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Remembering Holy Week
March 28, 2010 ~ Posted by Deacon Kevin
Tonight at Keysis we talked about remembering… remembering our past and making it present in the here and now. This is especially true of the days ahead during this Holy Week… the “three days” known as the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Saturday night.
We gather as the people of God during these days of liturgy and prayer and ritual actions to remember the saving act of Christ, the miracle of his resurrection and to celebrate our faith and identity as Christians. All serve to remind us of who we are in and through Christ. Over the course of three days we take the time to recall and experience from our past that which makes us who we are as Catholic Christians.
For Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we talked about the reception of the Holy Oils by our entire faith community – because we received salvation as a community. The washing of the feet of the disciples, Our Lord’s example and mandate – sign and symbol of the service to which we are all called. We remember the institution of the Eucharist by Our Lord at the Last Supper.
For Good Friday we spoke of the Cross – the means of our salvation. God’s love is so powerful that not even death can defeat it. We honor and venerate the cross as a means of our new life.
At the Easter Vigil we light the new Easter Fire and from that the Paschal Candle reminding us that Jesus is our light in the darkness. We proclaim that Christ is Risen and his resurrection provides light and new life!
The blessing of the Easter Water is a symbol of the new life of Christ’s resurrection and of our baptism. We renew our Baptismal Promises and rejoice that the power of sin and death can never overcome those washed in the waters of baptism that flow from Christ.
We gather as family to re-tell the wondrous stories of our salvation and draw strength as we remember. The Scriptures we hear proclaimed help us relive and celebrate the entire course of salvation history. As the Easter Vigil Liturgy continues we are strengthened with the spiritual food of Christ’s Body and Blood through the Holy Eucharist.
There can be no Resurrection without Death – no empty tomb without the cross of Calvary. We closed the evening with praying and walking the Stations of the Cross by candlelight, taking turns carrying the cross, praying… and remembering.
