The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum — from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday.
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Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.
The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season and leads to the mass of the resurrection of the Lord at the Easter vigil.
The liturgical services that take place during the Triduum are:
• Mass of the Lord’s supper
• Good Friday of the Lord’s passion
• Mass of the resurrection of the Lord
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday is the “Taste” of love, Good Friday is the “Test” of love.
Holy Thursday — a day of the last supper, commemoration, and celebration of four significant events: meals together, washing of the apostles’ feet, the institution of the holy eucharist, and the institution of the holy priesthood. All these events are not isolated entities but are linked into one single optic of love.
The meals together are a testimony and expression of love. In a meal, there is unity and care. Thus, true love unites, cares, shares, nurtures, and strengthens. How is our love in our community? How much unity? Care? Sharing? Mutual support?
The washing of the feet of the disciples by Jesus is a testimony and expression of love. In that gesture and act, there is humility, service and also symbolic purification. What a sign of humility. Jesus, the master, washes his disciples’ feet, the Lord washes the servants, the holy washes the sinful, and the Perfect washes the imperfect. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet symbolises the washing of our sins with his own blood.
The institution of the holy eucharist — a testimony and expression of love. True love desires to be present with loved ones forever. Jesus, who loves us passionately, wants to continue his presence with us forever.
The institution of the holy priesthood is a testimony and expression of love. True love extends its mission to the end. The priesthood is an immense gift of God offered to us, very concrete and authentic, of the spiritual and fraternal.
Good Friday
The cross is the principal symbol of Christianity, and this is so because it reminds the world of the sacrificial love of Christ which he expressed to humankind through his passion and death. “As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ,” says St Paul (1 Corinthians 1:23). In addition, the Apostle says, “the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost, but for those who are being saved it is God’s power” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
The cross has a message for all believers today as it gives meaning to the trials and troubles in the world, and for standing as a symbol of love as well as a symbol of victory.
Jesus said, ‘’If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24).
This is the beauty and the greatness of the cross. It is not so much the fact of the cross, not so much the cruelty of suffering, but the sign of it, the significance of it, the reasons for it, and the effects of it, that are more important. It is not so much “what is seen”, but “what is behind” and “what is ahead” that glorifies and exalts the cross. God’s love and mercy are behind the cross, and forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and salvation for eternity are ahead of the cross.
Today then, what does the cross mean to us? What does it tell us and call us for? Cross means taking a stand for Christ, for his values, for the Gospel. Cross means standing for a cause. But the cross cannot be isolated from the crucifix. Therefore, cross calls for a relationship, passion, intimacy, loyalty, and commitment to the crucifix. Cross means facing the consequences and enduring suffering for the sake of Christ and his values.
Easter
Easter night is a night where the faith-people and faithful people “pass over” from slavery to freedom, from fear to assurance, from sorrow to joy, and from death to life. Easter night celebrates Christ as our light. Jesus dispelled the dark shadows of sin because he is the “Light of the world”.
Christ as our light also confirms our vocation as the children of light. With the resurrection of Christ, darkness no longer has a hold on us. We are lit, we are enlightened. We walk firmly on the road of light. We live in the light; we do the works of light.
So, we are called to always keep the light on.
This is what the word of God in Colossians 5. 8-11 reminds and exhorts us: “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light; the fruits of light are kindness, justice, and truth in every form. You yourselves search out what pleases the Lord and take no part in works of darkness that are no benefit; expose them instead”.
The greatest message and confirmation of Easter is that Jesus our Lord is a living God. He lives. He lives on. He is alive. The Lord who was crucified and died on the cross and was buried was not finished in the tomb, he had not disappeared into the layers of earth, he was not lost in the past, and he was not confined to history as a memory.
He conquered death, he rose from the grave, he broke the chains of death, and he defeated the forces of Satan and evil. He reigns forever in heaven with power, and glory, as God without end, as eternal God.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us become “living temples” and not “empty tombs”. Let us constantly die to sin and rise up from our fallen state, rise up from our dissipation, and live to grace. Let our daily life be a daily resurrection giving us a foretaste of that final resurrection.
Happy Easter to all.
— Fr Uday Marneni
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