Paschal Mystery Version of 2026

There's a profound quality to the Mah Nishtana when a child poses the question of why this night is different than all others.  I've come to see every day as having a special quality that distinguishes, making that question constantly relevant.  Then there are days like the Triduum that have a special quality that gives meaning to all days.

We get to behold that special quality every year when we circle back to the days of the Triduum and recall the Paschal Mystery.  Yet rather than going in circles, we are on a spiral staircase, circling back to the Triduum each year yet ascending higher to God.

The weeks of Lent reach an important point on Palm Sunday when we acclaim Christ as our Savior, which becomes more apparent as the liturgy progresses from the Gospel narrative of the entry into Jerusalem to the Passion narrative.  Because He was willing to offer Himself for us, even to the point of death, He was worthy of praise as our Savior, just like St. Paul writes in the 2nding reading for Palm Sunday Mass in the Epistle to the Philippians.

Passover started in the middle of Holy Week this year, which set the tone for Maundy Thursday Mass, in which Christ would usher in the New Passover, a New Covenant in His Body and Blood, with the command to love.  When I attended Mass, one line in the collect stood out to me, that the Institution of the New Covenant at the Last Supper, which is commemorated especially on this day, is a sacrifice presented new for all Eternity.  While it happened in a specific moment in time, it continues to be present to us.

So we continue to partake of the offering that Christ handed on to us of His Body and Blood.  From it, we are sent forth to follow His commandment to love as He loved us.

The communion hymn was a hymn that we've sung at Ascension throughout Lent.  When I looked at the lyrics printed in the worship aide, I saw that the verses drew from the Latin words in the Pange Lingua hymn, and there was so much richness to the words.

Then came the very profound Pange Lingua.  This hymn is always a powerful experience as we solemnly praise Christ for offering His Body and Blood.  Once the Blessed Sacrament has reached the altar of repose, we enter into silence as we keep watch with Christ as we remember how He willingly entered into His Passion.

The side altar of repose for the Blessed Sacrament on Maundy Thursday night.

The next day, Friday of Holy Week, certainly has a solemn tone.  In fact, at one point, it was regarded as such a holy day that it was called God Friday, which then ended up becoming Good Friday.  I prefer the idea of God Friday to emphasize the holy nature of this day.

I attended a Stations of the Cross liturgy at St. Bernardine.  The choir had some good music to accompany in between Stations.  Once again, we consider how the Passion of Christ speaks to our experiences and our world today, as we seek to enter into the Mystery and join Christ in dying with the hope of rising with Him.

During the Evening Liturgy at St. Edmund, Father Rex, in his homily, stated that we stand before the Cross.  Truly, as I see it, God's power is at work in the Cross, which He transformed from an instrument of brutal death to a means to life.  So we fix our gaze upon the Cross, seeing it as our means to salvation.  "Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung our salvation," we sing three times as the Cross is processed from the back to the front of the sanctuary.  Then we all go forth to venerate it, as a way of honoring Christ and acknowledging how we can unite our sufferings to Christ and they can be transformed by God's power into something that is good.

The Cross of Jesus inside Ascension in the time from God Friday to Holy Saturday

In the stillness of Holy Saturday morning, we gathered for Morning Prayer at Ascension.  There's a great hymn about what happened on Holy Saturday and how we wait for the victory of the Resurrection. We also prayed for and offered a blessing to the Elect and those who were set to be received into the Church that night.  I stayed at Ascension for a while to help decorate the church for Easter Season.

That night, I was at St. Giles a few minutes after 7 PM for the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass.  This Mass is such a spiritually rich experience because of how it incorporates natural elements like fire and water.  We started outside, surrounding the fire pit with a bonfire, from which the Paschal Candle is lit.  The priest offers a prayer as he places the decorative elements on the candle, acclaiming Christ as the Alpha and the Omega, and the One Who was wounded and brought forth our salvation.

