The Triduum Sacrum

Holy Week Services for April 2011

Before the joy of Easter and our celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, comes Holy Week. Holy Week ends with The Three Sacred Days (Triduum Sacrum):

  • Maundy Thursday
  • Good Friday
  • Great Vigil of Easter (Easter Vigil)

MAUNDY THURSDAY
The evening of Maundy Thursday officially witnesses the end of Lent. On this night we begin what is traditionally called the Triduum Sacrum, or the Three Sacred Days.

The Service which we celebrate on this night is called The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, and recalls the institution of the Church’s liturgy by our Lord on the night that he was betrayed, the night before he died. This sacred act by Jesus would forever unite him with his people in his humanity and with his Father in his divinity- thus making at-one-ment.

The word Maundy comes from the Latin word Mandatum: meaning mandate or commandment. This comes from the phrase used by our Lord after he had washed the disciples’ feet: “A new commandment (mandate) I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you”. Jesus himself expressed his love for them in that gesture of humility and service. In our church the action is repeated as people wash each others feet as a symbol of service to others.

The Maundy Thursday Eucharist is a unique blend of joy and sadness. There is joy because it is the annual remembrance of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. But there is sadness here also, because this is a farewell meal overshadowed by the treachery of Judas and the knowledge that suffering and death were waiting for Jesus.

This Eucharist is like no other, it has no formal ending (no blessing) and it continues into and is finally concluded at the Good Friday Liturgy. Sufficient wafers are consecrated on Maundy Thursday for those who attend the Good Friday Liturgy. After the faithful have received Holy Communion, The Blessed Sacrament is taken to the Altar of Repose where it is reserved until Good Friday. At St Barnabas, we move the bread and wine to the “garden” set up in our chapel.

At the end of the service, the sanctuary is stripped as a symbolic reminder of the stripping of Jesus. Then a watch is kept before the Blessed Sacrament and we recall our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We stay with him until his arrest. We stay with him as he asked the disciples to do, to watch and pray.

Stations of the Cross
The term “Stations of the Cross” refers both to a series of fourteen representations of events on Christ’s journey to the Cross and the popular devotion of passing before them in meditation on Christ’s sacrifice. We call them ‘Stations’ because we visit them in a certain (chronological) order and stop to reflect and pray at each one, before traveling on to the next station.

The devotion reflects the practice of pilgrims to Jerusalem who, from earliest times to the current day, have followed the way of the Cross from the house of Pilate to Calvary and wished to re-enact this journey on their return home.

The traditional pilgrimage route in Jerusalem starts at the site of Pilate’s Judgement Hall in the Antonia and follows the Via Dolorosa through the narrow streets of Old Jerusalem to come to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on Calvary Hill. When the Franciscans received custody of the holy places in medieval times, they encouraged the erection of tableaux in their own churches depicting the sacrificial journey. The custom spread widely to other churches.

The content and number of the stations has varied widely throughout the ages, but the number was settled as fourteen under Clement XII in the 18th century. Eight of the stations directly reflect incidents recorded in the Gospels; the remaining six are based on inferences from the Gospel or from pious legend.

At St. Barnabas we have been placing simple wooden crosses on the church grounds and people may walk from cross to cross, following the text in an accompanying booklet as they remember Jesus’ life and death. We also have a service of the stations on Good Friday when we walk the stations together.

Here are some links to online Stations of the Cross:

GOOD FRIDAY
On this day the Church’s Liturgy is bereft of ceremonial refinement. The sanctuary is unfurnished. The stark wood of the altar points us to Calvary. The priests enter without ceremony. Before going to his chair, however clergy may prostrate themselves before the altar. This act of humiliation is done on behalf of the whole community.

The first part of the Service consists of readings that culminate in the reading or singing of St. John’s Passion Gospel. The solemn prayers follow the Gospel. During these ancient biddings we pray for the Church and for the world. Finally, the Blessed Sacrament is brought from the Altar of Repose and all receive Holy Communion, thus ending what was begun last night. Although our hearts feel as bereft as the church building looks bleak – nevertheless we end on a note of subdued triumph.

THE EASTER VIGIL
This is the great climax of Holy Week and the whole Christian year. It is the Feast of Feasts when the Church joyfully hails her risen Lord. Here we proclaim and celebrate the central fact of our faith – that Jesus has triumphed over death and lives among us. On this Saturday night at the beginning of the Service the church is in darkness: it is the end of the crisis which began on Palm Sunday when we traced our Lord’s path to Jerusalem, to betrayal and death.

Now the Church changes its identity from Jerusalem to the Tomb of Jesus and so, like the women who went to the Tomb, we wait outside.

The Resurrection is symbolized by the kindling of the new fire, a small fire lit outside the church and from which the Paschal Candle is lit. This candle is then carried into Church with the cry “The light of Christ.”

The Easter Proclamation or Exultet is then read or sung and we hear readings from the scriptures and the psalms telling of God’s salvation to his people. This leads us to the blessing of the baptismal font and water and everyone then renews their baptismal vows. The Gloria is sung and the church bells ring out with Joy! The resurrection reaches its climax in the first Eucharist of Easter when we celebrate the only way possible the new life which is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

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