I took a slightly different approach to Lent 2024, continuing my focus in recent years not so much on doing extra spiritual activities for Lent, but seeking to become more. I sought to open myself up to God's grace pouring into my life, and then discerning how to respond. This approach helped me to embrace the Paschal Triduum ready to enter into the mystery we commemorate during these days.
Maundy Thursday Mass is an extraordinary experience as we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. One idea that stood out to me was that Christ established an everlasting covenant. So we continue to re-present the Eucharist that was first presented 2000 years ago, and it leads us to Eternal Life in Heaven.
Furthermore, Jesus Christ, Who was once dead and now is alive, continues to be present to us, to guide us in the way of salvation He made for us. So we continue to honor Him. This year, at Maundy Thursday Mass, we were back to using the opening hymn "We Should Glory in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ" because through the power of redemption, we honor the Cross and glory in it as the means of our salvation. The end of the Mass is always stirring when we praise Christ for offering His Body and Blood to us as we sing "Pange Lingua". The hymn is profound, and most especially during the verses sung in Latin. When the liturgy ended in silence, I turned to someone sitting next to me, who I met in the young adult group for the Oak Park parishes, remarking, "And the story continues."
Cross Friday always has a heavy feel to it. Yet this year, I was reminded that there's good reason to lean into the heaviness and discomfort associated with the day, because it's part of the process that leads us to the glorious celebration of the Resurrection. Indeed, it's a continuation of the story.
I was assigned the 2nd reading at the liturgy commemorating the Crucifixion. It has rather lofty language speaking about Christ, our Great High Priest, Who passed through the Heavens. Because of all that He suffered for us on the Cross, we can count on Him to help us in our struggles.
So as people of faith, we can join ourselves to the Cross, with all our struggles, troubles, and challenges, opening ourselves up to God's redemptive power in our lives. Bearing this idea in mind, venerating the Cross is always a profound ritual. It furthermore points to what will emerge as a result of the Crucifixion. Adding to my sense of anticipation was welcoming my parents on Friday evening, who were present from their retirement spot hundreds of miles away to be present for the great celebration to come.
On Holy Saturday morning, Dad and I went to Morning Prayer at St. Edmund's. We had the opportunity to bless those who would be initiated into the Church that evening. It's a meaningful gesture to be in a spirit of prayer with those who have spent months preparing for the important moment of the initiation sacraments. A little later in the morning, I went to Ascension to help decorate the Church, which builds a sense of anticipation for the glorious celebration to come.
Later that day, for the first time ever, I left Oak Park to attend the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass elsewhere, at Holy Family Parish in Inverness. My Uncle Bernie was sponsoring Zidan for Confirmation that evening and invited me to attend. I decided to attend the Mass there as a way to support Zidan and Uncle Bernie, and it was the first time I can recall having a personal connection with someone initiated on Holy Saturday night.
The Church building surrounds an outdoor courtyard where we gathered before the fire from which the Paschal Candle was lit. Being outside connects us to the elements of the natural world, which is fitting because we hear the story of Creation for the first reading, and that lays the groundwork for celebrating our recreation in the Resurrection of Christ. This Easter Vigil Mass had a different feel, since Holy Family uses more contemporary music. Yet there was much to appreciate in the same words of the Exultet that are proclaimed year after year on Holy Saturday night.
The first reading of Creation in Genesis was proclaimed in more of a storyteller format, and the Psalms had a quicker pace in between the readings. There's so much richness in the Old Testament readings that point to the culmination of God's plan of salvation in the events of this night. Then came the Alleluia, the moment we've been anticipating throughout Lent as we open ourselves up to celebrating the Resurrection, not just as a historical event, but a reality that lives in us. Father Terry put it well in his homily when he referred to the words of the angels in Mark 16, that we should not be amazed that Christ is Risen, but embrace it as our new reality.
Holy Family is a modern church building, and there's a baptismal pool in the central part of the sanctuary. So those who were baptized this night stepped into the pool, as did Father Terry, and then he submersed them completely, hearkening back to the days of the early Church. There was great power in seeing the baptisms, the complete immersion, as the sacramental reality of entering into the Newness of Life in Christ.
