FAQs about the Triduum….
- “Triduum” is Latin for “three days.” Lent ends at sundown on Thursday (the day ending and beginning at sundown is a holdover from our Jewish past). The Triduum goes from Thursday evening of Holy Week through Sunday evening, at which point the Easter season begins.
- You can think of the three days of the Triduum as really being one 3-day Day; or one celebration (of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus) that’s spread out over three days.
- On Holy Thursday, in the evening, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. This marks the beginning of the end of Jesus’ earthly life, the last meal he shared with his friends. We commemorate the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper; some churches observe Eucharistic Adoration after this mass.
- Many churches practice the rite of foot washing. Holy Thursday is often called “Maundy Thursday” in the Anglican church (and others) because it was after this foot washing, as John’s gospel tells us, that Jesus gave the mandatum, the command, “As I have done for you, so you should do for others.” Mandatum became ‘maundy’ in English.
- Good Friday is a day of abstinence and fasting for Catholics. But this fasting is not the same as Lenten fasting (to repent and reform); rather, it’s Paschal fasting (in anticipation and preparation for Easter and the resurrection). It’s the day we observe the Passion of Jesus, so the liturgical color is red (like last Sunday, Palm/ Passion Sunday). The service is traditionally held at 3pm, the hour when Jesus died. At this service we also observe the Veneration of the Cross.
- Eucharist is never celebrated, but instead a communion service using bread consecrated at Holy Thursday is offered instead.
- The Easter Vigil on Saturday night plunges us into the whole story of salvation history, God’s plan for the world and for us. It’s a long service—in the early church, it used to last all night, till dawn, as Christians kept vigil during those dark hours Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, as he passed from death to life. Nowadays it lasts a few hours.
- It begins with the kindling of the new flame, the lighting of the Easter candle, and the singing of the Exultet (the Easter proclamation). Then there is a series of readings (from five to nine) from the Old and New Testaments that trace God’s saving actions in our history. Then we sing the Gloria and the Alleluia (which we haven’t done since Lent began) and we hear the gospel of the resurrection proclaimed. After this, new members might be baptized or received into the Church, and everyone renews their baptismal vows. Finally there is the liturgy of the Eucharist. And with any luck, after all of this, there are refreshments in the church basement!
- Easter Sunday is the Easter service most folks actually experience, and it’s full of light and lilies and trumpets. Easter is the most important celebration in the Christian churches, the “Great Feast.” Just as Eucharist is meant to be the ‘source and summit,’ the foundation and goal of our Sunday worship and our daily lives, so Easter is the source and summit of all our worship throughout the year and of our whole lives as Christians.
- The Easter season comes to an end with the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the Church to continue Jesus’ mission and ministry. After that, Ordinary Time begins again.
___________________________
Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
