I sense how important the Easter Season is, because throughout these 50 days, we celebrate the newness of Life we have in Christ, which we live all through the year, and is ours because of the Resurrection of Christ.
And the utmost importance of the Resurrection connects with the events celebrated during the other days of the Sacred Paschal Triduum.
Given how the momentous significance of the Triduum liturgies, it makes sense that Lent has such an intense spiritual focus. I sought to use the Lenten Season 2019 as a time of purification, for a particularly noteworthy reason: On Wednesday, March 6, 2013, I participated in an aboriginal American Sweat Lodge Ceremony while spending a week for a time of service in northeast Nebraska. The purpose of the ceremony serves as a kind of purifying rite.
March 6 fell on a Wednesday again this year in 2019: Recalling the day I was in the Sweat Lodge added deep meaning to Ash Wednesday, a day we begin Lent, a time of purification so that we can die to ourselves and focus more deeply on growing in relationship with God, which was made possible through the Paschal Mystery.
Upon the arrival of Holy week, aware of the importance of the Paschal Mystery, I once again this year sought to enter as fully as I could into celebrating these mysteries that are at the heart of Christian faith.
Attending Mass on Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion really helped set the tone well for Holy Week, even if the weather outside that day was more fitting of the final Sunday of Advent, rather than the final Sunday of Lent. I had already been primed for Palm Sunday Mass by attending a performance of St. Matthew's Passion two weeks prior. So I was ready to experience the intense, long, and deep story of Christ's Passion, which speaks so much to our state of humanity, much as it speaks to the depths of Who God is that Christ would suffer as He would for us.
The next day, Holy Monday, my coworker returned from lunch with the shocking news that the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was on fire. While I had never been there, the news deeply moved me to see such a beautiful church, a place that draws us toward God, in flames, after having survived so much turmoil throughout the nearly 8 centuries of its existence.
Yet I feel the fire also speaks to the Paschal Mystery: As devastating as circumstances get in our world, Christ, by His dying and rising, has triumphed and overcome all sin and evil. We, His people join with Him in His triumph. So we live in hope, and we join together as one people, who give meaning to the beautiful churches we build. No matter what troubles we face, we have hope, just as many are determined to rebuild the Cathedral because of its historical and ecclesiastical significance.
These emotions were in the back of my mind while I was teaching my RE class the following day on Holy Tuesday evening. Toward the end of class, I sought to convey the sense of hope we have in the midst of despair as represented by the profound song "Endless Night" from The Lion King musical. I then talked about the Cathedral of Notre Dame fire, and drew from it a spontaneous monologue that stirred me to my core. I spoke about how Christ gives us hope, because of the Paschal Mystery, which we celebrate each week at Mass, and in a more intense way during the Triduum. I then told my students that my best piece of advice for them is that they should attend Mass every weekend and not miss without a serious reason, because it's so important for us to keep encountering the Hope Christ gives us by His dying and rising.
Then came the start of the Triduum on Maundy Thursday, with the opening song for that Mass, "We Should Glory" always setting the tone so well for what we commemorate beginning on this evening.
Father Hurlbert started off his homily by describing meals consumed by infamous convicts before their executions. I immediately sensed a connection to our commemoration of the Last Supper at Maundy Thursday Mass. This was a meal in which Christ fed others, and served a larger purpose, which is ritualized in the foot-washing rite. Christ offered Himself for us, which serves as a model for how we should live our lives. Partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ goes hand in hand with taking up the pitcher and bowl, as well as what it symbolizes, namely, serving one another in fulfillment of the command of Christ to love one another. Like Father Hurlbert said in his homily, if we get the Eucharist right, we get everything else right, because worship is meant to transform us so that we demonstrate God's love in action.
Serving as a Eucharistic minister was meaningful on this Maundy Thursday since I marked 5 years in this ministry last November.
The solemn Transfer of the Eucharist at the conclusion of Mass had deeper meaning for me this year, because it took me back to World Youth Day in Panama City back in January. During our time of Eucharistic Adoration at the Overnight Vigil, we prayed by singing the Latin lyrics of the final two verses of "Pange Lingua". It is a powerful moment hearing those words, reminding me of how Christ sacrificed Himself for us, and is so worthy and deserving of our total adoration, and those lyrics really capture that sense of total adoration. Back in January, the first lyrics of that verse "Tantum ergo" triggered deep emotions in me. Hearing this song at Maundy Thursday Mass was definitely a powerful moment.
I lingered after Mass to spend time in quiet adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on such a sacred night.
The next day, Cross Friday, I wanted to do what I could to set the tone for the day, despite being at work. Before work, I stopped at Our Lady of Woods Parish in Orland Park to briefly pray at the Stations of the Cross in their sanctuary. It was quiet, still, and subdued in the sanctuary.
At the evening liturgy, I noticed during the proclamation of the Passion in the Gospel according to St. John how Jesus demonstrates Himself to be fully in control, even as He headed toward death. He came to fulfill the purpose of God in dying, which was a theme Father Bob addressed in his homily. These are important ideas to bear in mind in the midst of a somber day as we remember the Crucifixion of Christ.
There was something very rhythmic about the solemn intercessions as they were offered. And it is a powerful moment when the Cross is venerated, for we recognize it as the means of our salvation. I walked home in the light of the full moon, which establishes the date for Resurrection Sunday and also signaled the start of the Jewish celebration of Passover, a holiday that lends much meaning to the Triduum.
The following morning, on Holy Saturday, I was back at Church for Morning Prayer, which included an opportunity to offer a blessing for Zander, who would be baptized that night. Following prayer, I helped get the Church decorated beautifully for the great celebration to come.