The Paschal fire outside St. Giles

Lighting the Paschal Candle outside St. Giles

We then processed back into the darkened Church, acclaiming Christ the Light.  Next came the Exultet, which is a great way for us to marvel at God's great work of salvation in seeking to deliver His people.   The readings then elaborate on how God created the world and then worked for its salvation.   After much time in darkness, the Church is brightened for the Gloria.  After the Epistle reading, when we hear about how we participate with Christ in death and Resurrection through baptism, we reached the glorious Kairos moment of singing the Easter Alleluia.  St. Giles has a different feel to the melody of its Alleluia than I recall from Ascension in years past.  Yet the playing of drums adds an exuberant tone.

Father Carl made a good point in his homily: "We are the Resurrection."  What we celebrate on this night is not just history, but rather is a reality that lives within us.  As I see it, encountering the Risen Christ again as the Triduum progresses to the liturgies of Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday is a way for us to embrace anew how God is at work in us.

After the homily, I stepped into the sacristy for my role in the Mass, which was to get water for the baptisms.  There were 17 people who were set to receive initiation sacraments on this night, reflecting a trend in society of record numbers of initiations.  One of those baptized at St. Giles was a student in my RE class this year, and so it was special to be part of getting the water ready that would be used for the baptisms and then to see her experience the Paschal Mystery at her baptism, along with her younger sister.  It was a glorious night.  Just as is proclaimed in the Exultet, it is the night when Christ rose from death.  He is the Light that breaks through the darkness and shines on humanity.  This reality lives in us, the people of faith, and we see it unfold anew with the multiple initiations.  A splendid spread of food and drink followed Mass.

The joyous scene inside St. Giles after the conclusion of the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass

The next morning, on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord, I went to Mass at Ascension.  The church was bursting at the seams, and it felt so alive.  The music during Mass helped set the tone for what we celebrate, particularly the African tune of "Christ the Lord is Risen", which is a staple at Ascension.  There's also a profound statement at the end of the Gospel reading from John 20:  The beloved disciple saw the empty tomb and believed.  Indeed, this great miraculous reality of the Resurrection is meant to lead us to belief in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, and to walk in the newness of Life.

Looking from the choir loft at the Ascension Church sanctuary

A fellow parishioner photographed me by the decorated Cross after Easter Resurrection Sunday Mass.

Inside the sanctuary at Ascension Church, from the back of Church

There's been much talk about the numerous conversions at the Triduum this year.  I sense that our society has reached an inflection point, and now people yearn for a transcendent reality that they find in Holy Mother Church.  These days speak to how mystery is real, because Christ invites us to join Him in living in this mystery, that we may experience death and Resurrection.

I thought about in the days flanking Palm Sunday.  A quick errand run on Saturday evening became a prolonged outing when my vehicle wouldn't start, which I found out later was because the starter wasn't functioning.  I got it towed to a nearby shop, and then Ubered to work, thinking the car would be finished while I was at work that day.  When I checked about it later, the service manager told me it might have to wait another day.  I was dejected as I faced the reality of another day without a functioning car.  As I went by Uber back to Oak Park, I got a phone call alerting me that the car was finished with the starter work.  In that moment, I felt a boost from this Good News, a sign of what God has done through the Paschal Mystery.

The Taize song "Be Not Afraid" has great power to it, especially on Resurrection Sunday, because, even with all the reasons we have to be afraid and downtrodden in this world, as people of faith, we also tap into a reality deep within us that beckons us to move beyond fear and live in joy because of our relationship with God.

This Easter Season is the first time I've worn my Alleluia socks from the Sock Religious Company.  When I show them to people, I invoke the famous quotations, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song."  We go up the spiral staircase to commemorate these sacred days and then unpack the joy of the Resurrection in a way that renews us throughout the year, the reality that is our life.

Here I am posing with my Easter/Alleluia socks on Ascension Sunday.  This photograph was taken by Nicholaus McKenna, who was in my Confirmation group many years ago.