The Apex of all Liturgy
Before the feast of 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.
In the Easter Triduum, the Holy Church makes us relive the most sublime moments of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the most august mysteries of our faith, the most intense clashes between Light and darkness.
With this in mind, the Heralds of the Gospel helped the Franciscan Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception this Holy Week.
Maundy Thursday
With a solemn celebration of the Holy Mass, the community rejoiced in commemorating the Institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood.
Yet, the great of joy brought by the Priesthood and the Eucharist soon gives place to the sour betrayal of Judas Iscariot.
The Priest and faithful process to an Altar of Repose, thus accompanying Our Lord on His way to the Garden of Olives. Just as Our Lord’s Passion is about to begin.
“My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.”
At the end of the Maundy Thursday ceremony, a vigil of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament begins. Accompanying Our Lord in His Agony and attending to the plea He directed to the Apostles, “… keep watch with me” (Mt. 26:38).
Good Friday
On the following day, the ceremony of Good Friday takes place. Accompanying the desolation and infamous deicide, the community gathers to adore Our Lord Crucified in reparation and in thanksgiving for the most extreme act of love.
Easter Vigil
He who proclaimed himself “the Light of the world” (Jn 8:12), after having been betrayed and handed over to the Jews, lies motionless in a tomb, apparently without any power.
In the midst of this darkness, in the great “night” of history, “the Light shone in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it” (Jn 1:5). The greatest event has taken place, one of the greatest mysteries of our Faith, is revived through this Liturgy: from the shadows of death, the Risen Christ emerges shining!
The flame that the Priest shines in the Candle represents the life of the Risen Christ, who, as Head of the Church, transmits his own life to each of its members. This flame also indicates that faith in the Resurrection already shines in the whole Church.
Afterward, in procession, all go into the Church, where the ceremony embodies the radical change of the night that covered the earth to the most resplendent glory of the Resurrection.
“This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and
be glad in it” (Ps 118:24)! These are some of the considerations
that help us to understand why the Resurrection of [Our Lord]
is the Feast of feasts, the Solemnity of solemnities, for the mystery
that it contains is central to the history of Christianity, just as St.
Paul affirms: “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in
vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14).
(Taken from Msgr. João’s New Insights on the Gospel, V. 1, p.268).
