What is the Easter Triduum?

The Triduum is the three-day celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil/Easter Sunday. The Church meets at times during those three days to remember what it is that Jesus has done for us. Lent often overshadows the Triduum, but the documents from Vatican Council II tell us: "Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life. Therefore the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year.

The term Triduum means "three days." The three days are counted as the Hebrews counted their days, from dusk to dusk. Therefore, the three days of the Easter Triduum are from dusk on Holy Thursday to dusk on Good Friday (day one), dusk on Good Friday to dusk on Holy Saturday (day two), and dusk on Holy Saturday to dusk on Easter Sunday (day three). Each of those days "tells" a different part of the story of Jesus' saving action.

“Maundy” or Holy Thursday

The name Maundy Thursday derives from a key-point in Jesus’ ‘farewell discourses:’ “a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another” (Jn 13:34). Mandatum, the Latin word for commandment – became the English ‘maundy,’ which lent its name to our commemoration of the washing of His disciples feet by Jesus as well as the Institution of the Eucharist. Before the Eucharist is celebrated, the priest divests himself of his robes, and girding himself with an apron, washes the feet of his brother priests in remembrance of the divine mandatum to love one another as Christ has loved us. After the celebration of the Eucharist, the altar is stripped bare, and the remaining consecrated hosts are taken to an Altar of Repose, were we keep watch in silent adoration, in remembrance of the watchful hours of pain and agony Christ held in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest at dawn.

Good Friday

Good Friday is the solemn remembrance of the Crucifixion of Christ. It is a solemn day of fasting (1 full meal, 2 partial meals) abstinence from meat, and penance. The Good Friday service consists of three key elements: the scripture readings and prayers that remind us of the passion of Christ with the chanting of the Passion according to St. John; the Veneration of the Cross, and the reception of Holy Communion from the Hosts consecrated the night before.

Holy Saturday

On Holy Saturday, we commemorate the resting of Christ in the tomb, without any formal service as we await His Resurrection.

The Great Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil Mass is considered the most important liturgy in the Church. It begins with the Service of Light, in which fire is blessed, from which the Paschal Candle is lit and carried in procession through the darkened Church. The Exultet is sung, extolling the power of Christ’s Resurrection to transform our darkened world. Next, salvation history is recalled through the solemn reading of Scripture. After the Gospel and homily, the Sacraments of Initiation are given to those who have been preparing to enter into the fullness of the faith. First, the baptisms, and then the confirmations. Then, the solemn Eucharist of Easter is celebrated. It is truly a joy-filled event.

Mortal and Venial Sin: Sin is an offence against God as well as a fault against reason, truth, and right conscience; It is a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God. The Church distinguishes between mortal and venial sin. Mortal sin is a grave infraction of the law of God that destroys the divine life in the soul, constituting a turning away from God, which must be confessed before receiving any other sacrament. For a sin to be mortal, 3 conditions must be present: grave matter, full knowledge of the evil of the act, and full consent of the will. Venial sin does not destroy the divine life in the soul, though it diminishes and wounds it. Venial sin is the failure to observe necessary moderation, in lesser matters of the moral law, or in grave matters acting with out full knowledge or complete consent. See the Catechism (# 1849-1876): http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt1art8.htm