These coming days are the holiest in the Christian year. Over this week, we recall the events of our salvation. In these events, Our Lord saved us from eternal death and sin by meriting the outpouring of sanctifying grace and the opening of the gates of heaven. The Church retraces these events each year in the Sacred Liturgy so that we can participate in them.
I encourage you to make time to attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Solemn Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. These three ceremonies form what we call the Sacred Triduum. In addition to these ceremonies, there will be ample opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On Good Friday morning, we will also observe the Stations of the Cross.
In particular, I encourage you to stay on after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper for the ‘Night Watch’ at the Altar of Repose. This year, the Altar of Repose will be set up in the Xavier Centre. At the conclusion of Holy Thursday’s Mass, the Blessed Sacrament will be carried to the Altar of Repose. There, we can watch and pray as the apostles watched and prayed with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This time of prayer will conclude at 10.00pm with Night Prayer.
Participating in these ceremonies is often a sacrifice. Our regular activities get put on the back-burner. Our friends and family may wonder why we are ‘spending all week in the church’. The sacrifice of our time is both a great gift of love to the Lord as well as a powerful witness to our family and friends. The way we use our time reflects what we value.
In 2005, days before he was elected Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger led the Good Friday Stations of the Cross around Rome. At the Thirteenth Station, when Jesus is taken down from the Cross, Cardinal Ratzinger reflected:
“Jesus is dead. Now, at the end of his sufferings, it is clear that he was never alone. There are faithful ones who remain with him. Under the Cross stand Mary, his Mother, the sister of his Mother, Mary, Mary Magdalen and the disciple whom he loved. A wealthy man, Joseph of Arimathea, appears on the scene. He buries Jesus in his own empty tomb, in a garden. At Jesus’ burial, the cemetery becomes a garden, the garden from which Adam was cast out when he abandoned the fullness of life, his Creator. The garden tomb symbolizes that the dominion of death is about to end. A member of the Sanhedrin also comes along, Nicodemus, to whom Jesus had proclaimed the mystery of rebirth by water and the Spirit. Even in the Sanhedrin, which decreed his death, there is a believer, someone who knows and recognizes Jesus after his death. In this hour of immense grief, of darkness and despair, the light of hope is mysteriously present. The hidden God continues to be the God of life, ever near. Even in the night of death, the Lord continues to be our Lord and Saviour. The Church of Jesus Christ, his new family, begins to take shape.”
Let us, too, remain with Him.
Fr Marcus Goulding, Administrator