Bishop Weisenburger breaks open the meaning of Holy Week

With Holy Week looming large before us I would like to address briefly the three days of Holy Week, known as the “Triduum.”  

The first thing I would point out is that the three days are best understood as one great celebration broken up in time.  If you look closely, like all Masses it begins  with the Sign of the Cross at the beginning of Holy Thursday’s Mass.  However, there is no formal ending to the Holy Thursday Liturgy—it is more as if the liturgy is suspended and all depart in silence.  The next day, on Good Friday, there is no formal beginning.  Instead, the liturgy that began on Holy Thursday more or less resumes.  Like Holy Thursday, Good Friday also has no formal ending.  At its conclusion the liturgy is once again suspended as all depart in silence.  The Triduum then resumes with the service of light—lighting and blessing the Easter fire—which opens the great Easter Vigil on Saturday Evening. 

Again, to summarize, the three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil [the Great Triduum] are better understood as one great liturgy spread over three days than three separate events.  Let us now look briefly at each of the three celebrations.

Holy Thursday.  This is the Mass that commemorates Jesus great gift of the Mass, including the enduring gift of His true presence in the Eucharist.  It is also the Mass which normally includes the washing of feet, reminding all Christians that humble and loving service is the hallmark of true Christians.  And the end of Mass the Eucharist is processed out of every Catholic Church in the World and reserved in a special place for private adoration, which takes place throughout the evening. The great Triduum has now begun. The Church will be stripped of candles, flowers, altar cloths, and all the other things we typically use to adorn the Church for worship.  We are preparing the Church for the following day, Good Friday, which marks the death and absence of the Christ.

Good Friday is the one day of the year that the whole Church is required to fast from Mass.  The only sacraments permitted are penance and anointing of the sick.  No Mass is ever permitted on Good Friday, which is why the liturgy on that one day of the year is so different.  It begins in silence with the priests and ministers laying prostrate on the floor before the stripped/barren altar.  They arise, a simple prayer is prayed, and the readings from Scripture follow.  The Passion of Jesus Christ from one of the Gospels is the heart of Good Friday’s Liturgy.  After extended intercessory prayers, prayed almost identical around the world, we have the adoration of the Holy Cross.  Following the adoration of the Cross, Holy Communion which was consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass is then distributed to the faithful.  Again, all depart in silence.

With the setting of the sun and the descent of darkness on Saturday evening, the Easter Vigil begins.  It is the most solemn Mass of the Church year.  It is the Mass that commemorates in a unique way the great resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of our own. We begin by lighting and blessing the Easter Fire, symbolizing the light of the risen Christ overcoming all darkness of sin and death.  An extended liturgy of the word with many Scripture readings follows.  After the homily we baptize and Confirm the new adult converts to the Catholic Faith.  The Mass then proceeds, culminating in giving First Holy Communion to the new converts to our faith.  With the final blessing and dismissal at the end of the Easter Vigil Mass, what began with a solemn signing of the cross at the opening of Holy Thursday’s Mass is now complete.

Brothers and sisters, the Triduum is among the most sacred and glorious days of the Church’s year. I pray that all Catholics will make the effort to enter into them with prayer and devotion.  

+Edward J. Weisenburger
  Bishop of Tucson