By Maxine Kaiser Special to the Intermountain Catholic By the time this issue of the Intermountain Catholic goes to press, the Church will be moving from the Lenten season into the most important days of the entire liturgical year, the Easter Triduum. Triduum (meaning three days) celebrates the heart of our Christian faith, the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, whose passion, death and resurrection brought salvation to the world. It is one unified feast that extends over three days, beginning with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, continuing with the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, reaching its high point in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, and concluding with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. The Triduum liturgy is not meant to be a reenactment or dramatization of the past. Rather it is an opportunity for us to enter more fully into the actual event of Christ’s living, dying, and rising NOW – in our own lives and in that of our families, our communities, and our world. It is during the annual Triduum liturgy that we are immersed ritually into the great saving event of Christ’s life, death and resurrection as we welcome new Christians into the depth of this experience through baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist and we renew our own baptismal commitment. Throughout it all we "glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through him we are saved and made free." (Gal. 6:14) Our joy rings out in Alleluia song beginning at the Paschal Vigil and throughout Easter Sunday. But the profound depth of the Easter event cannot be fully grasped in just three days. It takes time for moments of deep festivity to run their course. Therefore the Easter feast goes on for another 50 days, culminating in the Solemnity of Pentecost. This gives us time to reflect on the richness of the mystery of the Paschal Triduum, allowing it to unfold within us as we reflect on the Scriptures of these festive days and rejoice in the marvelous deeds that God has done and is doing in the new members who were baptized at Easter Vigil and in each of us. Eastertime is the oldest season of the liturgical year. In the early Church the season as a whole was known as Pentecost (from the Greek word Pentekoste, meaning 50). It was celebrated as one comprehensive feast of the paschal victory of the Lord Jesus Christ: his resurrection, ascension, gift of the Spirit and the birth of the Church, all understood together as different aspects of the same mystery. Tertullian referred to the Fifty Days as a whole as "the Pentecost," describing this span of time as a "space" in which one can experience the expansiveness, freedom, and boundlessness of resurrected life. Easter is a foretaste of heaven, an anticipation of the Kingdom. It is a time of joy, an Alleluia time. St. Augustine called Christians an Easter people. He said, "We are an Alleluia people and Alleluia is our song." And also "Alleluia is their food, their drink, their joy, even unto eternity." He saw the 50 days as "joyful days that point to a future life when we are destined to reign with the Lord." It is a time for feasting, feasting especially on the Eucharist. It is not a time for fasting. In fact in the early Church fasting was forbidden during the Easter season, as was kneeling for prayer because standing was considered the posture of resurrection. The 50 days of Easter are a "space" filled with the presence of the risen Christ, who shows himself over and over to us, his Church, as he manifested himself to the apostles. It is important for us to see the Easter event not only as something that happened long ago but also as an ongoing reality that is very present NOW in our own lives as Christians. Just as it was with the apostles, everywhere we turn, there is his Spirit outpoured, shaping the new creation. We know from the Scriptures that his disciples did not always recognize him. The challenge for us is to recognize the Spirit in our daily lives. Ascension is not a departure, but rather a promise that the Lord will return. He goes to prepare a place for us. It is therefore a feast of great joy and an integral part of the Easter event. Pentecost is Easter’s fulfillment. It completes Easter and celebrates the beginning of the Church. It is through our participation in the Paschal mystery that we are empowered with the spirit of the risen Jesus and transformed into a new creation commissioned to carry on the work of Christ in the world. The whole Pentecost is a kind of gathering in of God’s people by God himself, a fashioning of the members into the body of the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. These 50 days are the Lord’s gift, his invitation and his grace. Happy Easter! Happy Eastertime! Maxine Kaiser is a former director of liturgy for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.
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