Memories

I love Triduum - the holy days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. Perhaps they mean so much to because I didn't really discover them until I was an adult returning to the Church after a 10+ year "vacation" from organized religion.

Growing up, Easter Sunday was the big day. The Easter Bunny would come. We'd have a big family breakfast. My Dad would buy my mom and his daughter's corsages. We'd all dress up in our Easter best and take a family picture outside in the front yard. Then we'd go to Church. Easter was a special time in my family, although I have no memories of Holy Thursday or Good Friday, aside from what we did at Catholic School on those days.

So, when I tentatively returned to the Church as a 27 year old and discovered this fabulous 3 day long prayer/ritual fest .... I was surprised. But happily so. It helped I think that my Paulist Parish really pulled out all the stops. There is something about ritual being done well which helps us to get into the sacred space - both physically and spiritually.

But I think that I most love Triduum because it was after spending most of 72 hours at Church in 2004 - washing feet at Holy Thursday as a member of the Pastoral Council, being one of the leaders of the Walk of the Cross and helping to hold the cross at our Good Friday service, helping to decorate the church on Saturday morning, ushering at the Easter Vigil which involved some very moving (and some very funny) moments, staying until 2am to clean up after the Easter Vigil (again, the funny moments - read a 2006 trip down memory lane post if you're curious, but really you just had to be there), and then heading back to Church Easter Sunday - that I realized how important my faith was to me. I'd become a super church geek, and that was totally ok. More than that, I started to have hints that maybe God was calling me to something more. And, most amazingly enough, it didn't take me too much longer to figure out what that was.

This year I'm here at St. Mary-on-the-Lake for Triduum. I gave the reflection at our Holy Thursday service. I went on a Walk of the Cross for the Homeless Good Friday afternoon and got back in time for our services here, which were quite moving. This afternoon I helped to decorate the Chapel. And I'm looking forward to Easter Vigil services tonight and then Easter Sunday liturgy tomorrow morning. Then we're having a big Easter Dinner. The best part is being able to spend these days with my Sisters. I'm still on the journey, but in some ways I've come full circle. Which I think is probably the point of our liturgical year, if you come to think of it!

Have a very happy Easter everyone!