Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! Alleluia!

A Blessed Easter to All.  We had lovely liturgies this Triduum.  Five baptized and five more received into the Church on Holy Saturday.  It was our first attempt at a bilingual Vigil and I thought it went very well.  Actually, we snuck a little Latin in there so it was really a "trilingual" liturgy.

My friend, Mark Brinkman, is a Christian music writer.  He has a song that has a couple of lines that sum up what today is about.  The song (which you can find on YouTube) is called: From the 3rd Day On.



From the 3rd day on. . .Christ is risen!!
From the 3rd day on. . .He is alive!!
From the 3rd day on. . .We are forgiven!!
Make sure you're living. . .From the 3rd day on.

Good Friday

It has been a quiet day so far.  The sun is shining and a light wind blowing.  Not exactly what Minnesotans expect on an early April Good Friday. 

Our first service was lovely.  The children's choir led the music.  I am always inspired by the veneration of the cross.  As I spend more time in a parish I become more aware of the various crosses that people carry in their lives.  As they venerate the cross I see the devotion in their eyes and it is always moving.

We have members of our RCIA group carry in a large cross.  It takes several to manage it.  They then hold it as people venerate it.  I think it is a nice way for them to connect with the Paschal Mystery as we move through the Triduum.  They are also among those whose feet we wash on Holy Thursday.

Here is a link to the text which will be used at the Stations of the Cross in Rome this year.  They were written by a married couple.  It is always fascinating to reflect on these each year as someone different is assigned the writing each year.  Last year I believe it was a cloistered nun.

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2012/documents/ns_lit_doc_20120406_via-crucis_en.html

An incredible proclamation of the Passion

Trinity Church on Wall Street has a tradition of fine music.  On Palm Sunday they presented an improvised chanting of the Passion according to Mark.  It is an incredible experience.  Wouldn't I love to be able to do something like this?
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/news/blogs/in-the-moment/when-performance-becomes-listening

Mass of the Lord's Supper

My Holy Thursday liturgy is finished and the Spanish Mass is just starting.  It was a beautiful celebration in our own simple way.  All week I was struck by the idea that perception is important to us when we look at an event.  I spoke tonight about the story of the Passover from the Jewish perspective and from the Egyptian perspective - liberation and horror.  I spoke about the perception that Paul must have faced as he spoke and wrote about the Last Supper of Jesus and what it means to us - perplexity and comfort.  I spoke about the washing of the feet from the perspective of Peter and our own understanding - incredulity and challenge. 

When we hear these stories we hear them within our own lived context and experience.  It is a context of faith.  In light of the challenges to our faith in these days and the choice of so many to discard the practice of their faith, how can we reinvigorate these stories which captured the imagination of people for millennia?  What is the word the the Lord is speaking to us today that needs to be passed on?

May this Triduum be a time of blessing for you as we delve deeply into the Paschal Mystery.

The Triduum Begins

Sr. Thea Bowman on Holy Week

Let us resolve to make this week holy by claiming Christ’s redemptive grace and by living holy lives.

The Word became flesh and redeemed us by his holy life and holy death. This week especially, let us accept redemption by living grateful, faithful, prayerful, generous, just and holy lives.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by reading and meditating Holy Scripture.

So often, we get caught up in the hurry of daily living. As individuals and as families, reserve prime time to be with Jesus, to hear the cries of the children waving palm branches, to see the Son of Man riding on an ass' colt, to feel the press of the crowd, to be caught up in the "Hosannas” and to realize how the cries of acclamation will yield to the garden of suffering, to be there and watch as Jesus is sentenced by Pilate to Calvary, to see him rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross, to hear the echo of the hammer, to feel the agony of the torn flesh and strained muscles, to know Mary’s anguish as he hung three hours before he died.

We recoil before the atrocities of war, gang crime, domestic violence and catastrophic illness. Unless we personally and immediately are touched by suffering, it is easy to read Scripture and to walk away without contacting the redemptive suffering that makes us holy. The reality of the Word falls on deaf ears.

Let us take time this week to be present to someone who suffers. Sharing the pain of a fellow human will enliven Scripture and help us enter into the holy mystery of the redemptive suffering of Christ.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by participating in the Holy Week services of the church, not just by attending, but also by preparing, by studying the readings, entering into the spirit, offering our services as ministers of the Word or Eucharist, decorating the church or preparing the environment for worship.

Let us sing, "Lord, have mercy," and "Hosanna." Let us praise the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, uniting with the suffering church throughout the world -- in Rome and Ireland, in Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa and Angola, India and China, Nicaragua and El Salvador, in Washington, D.C., and Jackson, Mississippi.

Let us break bread together; let us relive the holy and redemptive mystery. Let us do it in memory of him, acknowledging in faith his real presence upon our altars.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy within our families, sharing family prayer on a regular basis, making every meal a holy meal where loving conversations bond family members in unity, sharing family work without grumbling, making love not war, asking forgiveness for past hurts and forgiving one another from the heart, seeking to go all the way for love as Jesus went all the way for love.

Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy with the needy, the alienated, the lonely, the sick and afflicted, the untouchable.

Let us unite our sufferings, inconveniences and annoyances with the suffering of Jesus. Let us stretch ourselves, going beyond our comfort zones to unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work.

We unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love.

Let us be practical, reaching out across the boundaries of race and class and status to help somebody, to encourage and affirm somebody, offering to the young an incentive to learn and grow, offering to the downtrodden resources to help themselves.

May our fasting be the kind that saves and shares with the poor, that actually contacts the needy, that gives heart to heart, that touches and nourishes and heals.

During this Holy Week when Jesus gave his life for love, let us truly love one another.

Entering Holy Week

Holy Week has arrived.  As we enter the week in which we commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus we pause to remember what it is all about.  This video is from Busted Halo, a great site for young adults.