If you attend the Triduum celebration, be sure to pick up a Triduum booklet from the greeters. This booklet is user friendly and contains all of the responses of the people as well as the music for Holy Thursday, the two Good Friday services and the Easter Vigil.
According to the Roman Missal, “In the Sacred Triduum, the Church solemnly celebrates the greatest mysteries of our redemption, keeping by means of special celebrations the memorial of her Lord, crucified, buried, and risen.”
“The liturgies of these days”, according to the Ordo, “do not ‘take us back’ to the upper room or the path to Calvary. They celebrate not what once happened to Jesus but what is now happening among us as a people called to conversion, gathered in faith, and gifted with the Spirit of holiness. They celebrate God’s taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core, recreating us as a human community broken like bread for the world’s life- a community rich in compassion, steadfast in hope, and fearless in the search for justice and peace.”
On Holy Thursday, we as a Eucharistic people celebrate our sharing in this divine mystery as we partake in the body and blood of the Lord, sacrificed on the altar. As the entrance antiphon proclaims, “We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.”
Through the Word of the Gospel and the action of “washing the feet” , we are called to the service of one another, for in humbly serving one another out of love, we find God most present. The chanted antiphon from the Roman Missal states “Where true charity is dwelling, God is present there”. “Ubi Caritas est vera, Deus ibi est”. There is no Concluding Rite to this celebration which is extended with The Transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose where we, the faithful keep watch with Christ in adoration for an extended period ending here in the Cathedral with Night Prayer. Here is the music for Holy Thursday.
On Good Friday, the service begins with the ministers prostrating themselves at the foot of the altar of sacrifice and pray with the faithful for a moment of silence. At this moment we are in awe recognizing the victory Christ won by his triumph on the Cross. This service continues with the Liturgy of the Word and the Passion Narrative from the Gospel of St. John.
We pray at the Good Friday service for the church, the pope, all order and degrees of the faithful, for catechumens, for unity of Christians, for the Jewish people, for those who do not believe in Christ, for those who do not believe in God, for those in public office and for those in tribulation.
We venerate the cross while joining in song and receive Holy Communion. We depart in silence. Here is the music for Good Friday 12:00 Noon service.
http://bit.ly/2ZmdERM
“On Holy Saturday, we wait at the Lord’s tomb in prayer and fasting, meditating on his Passion and Death and on his Descent into Hell, and awaiting his Resurrection.” (The Roman Missal introduction to Holy Saturday)
At the Great Easter Vigil in the Holy Night we have the solemn beginning of the Vigil or Lucernarium, which includes the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet), proclaimed this year by Father Andrew. One section states, “Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples. The light displaces the darkness and Christ reverses the fallen state of Man.
The second part is the Liturgy of the Word where we recognized God’s work in salvation history from the creation of the world, through the Egyptians crossing the Red Sea, to the sacrifice of Abraham. The Gloria is sung with the ringing of church bells and sanctus bells. Than, we hear from The Epistle from Saint Paul to the Romans that Christ raised from the dead, dies no more.
The festive alleluia with its three stanzas ushers in the Resurrection account from the Gospel of Luke.
During the Baptismal Liturgy, the catechumens are received into the Catholic church. The Litany of the Saints is sung, baptismal promises are renewed, and once again we are sprinkled with the waters of new life and strengthened in hope. We invoke the Holy Spirit to come down on those to be confirmed in the faith.
The fourth part is the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where we become one body nourished by the power of the sacrament. The solemn blessing and the double alleluias conclude this holy Mass.
Here is the music for the Great Easter Vigil.
http://bit.ly/2XlXRAN For those attending Mass Easter Sunday, here is the music we will be singing at the cathedral.
http://bit.ly/2ZiMICz Happy Easter to all and a blessed remainder of Holy Week!