The Triduum

As I was sitting in Church yesterday contemplating my Lenten season, I was overcome with relief. Honestly I hate Lent. I am not so great at fasting, I look terrible in purple, and 40 days is a really long time. So after struggling through my proverbial desert these past 40 days, suffering through numerous mirages, and to be quite honest with you failing (like a lot) I have a arrived at my own personal spiritual Oasis. The Easter Triduum.

For those of you not familiar with the Easter Triduum, it is the name for the three days that lead up to the Resurrection of Christ. This trifecta of Catholic holy days begins on the night of Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and concludes on Saturday evening with the Easter Vigil.

This period of the liturgical calendar has always meant so much for me. My love for these three days could possibly stem from my entrance into the Church during the Easter Vigil three short years ago, which was the greatest day of my life. Or my passion for this time of year could be due to the wonderful liturgy and tradition that these three days have presented to me, an experience that lifts me up to Heaven in a way that I do not experience throughout the rest of the year. Maybe I just love the Triduum because it means Lent is finally over, but most likely some mash-up of the three.

For the first time since my entrance into the Church, I had to miss out on Holy Thursday and Good Friday services (my Fiancee has been sick). Don’t get me wrong I am bummed out but through missing the  front end of the Triduum, a realization and appreciation of how much these three days mean to me has developed and for this I am thankful.

Now to get to my point.

While sitting in Church yesterday praying I was inspired. Looking around me the Church was abuzz, it reminded me of what I imagined a  beehive in early summer might be like. There were local high school students practicing for that night’s Stations of the Cross, there was an almost endless line of penitential souls waiting for Confession, several people like me deep in prayer, and various other volunteers and staff  frantically running around the Church preparing for the coming of Christ.

At one point I took a deep breath and was overcome with emotion and filled with the Spirit of our Lord. I realized that on this day, the day of Christ’s death, we as a family had been brought together much in the same way that the death of a loved one brings people together. Through this great tragedy, through this Cross, we the members of His Church are united in His love and our love for each other.

While the the funeral pyres burn down on Holy Saturday and the Church scatters, an even more unifying event is about to take place. An event like nothing we had ever witnessed before Christ and like nothing we will see again until the end of days. A resurrection.

Tonight or tomorrow morning as you remember that moment that happened in a garden thousands of years ago and miles away. Remember what happened as Mary Magdalene looked upon that empty tomb and then into the face of that man and rejoice for he has risen, your Church has been founded, and your place at the banquet table reserved.

Do not forget that as we walk into that Mass we come as disillusioned sinners, but we leave united, we leave as THE CHURCH!