We begin, once again, the most sacred and most important week of the Christian calendar: Holy Week. These days have precedence over all other celebrations. Palm Sunday (properly called Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion), calls to mind Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem to accomplish the Paschal Mystery. Rightfully, the memorial of this event is included in every Mass. On Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the Eucharist is distributed only during the Liturgy, though it may be brought to the sick at a different hour. On Holy Saturday, the Eucharist is not to be distributed before the Easter Vigil; it may only be given as Viaticum (literally, “with you on the way”) to the dying. Funeral Masses may not be celebrated during these days. The last opportunities before Easter for Confession will be Monday and Wednesday at 9 AM. Though we are called to fasting, and abstinence from meat once more on Good Friday, Lent actually ends with the conclusion of Holy Thursday’s evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

The following days are called the Easter Triduum, from the Latin for “The Three Days.” These are the holiest days of the Church year! What really do the liturgies of the Triduum celebrate? Most of us assume that Holy Thursday commemorates the day Jesus instituted Holy Orders and the Holy Eucharist; Good Friday commemorates the day He was executed on the cross; and the Easter Vigil commemorates His emergence from the tomb. We assume, further, that the liturgies of these days are dramatic reenactments of events -- touching, tragic and triumphant-- which happened during Jesus’ last days, and culminated in His victory over death. In other words, we assume that the Paschal Triduum is simply “springtime’s parallel to winter’s Christmas.” As we gather on these days, we often think we are to be engaged in acts of historical “reconstruction” that re-create scenes in the “Upper Room,” on Calvary, and at the tomb.

People have been encouraged to imagine they are actually present at these events -- comforting Jesus during His

tearful watch in Gethsemane, walking with Him along the Way of the Cross, and witnessing His miraculous “return to life” on Easter morning. This view is reinforced by popular hymns that focus on the “historical facts” of the celebration. But is history the focus of celebration during the Triduum?

For sure, early Christians anchored their belief in the historical (“this-worldly”) circumstances that accompanied Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion “under Pontius Pilate.” Jesus’ life, career and death were, in other words, attached to a specific time, in a specific place. Precisely because these faith-anchoring events are historical, however, they cannot be repeated or “reenacted.” This is why the Church’s long tradition insists that what happened once in history passes over into the mystery of our sacramental/liturgical celebrations. What the Triduum actually celebrates is mystery, not history. These liturgies aren’t supposed to “take us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear” – to the Upper Room or the path to Calvary. Their ultimate purpose is not to retrace or relive the last hours of Jesus’ life – nor to catch sight of Him emerging from the tomb at Easter’s dawning. They celebrate not what once happened to Jesus, but what is now happening among us as a people called to conversion, gathered in faith, and renewed with the Spirit of holiness. They celebrate God’s taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core -- re-creating us as a new human community, broken like bread for the world’s life, rich in compassion, steadfast in hope, and fearless in the search for justice and peace.

PLEASE NOTE, there are NO Saturday Vigil Masses this Saturday afternoon -- only the evening Mass of the Easter Vigil at 7:00 PM, in which we will receive a few new members into the fullness of the Faith through Baptism, Confirmation and First Holy Communion. This Vigil Mass will fulfill our obligation to attend Easter Sunday Mass (and avoid the huge crowds that throng the Easter morning Masses!). Also, there is NO Sunday 5:30 Life Teen Mass on Easter Day. We will resume that on the following Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday.

I ask your cooperation with the police and ushers on Easter Sunday morning. In order to meet the Fire Marshall’s demands, when the church is filled to capacity for the 10 and 11:30 Easter morning Masses, the church doors will be closed, and the rest of the people then will be directed to the well-decorated parish hall for the overflow Masses at 10:10 and 11:40. You may really want to consider these in advance, to be guaranteed seating there (but not in church). Please make time to participate in the various services during Holy Week. Next Sunday (Easter), we will take up a 2nd collection to help reduce the debt we will incur from not reaching our 2011 Diocesan Services Appeal in gifts and pledges. Your gift to this diocesan charity will help to reduce the amount we would otherwise have to pay from our operating expenses to meet our diocesan-set goal. I thank you, in advance, for your generosity.

Very Rev. Canon Tom