The Celebration of the Paschal Three Holy Days

Note: You may want to read this teaching in sections: you can read each section for preparation for each celebration of the Three Holy Days.

There will be no Teaching entry next Friday due to the Triduum.

 

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                                                        Section I: Before the Three Holy Days

                                              of Holy Thursday Evening through Easter Sunday

 

The central celebration of the entire Church year is that of "The Three Days" or by its Latin name, "The Triduum." The Catechism states:

"Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a ‘year of the Lord's favor.’ The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated ‘as a foretaste,’ and the kingdom of God enters into our time." (#1168)

Since the Triduum begins on Holy Thursday evening (the end also of Lent) and goes through Easter Sunday evening, it would seem that there are 4 days in this celebration. These days, however, are not calculated in the modern way as a day is from one midnight to the next. Instead, according to ancient Jewish custom, the day is from one evening to the next. Thus, the First Day of the Three Days includes Holy Thursday evening and Good Friday. The Second Day is from Good Friday evening to Holy Saturday evening. Then at night on Holy Saturday, the Third Day begins with the Easter Vigil and includes Easter Sunday.

There is sometimes a false controversy over how long Jesus was in the tomb and this  also is a matter of how time is understood in the ancient Jewish culture. Jesus had said that he would be three days and nights "in the heart of the earth." (see Matthew 12:40). If he died on a Friday, as we commerote, how was he three days in the tomb if he rose before sun rise on Sunday (See John 20:1)? The solution is simple when we learn that according to Jewish custom any part of a day, however small, is included as part of a full day. So Jesus was in the grave on Frdiday (1st day), Saturday (2nd day) and when evening came on Saturday, and night followed, a third day, Sunday.

As we prepare for these Three Holy Days which are the Paschal Triduum, it will help us appreciate our celebration if we understand the Jewish Passover. "Paschal" refers to Passover (Pascha). The early disciples, like Jesus himself, were Jewish. And so the early Christians saw that Jesus is our Passover and fulfills every Passover feast:

"Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the [Paschal] feast" (1Corinthians 5:7-8)

What the Jewish Passover Celebrates

The Jewish Passover celebrates the Exodus (the Passage) of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt and into the Promised Land, an event thousands of years old. God liberated his People and brought them into a new life.

The Paschal (Passover) Mystery of Christ–primarily his passing over from death to life in the Resurrection–is described as having two aspects for us: "by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life." (Catechism #654) Sin is slavery; "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:33)

On the night before they were set free from this cruel oppression, each Israelite family was instructed to kill a lamb and smear its blood upon the doorposts of their houses. When the Angel of Death saw the blood, Death passed over the house. They were to eat an annual meal in remebrance.

The Chosen People then were led by Moses out of Egypt. They went through the Red Sea and entered the desert. There they received the Commandments of the Covenant, Mana from heaven for their hunger , and water from the rock for their thirst. Christians see all this as prefiguring Christ and his new People. Baptism corresponds to the passage through the waters; Christ brings a New Covenant in his blood; Christians eat the Bread of Heaven in the Eucharist; Christ is the Rock and he gives us Living Waters, i.e. his Spirit.

To this day the Jewish people celebrate a Passover meal where a lamb is eaten and the freedom of God’s people is celebrated.

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Section II: The Eucharist: Christ’s Passover Feast (For Holy Thursday)

Order of the Liturgy:

1. Reception of the Holy Oils
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Foot-washing of selected persons
4. Liturgy of the Eucharist
5. Transfer of the Blessed Sacrament

On Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Three Days of celebrating the events of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the First Reading of the Scripture read this evening recalls the instructions for the Passover meal. The slaying of the lamb recalls death; but the blood of the lamb recalls life: "Life is in the blood." (See Leviticus 17:11)

The night before Jesus died (his "Exodus" or passage from this world), he celebrated a Passover meal with his disciples; he spoke of his death and of his blood "which will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sin." The wages of sin is death, but the Blood of Christ brings life. It is interesting that this Last Supper in which Jesus established our reason to celebrate the Eucharist consists of the staples of a Jewish meal and feast–bread and wine–but does not mention the lamb, essential to a Passover meal.