As the sun was setting, I was headed to Church for the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass, my favorite of the whole year, with so much richness, from the very start. It was special to be in a large gathering outside to light the Paschal candle, while cars passed by on the street, a way for us to proclaim the great mystery that makes us God's people.
Throughout the liturgy of the word, I noticed that all the Scripture passages proclaimed how God was at work to save His people, even while His people waited for the Messiah. In the darkened Church, even as we waited for the proclamation of the Resurrection Gospel, there was so much richness in the passages proclaimed, much as God was marvelously at work in the time before the Messiah came.
A phrase from the passage from Romans that stood out to me was "newness of Life": We live in newness of Life because of Christ's Resurrection, and that's a phrase I have kept returning to throughout these Easter Season days.
Finally, the grand moment came for the Alleluia to be sung once again for the first time since the "40 Days of Lent" began, proclaimed with even greater richness as we remember the central event of our faith, the Resurrection. Notably, Father Bob, who proclaimed the Gospel, processed around Church with the Gospels book open to the page of Resurrection story, a wondrous gesture reflecting our call as His people to openly proclaim the Resurrection, especially by our lives.
After Zander was baptized, and it was time to head up to the font to renew our own baptismal promises, my mind returned to the Sweat Lodge ceremony. At the end of it, our exit from the sweat lodge was supposed to symbolize emerging from the womb and being born, and we uttered the phrase, "All my relations", which speaks to our connectedness with everything. Lent was a time of purification, like being in the sweat lodge. Lent led us to the Triduum, when we celebrate being born again into newness of Life with Christ, which begins for all Roman Catholics with baptism.
As I processed up to the font, I recognized that in this gesture, I was acknowledging how baptism brings me alive. So when I dipped my hand into the font to bless myself with the holy water, I uttered the words, "All my relations", to celebrate the newness of Life I have in Christ through baptism, which draws me into relationship with God and His body, the Church.
A spirit of jubilation pervaded the rest of the Easter Vigil Mass, and carried over into the following morning on Resurrection Sunday. The immensely pleasant spring-like warmth and sunshine added to the exuberance of the day's occasion.
It was a packed church at 11 AM Mass, with over 1000 people, but I couldn't help but think of the contrast with the huge crowd of 700,000 people at the World Youth Day Closing Mass, and certainly a contrast to last summer when I attended the celebration of Mass with Father Mark in the St. Augustine rectory chapel, and it was just the two of us. I carried my WYD pilgrim badge in the pocket of my suit as a reminder of that impactful experience on this most important and joyful day of the year.
There were two selections for the 2nd reading, and I was supposed to ask the celebrant which one to proclaim. Father Hurlbert gave the choice to me. They were both great selections, but after asking the opinion of some people, I chose the selection from 1 Corinthians, which speaks to the great feast we celebrate because Christ has been sacrificed, and we now are called to remove malice and wickedness, living anew in sincerity and truth.
I had that passage in mind later when I offered a prayer before our family's meal. It was a wonderful time being together as a family, especially since my brother, who recently moved to Miami, came into town for this weekend, the first time I had seen him since the extremely cold January day when I saw him off at O'Hare Airport. Sitting at dinner with him stirred something deep within me, a sense of togetherness that brought me Heavenly joy. And I sensed that joy throughout the day on Resurrection Sunday And this joy is ours because of the Resurrection of Christ, which means everything for us.
Indeed, in his homily for Holy Saturday/Resurrection Sunday, Father Hurlbert said that if Christ didn't rise from the dead, He might have many nice offerings for us, but nothing to compel us. But if Christ did indeed rise from the dead, all His promises and commandments have weight.
Truly, everything about our faith finds meaning and motivation in the Resurrection, by which Christ constantly breathes new Life into us. We live in the victory of His Resurrection, and at each Mass during this Easter Season, we see the Paschal Candle lit as a reminder of that victory, and our share in that victory through our baptism, when we received a candle lit from the Paschal Candle. It was these thoughts in mind that gave me a sense of exuberance a week later when celebrating the anniversary of my baptism.
Throughout this Easter Season, I have continued returning to that idea of the "newness of Life" we have in Christ, a phrase used in the Epistle reading from Romans 6 during the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass. Christ's Resurrection gives us the reason for living in newness of Life, and also the ability, as we are freed from sin by joining ourselves to dying with Christ and then rising into new Life. That truth is so much cause for celebration in the 50 Days of Easter Season and beyond as we continue our journey of faith in this life, bound for the glory of Eternal Life in Heaven with God, won for us by the Paschal Mystery. Yet we already experience a foretaste of Eternal Life, for Christ is Risen and He lives forever to constantly grant us newness of Life that is ours even now day by day as we live anew in Him, embracing His mission to make the world anew, bringing forth the Life, Light, and Hope He gives by the victory of His Resurrection.
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| Above is the scene of the Ascension Parish Green after 11 AM Mass on Palm Sunday, April 14. Below is the scene of the Parish Green after 11 AM Mass on Resurrection Sunday, April 21. |
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| During the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass, Father Bob processes with the Gospel book open to the page of the Resurrection story. |
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| The Paschal Candle lit for Resurrection Sunday Mass, a sign of the victory of Christ we celebrate. |
P.S. You can read my previous Triduum reflections for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The 2014 reflection has a list of my favorite moments during the Triduum liturgies.
You may have also noticed I've made a slight change in the title of this post from the previous years, as a way to note that the Paschal Mystery is timeless and how we celebrate during the Triduum in this particular year.
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