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.
Prepare for Triduum by attending a Taizé Prayer Service led by Emmanuel in the church on Wednesday evening, and let beautiful meditative prayer and song alternating with periods of prayerful silence allow you to dwell meaningfully on Christ's presence within and around you...
Triduum begins Thursday evening, at the Feast of the Lord’s Supper, when we recall Jesus kneeling humbly before his disciples to wash their feet, then blessing, breaking, and sharing bread – the first Eucharist – with his disciples… We will process afterwards 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…
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 extraordinary expanse of Triduum!
No comments:
Post a Comment