Was this truly a Jewish Passover which Jesus was celebrating, or was it actually the new Passover, the Christian Passover? For there is a "lamb" at this feast: the "Lamb of God," who is Jesus himself, "who takes away the sin of the world." And truly we believe that it is Jesus himself we receive in the Eucharist, the Crucified and Risen Christ. Every Eucharist is a share in and celebration of his Paschal Mystery, his dying and rising, which we do in memory of him.

The Gospel we read on Holy Thursday is taken from the Gospel according to John. The opening lines: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." (John 13:1-2) The Catechism says: "It is love ‘to the end’ that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value...He knew and loved us all when he offered his life." (Catechism #616)

This "love to the end" is the whole reason the Son of God "became flesh and dwelt among us," (John 1:14) Viktor Frankl wrote, "Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire....The salvation of man is through love and in love." When we recall that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), this statement takes on a deeply Christian meaning. Everything in the Paschal Triduum is about love because it celebrates Christ’s love in his Dying and Rising.

The Mandatum (Foot-washing)

Artist: Ford Maddox Brown

Distinctive to this evening’s celebration is the Foot-washing, called the Mandatum (Latin for "commandment"). Jesus accompanied the washing of his disciple’s feet, the posture of a servant, with his New Commandment to love one another as he loved us (see John 13:34). The Church selects this Gospel passage to emphasize on Holy Thursday’s Celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the establishment of the Eucharist as a perpetual celebration.

On Holy Thursday we recall the foot-washing which Jesus performed at the last Supper. At this Last Supper, Jesus "instituted" the Eucharist and with it the ministerial priesthood. Pope John Paul II wrote about the significance of the Foot-washing:

"In the washing of feet Jesus reveals the depth of God's love for humanity: in Jesus, God places himself at the service of human beings! At the same time, he reveals the meaning of the Christian life and, even more, of the consecrated life, which is a life of self-giving love, of practical and generous service... its commitment [is] to following the Son of Man, who ‘came not to be served but to serve’" (Matthew 20:28).

Pope Francis performed the Mandatum in Rome last year at a juvenile prison:

 

After Communion on Holy Thursday, the Blessed Sacramnet, enough for Communion for the Service of the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday, is solemnly carried to an altar of repose and is adored until midnight.

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                                         Section III: Christ the Paschal Lamb is Slain (For Good Friday)

 

Order of Liturgy:

 

1. Liturgy of the Word

2. Veneration of the Cross
3. Communion

The Sacrifice of Christ began to be accomplished on the day following his Last Supper. This Day we now call Good Friday. Holy Thursday and Good Friday are united as one day. The Passover lamb is recalled in the First Reading on Good Friday: "Like a lamb led to the slaughter...he was silent and opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7; you may wish to read Isaiah 53 to prepare today)

The love of Christ for us is a sacrificial love, a love where he gives his life for us. Sin is the refusal to love and give as God loves us. But on the Cross, God showed us the love that overcomes sin and God wants us to share in this love. The Resurrection demonstrates that this "love to the end" is a "a love without end," conquering sin and death. Thus this Friday is "Good."

The death of Christ is his Passover; his passing through suffering and death, out of love for us that we may follow him. Again recall the opening verse quoted on Holy Thursday: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." (John 13:1-2)

If we follow Christ, we must take up his Cross and follow him. We must pass through unavoidable suffering also in this life. But his suffering for us on the Cross is a suffering also with us. Jesus goes with us in our passages of suffering. We remember that suffering is a passage, not a permanent state. He has passed through this suffering and death ahead of us and we believe that we will follow him into his Resurrection. So we pass over with him from death to life: this is the pattern of our life in Christ. We remember that there is no Cross without the Resurrection.

