March 24, 2005

Starting with the evening of Holy Thursday, we enter into the holiest time of the liturgical year, the Holy Triduum of the Paschal Mystery. Following are some of the most beautiful words, about the meaning of this special time, penned by our Holy Father:

"At every celebration of the Eucharist, we are spiritually brought back to the paschal Triduum: to the events of the evening of Holy Thursday, to the Last Supper and to what followed it. The institution of the Eucharist sacramentally anticipated the events which were about to take place, beginning with the agony in Gethsemene... Every priest who celebrates Holy Mass, together with the Christian community which takes part in it, is led back in spirit to that place and that hour... [The Church's] foundation and wellspring is the whole Triduum Paschale, but this is as it were gathered, foreshadowed, and "concentrated" for ever in the gift of the Eucharist. In this gift, Jesus Christ entrusted to His Church the perennial making present of the paschal mystery. With it He brought about a mysterious "oneness in time" between that Triduum and the passage of the centuries. The thought of this leads us to profound amazement and gratitude..." (Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 3, 4, 5)

We are literally, really, truly, mysteriously and sacramentally present - through the sacred Liturgy of the Church - at the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were you there when they crucified my Lord... rolled the stone away? Yes, we are.

God bless you. Let us pray for each other.

Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR
Vocations Director, residing at St. Joseph Friary in Harlem

________________________________________________________________________________

Go To Page 2

FastCounter by bCentral