Then came the Confirmations, including Zidan's. There's great power in the words in the rite, that we have been freed from sin and are now being brought alive through the power of the Holy Spirit and His sevenfold gift. Once again, natural elements, in the form of blessed olive oil, lead us deeper into a powerful spiritual reality. We can rejoice that God is alive and active in our midst through the many people who have committed themselves to joining the Church and living out the call to holiness in their lives. Indeed, we have much reason to rejoice in the freshness of those experiencing newness of Life in the sacraments. At Holy Family, many people received sacraments, and it was special to watch it unfold. I was glad that I did something different this year as a way to support Zidan and Uncle Bernie, and they were both appreciative of my presence there. Once Mass ended, I returned to Oak Park and stopped by St. Edmund's, where the Mass had already ended and there was a jovial spirit of celebration abounding.
That same joyful spirit was present the following morning at the Masses at Ascension Church. So much inside the Church sets the tone for what we celebrate, with the throngs of people, the colorful banners, the wonderful flowers that abound throughout the Church, and all the music. One song that stood out to me was the recessional hymn, beginning with the words "Earth, earth, awake, rejoice and sing..." Indeed, all the earth has come alive in a new way because Christ has Risen. We share in that rising. As it happened, I was unable to follow along in the hymnal because there was a server spot open, and so Jane Anne, the liturgy coordinator, asked me to step in and carry the Cross out in the recessional. It's a cross with lots of metallic features, even a gold look in spots, and it fits well in the context of celebrating this wondrous day of the Resurrection. I raised it up in a sense of triumph because all that we've experienced in life and liturgy has led us to the point of this triumph. While I'm well aware of the effort to spend so much time at Church, especially during the Triduum, I wouldn't consider doing it any other way, because Easter Sunday, and the Easter Season that follows, are so much richer
Celebrating the Resurrection is something magnificent, and while at Resurrection Sunday Mass, it dawned on me in a new way that there's something to draw from this awesome event. I could feel the joy palpably in the celebration, and I knew that this joy was mine to have in all the circumstances of my life. Aware of some difficulties before me in my life, including some work matters, I realized I didn't have to get dragged down by them, but could face them with an inner reality set deep inside me.
It's clear that given what's going on in our lives and our world, we need Easter. And it's God's great gift to us, that our Lord, once dead, is now alive forever and ever. It's our new reality, that Christ has risen, Christ has conquered death, and Christ reigns. We can live differently now, even in the face of the troubling circumstances of the world. Thanks be to God that we have this opportunity to be reinvigorated in the Easter Paschal reality with the Triduum each year. It then flows forth to give that sense of joy to each Sunday, as we relive in each week the reality of Christ's Paschal Mystery and His ultimate victory that lives in us. There's great power in the image of the Paschal Candle, especially as its light shines brilliantly in the dark of Holy Saturday night, because we know that God has won, and the light becomes more powerful as it it shared by all in the congregation.
In the middle of March each year, I celebrate my birthday, the day I began my life upon this Earth. Just like happened 33 years ago, Resurrection Sunday was on March 31 in both 1991 and 2024. The timing of these two special occasions was great, and my birthday celebration flowed into the final weekend of the month: I took up my Dad's offer and the three of us had a special dinner together on Holy Saturday. The next day, it was wonderful to cap off this special month by celebrating the life I have and how it is made abundant and rich in the glorious light spilling out of the Empty Tomb, and the New Life we have in Christ by faith, together as One Church.
Note: To read previous reflections on the Triduum I wrote in past years, please visit these links: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The 2014 reflection has a list of my favorite moments during the Triduum liturgies.
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| After the conclusion of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass at Holy Family Parish |
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| The Paschal Candle shines brightly on Resurrection Sunday morning in the sanctuary of Ascension Church. |
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| One evening later in April, after choir rehearsal was over, I was in church and photographed the Paschal Candle shining brightly in the darkened sanctuary. |
Very well written with attention to detail
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