of God, and since God is in control also in challenges, even from suffering can come blessings.
Yes, all of our lives can reflect the Paschal Mystery. Just as we are united in His sufferings, especially in the midst of this pandemic, so we strive to share in His Resurrection.
Indeed, it will be a joyful day, much like Easter/Resurrection Sunday, when we can return to activities we did in our lives before we had to shelter, most especially when we return to communal worship at Mass, and Church functions resume.
In his homily on Resurrection Sunday, Cardinal Cupich shared his hope that we will emerge from this pandemic crisis having been transformed, and I see that as what our faith is all about. We open ourselves to continual transformation throughout our lives, as we cooperate with God in His work of redemption.
So even now, while we await that "Resurrection moment" of when this pandemic subsides, we can be filled with gladness because of the hope we have in the reality of the Resurrection, which gives fresh meaning to everything in life, as God is at work, sustaining us in the graces we receive in the sacraments that flow forth from the Paschal Mystery.
Indeed, let all of us in the Earth be glad in the Light of our Risen Savior Jesus Christ, shining so brightly throughout the world, especially through those of us who are being transformed.
P.S. You can read my previous Triduum reflections for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The 2014 reflection has a list of my favorite moments during the Triduum liturgies.
