It might seem a little late in the day to be posting about the Easter Triduum and the Great Easter Vigil especially as we are coming towards the end of the Easter season, but as the saying goes better late than never.
This year the entire Easter Triduum was celebrated at St Joseph's Church. We gathered on Holy Thursday Evenig for the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Mandatum, Procession to and Watching at the Altar of Repose. During the homily we rflected on the gift of the priesthood and the Eucharist in the life of the Church. In a rather long homily (Father Donatas told me it was twenty five minutes) I challenged people to think seriously about their vocation in the life of the Church and for the need to envourage and foster vocations. As I said then, I say again 'Young men, do not leave it till I am old and past it before you consider a vocation to the priesthood.'
On Good Friday afternoon we gathered again forthe Solemn Liturgy of the Lord's Passion. This is always a very moving liturgy as we contemplate the great love our Lord had for us sinnners in willingly undergoing the agony of the Cross.
The climax of our Easter Triduum was the Great Paschal Vigil. The Easter Candle, lit from the new fire was solemnly carried into the a darkened church and the praises in honour of the Risen Christ duly sung for the frst time in the new translation.
May I take this opportunity to thank all who worked so hard in the days leading up to the Triduum, during the Triduum itsrlf and afterwards to help make this a fitting celebration of the events of our redemption. My thanks go to our altar servers who, due to the way they served the ceremonies helped, me and the congregation to pray. Music also played a big part in our Holy Week celebrations and my thanks goes Marie, our organist for playing at the entireTriduum (and putting up with my sometimes off key singing!!!).
Here are a few photos taken at the services.
No comments:
Post a Comment