Spiritual Toolbox:The Triduum

Agony in the Garden, El Greco

This evening's Holy Thursday Mass marks the beginning of the shortest season on the Catholic Liturgical Calendar - The Triduum and the end of Lent. The term literally means "three days" and refers to the the three days of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. The main lesson we can draw about this season is that we should experience it in its the totality. I recently wrote in a post on holiness, in which I argued that God provides us with all the tools necessary to answer the call to be holy. One of those tools is the liturgy. I cannot think of a richer liturgy than that celebrated on the three days of the Triduum.

Perhaps, like me, you found yourself lacking this Lenten season. Maybe you failed to practice all the good intentions of more prayer, daily Mass, or some other spiritual exercise. While all those practices are all important to our spiritual growth, we can still realign ourselves through the liturgy of the Triduum. I haven't done all the research, but I suspect we can find a complete synthesis of Christ's entire teaching in the liturgy of these three days.

Make a commitment to yourself and to your family to attend Holy Thursday Mass, the Good Friday service (it's the only day of the year we don't celebrate Mass) and Easter. If you can make it I recommend you attend the Easter Vigil (more on that later).

Here are some additional resources on the Triduum:

Pope Benedict XVI's Address, EWTN News

Father Robert Barron, Word on Fire

I still think Father Corapi's Triduum talks on EWTN were some of the best on the subject. While he may no longer be in public ministry, that does not undermine the truth of what he taught. The talks used to appear on EWTN's audio library. If you do an Internet search, the talks can still be located.