The Jewish Passover recalled the suffering the People of God endured in Egypt. But in a passage that has given hope to generations of the Jewish People who have suffered much throughout history, the Scripture says: "But the Lord said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry...so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them.’" (Exodus 3:7-8)

So Jesus hears us and "knows well what we suffer." We read on Good Friday this Scripture: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...so let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy in time of help" (Hebrews 4:15)

Veneration of the Cross

At the principal celebration of this day, the Veneration of the Cross, the large wood cross is brought into the church and each participant at the Liturgy is invited to come forward to venerate the Cross. It is an opportunity "to connect" with the Cross of Christ and the sacrificial love which the Cross represents.
 

"Behold the wood of the Cross

on which hung the salvation of the world.
Response: Come, let us adore."
(From Showing of the Holy Cross)

Reflect upon the Instructions given for the veneration of the Cross:

We are about to venerate the Cross.

What we do is through signs of veneration express our embrace of the sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated on the Cross for us.

The Cross reminds us that this love which serves [the message of Holy Thursday] can often lead us into places of suffering. That is the challenge of the Cross. But we go to such places to stand with others who suffer, as Mary stood at the foot of her Son’s Cross.

The comfort of the Cross is that God’s love reaches us even in our darkest moments of suffering, and he is with us in our trials and struggles.

We recall, too, the resurrection of Christ, God’s Word to us that this sacrificial love will never end, never be ultimately defeated, even by death.

So we venerate the cross. You may venerate the Cross in the manner most meaningful to you.

You may genuflect or bow to the Cross.

You may wish to touch the Cross and bless yourself.

You may wish to kiss the arms of the Cross,

or kneel down and kiss the foot of the wood of the Cross.

Whatever for you is a sign of your acceptance and reverence of this Cross and Resurrection of Christ.

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Christ in the Tomb Jean-Jacques Henner

                                              Section III: The Passing of Holy Saturday

 

The dead body of Christ was put into a tomb on Good Friday. The Sabbath followed, a Day of Rest, the Second Day, Holy Saturday.

On the Second Day of the Triduum, Holy Saturday, there is no Liturgy celebrated except Morning Prayer. This Day is the Second Day that Christ is in the Tomb. It is a Day of Sorrow, but also a Day of Watching and Waiting.

We must take seriously the fact that Christ died and was buried. Yet, mysteriously, he was passing through death to come to the Resurrection. One of the great Orthodox Christian Easter acclamations cries out to Christ: "You have trampled down death by death," meaning the death of Christ ends our death, ultimate death is no more!

Fr. Andy Alexander writes:

"Death is our ultimate fear. Everything else we fear, every struggle we have, is some taste of, some chilling approach to, the experience of losing our life. This fear is responsible for so much of our lust and greed, so much of our denial and arrogance, so much of our silly clinging to power, so much of our hectic and anxiety-driven activity. It is the one, inevitable reality we all will face. There is not enough time, money, joy, fulfillment, success. Our physical beauty and strength, our mental competency and agility, all that we have and use to define ourselves, slip away from us with time. Our lives are limited. Our existence is coming to an end. We will all die. In a matter of time, all that will be left of any of us is a decomposing body.

"Today [Holy Saturday] is a day to soberly put aside the blinders we have about the mystery of death and our fear of it. Death is very real and its approach holds great power in our lives. The "good news" we are about to celebrate [the Resurrection] has no real power in our lives unless we have faced the reality of death. To contemplate Jesus' body, there in that tomb, is to look our death in the face."

For this reason one might visit a cemetery on this Day and prayerfully walk around. We pray for the dead; but we must also die to sin and selfishness in Christ’s Passover Mystery.

 

This Day also recalls Christ’s descent into Hell, meaning Hades, the state of death before Christ came to suffer, die and rise for us. Fr. Ron Rohlheiser writes:

 

"One version of our creed tells us that Jesus "descended into hell", What does this mean?

