THE THREE DAYS TO SAVE 
Monday, March 30, 2009, 03:09 PM
Monday

Beloved in Thomas the Apostle:

THE THREE DAYS TO SAVE: What we do from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day…

“The Three Days, this Easter Triduum, is the center, the core of the year for Christians. What Sunday is to the week, these days are to the year. These are days to save and to savor.

“Adults in the community are invited to plan ahead so that the whole time from Thursday night until the Easter Vigil is free of social engagements, free even of work, free of entertainment, free of meals except for the simplest nourishment. We are asked to fast during Good Friday and to continue fasting, if possible, all through Holy Saturday as strictly as we can, so that we can come hungry and full of excitement to the Easter Vigil. We make Good Friday and Holy Saturday free for prayer and reflection and preparation and silence. The church is getting ready.

“Whether you are young or old, currently active in the parish or not (or lapsed), please set these days aside. All of us should know that our presence for the liturgies is not just by invitation. We are all needed here. We need this whole community together on its greatest days.

“On these three days, we gather a number of times with each other. Together we hear some of the church’s most beautiful prayers and scriptures and we make some of our finest music. Please look closely at the parish schedule and make plans to take part in the various liturgies and other gatherings of Maundy Thursday night, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Above all, come on Saturday for the Vigil.”

“Maundy Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. we enter into this Triduum together. After listening to the scriptures, we do something strange: We wash feet. Some of us go down on our knees with pitchers of water, basins and towels. Jesus gave us this image of what the church is supposed to look like, feel like, act like…

“Then we celebrate the Eucharist. The evening liturgy has no ending: Whether we stay to pray awhile or leave, we are now in the quiet and peace and glory of the Triduum.”

“Good Friday evening, again at 7:00 p.m., we gather in that same quiet and listen to scripture, including the singing of the passion from the Gospel of John. We pray at length for all the world’s needs.

“Then there is another once-a-year event: The holy cross is held up in our midst and we come forward to do reverence with a kiss or a bow or a genuflection. All the while we sing not only of sorrow but of the glory of the cross.”

“Holy Saturday night at 8:30 p.m., hungry now and full of excitement, the church gathers in the darkness and lights a new fire and a great candle that will make this night bright for us. We listen to some of the most powerful scriptures in the Bible: stories of creation, Abraham and Issac, Moses and Miriam and the crossing of the sea, poems of promise and rejoicing, the gospel of the resurrection.

“Then we pray to all our saints to stand with us and we go to the font and bless the waters… all of us renew our baptism. For us, these are the moments when death and life meet, when we reject evil and give our promises to God. All of this in the communion we call the church. Together we go to the table and celebrate the Easter Eucharist. Easter day begins and we are ready for Fifty Days of rejoicing.” –Gabe Huck

We begin all this Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. “King Jesus rides on a milk white horse. No one works like him! The river Jordan he did cross. No one works like him! My Jesus left his throne above. No one works like him! See his mercy and his love. No one works like him! Ride on, King Jesus! No one can a-hinder you. Ride on, King Jesus, ride on! No one can a-hinder you.” – African-American spiritual

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