Sometimes called “the Church’s best kept secret,” the Triduum is one long liturgy through which Catholics “solemnly celebrate the greatest mysteries of our redemption” (The Roman Missal, 298). This synopsis encourages all to taste and see the goodness, beauty, and truth celebrated during the final days of Holy Week.
Day One // Holy Thursday
When you attend Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, I suggest you arrive early enough to sit near the altar. You won’t want to miss anything! The first year I attended, I understood very little, but nearly twenty-eight years later, my heart is more attuned to the mysteries of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection and what they mean for all of us.
The Gloria, which is suppressed during the liturgies of Lent (meaning that we don’t sing or recite it), is sung again on Holy Thursday. Now bells ring out as our lips echo the words the angels sang at Jesus’ birth: “Gloria in excelsis Deo!” (“Glory to God in the highest!”)
This night we celebrate three great truths:
- Jesus made a way for us to receive Him in the Eucharist.
- He gave us the priesthood.
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And He taught us by example how we are to love one another.
The Second Reading tells of the Institution of the Eucharist with the words every priest uses during the consecration of the Bread and Wine at Mass (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Then in the Gospel we hear about the Institution of the Priesthood, when Jesus washes the feet of His Apostles (see John 13:1-15).
After the homily, the washing of the feet by the celebrant brings to life Christ’s example of loving service.
After the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which reminds us of the Last Supper, we remember Jesus’ journey from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane by walking in solemn procession, behind clergy and altar servers, taking the Blessed Sacrament to a prepared place, the altar of repose, where we are invited to stay an hour or more. It is possible that we may be counted among the disciples who, overcome with fatigue, could not wait with Him even one hour (see Matthew 26:40).
Day Two // Good Friday
The Church recommends that around three o’clock on Good Friday our Triduum liturgy resumes with the Passion of the Lord.
The tabernacle doors stand open and the sanctuary lamp is flameless. Nothing adorns the altar: not candles, cloths, or cross. We enter an empty darkness, befitting the day our Lord died on Calvary.
The priests and deacons, wearing red vestments, walk in silence down the center of the nave. They reverence the altar, then lie prostrate for a few minutes while we kneel.
All then stand as the entire Passion of Christ is read from the Gospel of John.
During the Solemn Intercessions that follow, we are alternately instructed to kneel and stand. These changes of posture—along with the varying voices of the priest, deacon, and choir—help our minds recall and our hearts connect to the intercessions through which the heartbeat of the Church’s love for all people resounds.
Some parishes use a large wooden cross for the Adoration of the Holy Cross, and others use a smaller one. The priest can choose between two forms of veneration. In one, the cross is veiled in purple and slowly unveiled; in the other, an unveiled cross is displayed. Either way, the faithful draw near the cross and touch it, kiss it, or make some sign of reverence toward the wood of the cross, which became the altar of sacrifice upon which Christ offered Himself for us. The choir chants heart-wrenching Reproaches in which the Lord asks, “O my people, what have I done to you?” The people answer, “Holy is God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal one, have mercy on us.”
Instead of a full Liturgy of the Eucharist we recite the Our Father and receive Holy Communion from the consecrated hosts that were reserved the night before. After a blessing, we depart in silence, pondering the beauty and sorrow of Jesus’ self-offering.
Day Three // The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
The Easter Vigil begins with a blazing new fire outside in the dark. During the blessing of the fire, the priest prays for us to be “so inflamed with heavenly desires, that with minds made pure we may attain festivities of unending splendor” (The Roman Missal, 344).
A deacon brings a new Paschal candle to the priest, who traces a cross and other symbols on it as he prays: “Christ yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha, and the Omega, All time belongs to him, and all the ages, to him be glory and power, through every age forever. Amen” (The Roman Missal, 345).
Next he presses into the wax five incense nails representing the wounds of Jesus and prays, “By his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ the Lord guard us and protect us. Amen.”
Lighting the candle from the fire, the deacon carries it in procession toward the darkened church. Thrice he stops and chants, “Light of Christ!” We respond, “Thanks be to God!” Inside the church, the baptized receive votives and those nearest the Paschal candle light theirs from its flame and share the flame. By candlelight we stand, as a deacon chants the Easter Proclamation.
Grateful to be seated, we listen to the story of creation from Genesis. A Responsorial Psalm follows and we stand again to pray. This same pattern is repeated for a total of seven times, helping us ponder the entire history of God’s love for His people throughout the Old Testament.
All is bright as the Gloria rings out. Then, seated, we hear a reading from a New Testament Epistle. Rising again we sing “Alleluia” for the first time since before Lent.
After the Deacon proclaims the Gospel the priest gives a short homily then
blesses the water, thrusting the flaming Paschal candle into the font as he prays.
The Litany of the Saints precedes Baptisms and Confirmations, after which we stand and renew our own Baptismal promises. The priest sprinkles us with blessed water and finally, the offertory begins, where we once again hear the words of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. After the priest receives the Body and Blood of our Lord, the newly baptized and all of us are invited to receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
To end the Triduum, the priest prays a solemn blessing and we are exhorted to “Go in peace, alleluia, alleluia!” As one voice we respond, “Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia!”
Lani Bogart was born in Hawaii and grew up in Ohio and Michigan. She was a small child when she began to love Jesus. She’s at home in Texas with her woodworker Deacon husband near their children and grandchildren, Lani is also an active spiritual director and trauma healing volunteer. You can read more at Lanibogart.blog
Lani Bogart nació en Hawaii y creció en Ohio y Michigan. Era una niña pequeña cuando empezó a amar a Jesús. Está en su casa en Texas con su esposo, un carpintero diácono, cerca de sus hijos y nietos. Lani también es una directora espiritual activa y voluntaria de curación de traumas. Puedes leer más en Lanibogart.blog
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