Pass through the portal into Triduum!

  The door opens a sliver / to a new room.  / She gets a glimpse / as the light filters / forth. / … / She is standing in / the question, / longing for passage / to newness. / Yet, the way / remains guided not.  / She restlessly waits / at the threshold / door. 

– Diane-Ellen McCarron, Threshold Door                 

  It's difficult to find the right words to describe the Easter Triduum –– its beauty and solemnity, its pregnant meaning...   Those who have experienced it just once find themselves waiting impatiently for these three days throughout all the season of Lent.  Triduum is the goal, the culmination, the extraordinary endpoint of our journey through forty days in the Lenten desert.  It is unlike any other moment in the Church’s liturgical calendar – it’s almost like stepping over a threshold, out of chronological time and into kairos time, into a sacred space unique in the depth of engagement it offers, and in the beauty of liturgy that graces it.  Nothing, nothing, is like the Triduum liturgy, three awed days of total immersion, body, heart, and soul, into the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord.  If you have never participated before, now is the time:  you will never forget this incredible experience of time-out-of-time.

   Join us first on Holy Thursday evening for the Feast of the Lord’s Supper and recall Jesus kneeling humbly before his disciples to wash their feet, then blessing, breaking, and sharing bread – the first Eucharist – with his disciples… Process afterwards with us to O'Brien Hall for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament…

   Follow in Jesus’ footsteps on the Way of the Cross Friday afternoon, and venerate the Wood of the Cross in remembrance of his death at the most extraordinary Communion service of the liturgical year…  Friday evening, join Christians from all Mill Valley churches at the ecumenical Tenebrae service graciously hosted by Peace Lutheran Church…

   Witness the Light of Christ as it slowly fills Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Holy Saturday evening, and hear the story of salvation history, from Genesis to Romans… punctuated with a joyful Gloria that tells us that Resurrection is at hand… 

   And then, at last, on Easter Sunday, join in the joyful proclamation of Jesus Risen and know in the depth of your being God’s faithful and abiding love….  Alleluia!

Come, step into the sacred space of Triduum!

Image source:  Catedral de Sal de Zipaquira/Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira, Bogotá, Colombia, 
https://www.adventures-abroad.com/blog/2018/02/zipaquira-catedral-de-sal-followed-by-a-game-of-tejo/