Holy Week 2011: How to Prepare for the Easter Triduum

"When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him.' " (Jn 17:1-2)

Breaking with convention, I would like to say a few words midweek as we prepare to celebrate the holiest days of the year - the Easter Triduum (or Holy Triduum - Latin for "three days").  This also serves in part as a "mea culpa" for not getting around to a Palm Sunday reflection!

The Easter Triduum begins with the evening celebration of the "Mass of the Lord's Supper" on Holy Thursday and runs through Easter Sunday.  It is above all a time where we draw close to the Church's sacramental celebrations so as to be drawn into communion with Jesus and follow Him closely in the most important moments of His passion, death, and resurrection. We should therefore make every effort to attend all the liturgical celebrations this week (or as many as possible) - i.e. the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday, the celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday (usually at 3pm), and either the Easter Vigil late Saturday night, or Mass on Easter Sunday.

What is more, we need to prepare ourselves now, ahead of time, to receive the fullness of grace available to us in these upcoming days.  There is no better way to prepare than to find a good "examination of conscience" (there are many online aids), and go to Confession - also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Here's a free tip - save yourself some time and do it now!  Why wait for long lines to form?  It doesn't matter if it's been 2 months, 2 years, or 20 years since your last confession - this is a special time of grace, and Jesus awaits.  Make the decision to do it and start preparing - don't waste time!  Put aside excuses, find out the confession schedules online - either at your parish or another Catholic Church - do whatever it takes.  And whatever happens, don't pay any attention to the voice in your head that says, "this is a super busy time for priests, I shouldn't impose, disturb, or make more work for my pastor " - don't fall for that one!

Finally, I'll share something I do to prepare for the major celebrations or any important moment in the Church's liturgical year.  Several days before any feast, I ask God to grant me a special grace - a "key" or a "light" - that will help me enter into the mystery we are about to celebrate and make it more personal.  For example, this Lent I felt drawn to ponder the journey of Lent as a time to die to sin and rise to new life in Christ.  I would then listen to and reflect on the readings at Mass from that perspective - discovering either concrete ways in which Jesus challenged the Apostles to conversion, or seeing how St. Paul understood and experienced this double dimension of death and resurrection in his personal life.  Anyways, these "lights" help me experience and live Lent, Easter, Christmas, etc... as something real and present, where Christ enters into the depths of my soul in a new and exciting way.

The liturgy is meant to enrich our lives in the here and now, where Christ comes to meet us and draw us into the love, knowledge and praise of the Father.  This encounter in turn transforms us from within and becomes a new source of hope and life in our daily life and inspires us to readjust our steps on the path of salvation.  The Easter Triduum was never meant to be the simple retelling of a distant story of history, but a proclamation and celebration of faith where the Crucified and Risen Christ is encountered in a new and unique way.  Preparing for the Easter Triduum now by means of prayer, confession, and seeking special graces from God, will help us rediscover that Christ is alive, and that by sharing in His death and resurrection in our daily life, we too find new life in Him.  May the good Lord bless you and all you are doing for Him!

(Photo of the "Passiontide" courtesy of Dcn. Lawrence Lew, O.P.)