"We are not always sure. There are various traditions as to its meaning: In one version, perhaps the most common, the idea is that the sin of Adam and Eve closed the gates of heaven and they remained sealed until the death of Jesus. Jesus’ death opened them and Jesus, himself, in the time between his death and resurrection, descended into hell (Sheol, the Underworld) where all the souls who had died since the time of Adam somehow rested. He took them all to heaven. His ‘descending into hell’, in this version of things, refers to his going into the underworld after his death to rescue those souls.

"But there is another understanding. It suggests that Jesus’ descent into hell refers especially to the manner of his death, to the depth of chaos and darkness he had to endure there, and to how the depth of love, trust, and forgiveness he revealed inside that darkness manifests a love that can penetrate into any hell that can be created." (Citation HERE)

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                                                                     Section V: The Paschal Vigil
                                                              (For the Night before Easter Sunday)                              
                                                                         & Easter Sunday

 

Order of Liturgy:                                                               

1. Light Service

2. Exultet
3. Liturgy of the Word
4. Baptism & Confirmation
5. Renewal of Baptism Promises
6. Liturgy of the Eucharist

The story of our Christian Passover culminates on the Third Day, the night of Holy Saturday as the Easter Vigil, which precedes Easter Sunday. Again, elements of the Exodus story are recalled and woven into the Easter Vigil. The Vigil begins with the lighting of the Paschal Candle which represents Christ our Light. This large Candle is brought into the darkened church. When Israel passed out of Egypt, a Pillar of Fire went before them, to illuminate their night; and a Cloud by Day.

Once the Paschal Candle is brought into the Church, and its light shared among the congregation, the Easter Song, i.e the Exultet is sung. In the Exultet we hear these words:

"These then are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

"This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

"This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin.

"This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, lending them to grace, and joining them to his holy ones.

"This is the night when Christ broke the prison-bars of death, and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.

"O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

"O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld!...

"The sanctifying power of this night dispels all wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty."

On this night, then, we listen to how God out of love created the world and us, declaring all creation as good. (But sin and death entered the world.) We hear of the Exodus. We hear the promise made to the Prophet Ezekiel that God will give us a new heart and cleanse us from all sin. We hear St. Paul tell the Romans that we are baptized into the death and Resurrection of Christ. And then we proclaim the Gospel that Christ is Risen! Alleluia sounds again!

 

 

The Church baptizes on this night those adults prepared for this moment. By witnessing their Baptism, we recall our own, and renew the promises of our Baptism, renouncing sin, "so as to live in the freedom of God’s children."

Again the liberation by God is recalled. In the Blessing of the waters for Baptism we hear strains of the Exodus once more:

"O God, [You] caused the children of Abraham

to pass dry-shod through the Red Sea,
so that the chosen people
set free from slavery to Pharaoh,would prefigure the people of the baptized.."

Truly the Holy Spirit comes upon these waters: the First Reading speaks of the Spirit hovering over the primordial waters of creation. In the waters of Baptism, we pass from sin and slavery to Risen life and freedom: in our Second Reading we hear about this passage of the Exodus. In these waters the Holy Spirit is given to us: in our Third Reading we hear how we will be given a new Spirit and a new heart (and this heart is the Heart of Christ!).

After any Baptisms of adults or youth are celebrated, we then renew our own Baptism identity and promises. It is the remembrance that we have been immersed into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, his Dying and Rising, and that this is the mystery of God’s sacrificial love to be released in our lives.

Afterward, we then proceed to celebrate the Easter Eucharist, the celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. And it is the Risen Christ who comes to us in every Eucharist, to save us As one of the Eucharist Prayer proclaims: He is "our Passover and our surest peace."

Icon of the Resurrection
from the base of Holy Faith Paschal Candle Stand
(The Risen Jesus rises Adam and Eve from the Dead)

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