Three Holy Days

Today is Holy Thursday. It is officially the last day of Lent and the beginning of a new season, the Triduum. However, just because Lent is over doesn’t mean that Lenten penances are over. No, the next few days mark the holiest days of the year. Good Friday marks the day of the Crucifixion of Christ. Holy Saturday holds the Easter Vigil, the greatest Mass of the year. Easter Sunday is the highest holy day of the Church calendar, marking the Resurrection of Christ, without which, Paul says, our faith is in vain.

The Triduum is the series of these holy days. It is to be marked with greater penance than the previous forty days of Lent. Holy Thursday Mass typically concludes with adoration somewhere in the church until midnight. The Mass itself never actually ends. At midnight, the blessed sacrament is put away in the church and will not come out again until after the Great Vigil. Fun fact, the Eucharist is taken out of the tabernacle, which means it is not necessary to genuflect when entering a church, simply to bow to the altar.

Good Friday is rife with opportunities to participate in different manners. First, most churches host a final Stations of the Cross devotion before Easter. Some churches will have opportunities to meditate upon the Seven Last Words of Jesus, the last sayings he had while he hung on the cross. There is typically a communion service at some point during the day. This service is NOT a Mass. Good Friday is actually the one day of the year where no Mass is available to be celebrated. The communion service has no introductory or concluding rites.  Instead, it is a continuation of the Mass begun on Thursday. At some point, usually in the evening, churches may also have a Tenebrae service. The Tenebrae service is the morning prayers for each day of the Triduum. The service ends with a loud noise, then the people depart in silence.

The day of Good Friday itself is typically a day of much penance anyways. From 12 to 3 in the afternoon, the Church asks for people to stop what they are doing in memory of the Lord’s passion, especially during His time on the cross. Today, this is commonly commemorated with praying the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or the Stations of the Cross. These and many other devotions are common to fill this time of reflection and prayer.

Holy Saturday is the last day of the Triduum and marks the beginning of Easter.  Sometime in the evening of Holy Saturday, the Church celebrates the great Easter Vigil, the highest Mass of the year. The eight readings take the congregation through all of salvation history and the Gospel is the great announcement that Jesus Christ is risen. The Mass itself is much longer than any Mass of the year, thanks to two whole sections of the Mass that are unique to this great celebration. The Mass starts with a fire, followed by a candlelit procession back into the church.  After the Liturgy of the Word come the Rites of Initiation. This is the point where all the people going through RCIA and RCIC are actually baptized and confirmed to join the Church. This in particular is what makes this Mass more joyful than any other Easter Masses. This great Mass is the Mass that shows the growth of the Church.

The next few days have several opportunities for devotion and growth. If you’ve never been to any of the things listed above, try them. My strongest recommendation is for the Easter Vigil, if you have never been. The beauty of that Mass is something never seen at any other point in the year. Have a blessed Triduum and a Happy Easter.