Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Entering into the Paschal Mystery through the Holy Triduum

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Entering into the Paschal Mystery through the Holy Triduum

As we end Holy Week and begin to enter into the Triduum, let us remember that we do not focus exclusively on the suffering and death of Christ so as to negate the wonder and joyful life giving awe of the Resurrection. Nor do we solely focus on the Resurrection of Christ so much as to downplay or minimise the reality of the suffering Jesus underwent for our sins out of love for us, and how it killed him. This is why even after the Resurrection that He still bore his sacred wounds for us. We need to have a unified harmony of both together, this is why the Church gives us this Triduum to liturgically enter into the entire Paschal Mystery, so it becomes a reality to our own lives here and now.

Just as the Hypostatic Union harmonises the the Divine & human natures of Jesus into one person. So too the Paschal Mystery is the birth, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. This is our calling as Christians to not only understand what it is, but also to learn through grace to live it in our own lives everyday and enter into this mystical reality through the Liturgy of the Church and also participate in the graces of this dispensed and poured out for us in the Sacraments of the Church.

Through the Triduum we are about to enter, may you rediscover the reality of sin in your life and the harm it continues to cause you. But also learn to take hope that we have been liberated from this sin and are given the power to live new lives in Christ, here and now - today and every moment you are alive (1 Corinthians 5:18).

May you have a Blessed Holy Thursday and appreciate with wonder how Jesus left us a memorial of His Passion in the Eucharist, so that he is as real and present to us today as he was 2000 years ago (John 6:53, John 14:18-23). May we also pray for all priests on this memorial of the institution of the Priesthood of the New and Eternal Covenant, so that they may be renewed in their faithfulness and continue in their ministry as the stewards of the mysteries of Christ (1 Corinthians 4:1).

On Good Friday may you remember the harm and danger of sin, the destructive and corruptive power of sin that kills and destroys (1 Peter 2:24, John 10:20). This is what Jesus took upon himself, accepted willingly for love of us to save us from death that destroys (2 Timothy 1:10). Let this remembrance not be a past event, but a living moment of grace here and now of your liberation from the slavery and burden of sin, so that unite with Christ and His death - you too will enter into His Kingdom one day with Him (Luke 24:42-43, 2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 5:8-10).

Then on Easter Vigil - the Night of all nights, may you celebrate with joy and exsultation the Victory that Christ has won for us all. His defeat of sin and death and the devil now give us new life here and now, to die to sin and live in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:57). This new life that we are given to live, is now our life hidden (Colossians 3:3) in Life itself and the Author of life, the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13)- Jesus the Christ, Son of God, Our Lord and Saviour and Redeemer.

He loved us so much, and He still does (Galatians 2:20). Let us enter into the mystery of His love for us this Triduum and participate in the Paschal Mystery through the Liturgy of the Church He founded and has called us to belong to. Through the sacraments He has left us, may we encounter Jesus Crucified and Resurrected - so that taking refuge in His wounded humanity, He will transform and change us (Ephesians 4:7-10, John 7:38, 1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Let us renew in our hearts what we proclaim at Mass in the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again (1 Corinthians 11:26). Amen amen 🙏

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.