(COLUMNIST’S NOTE: The following column touches upon the Easter Triduum which is a tradition of the Catholic Church and considered the holiest time of the liturgical calendar. But it is for all denominations as well because its primary focus is on Christ’s redeeming love for us all.)
We’re all longing, in the deepest recesses of our hearts, to be loved with great tenderness, sensitivity, compassion and understanding. Many of us, however, are not aware of this longing. We may sense a deep ache, but can’t really identify it. And, we don’t know where to go or what to do to remedy it.
Surely we may try many things to fill the seemingly endless void, but to no avail.
Well, there is good news for us all. And this good news is what this whole Easter Triduum is about – where we celebrate the Pascal Mystery of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, and what it means in our own personal lives.
How many of us really tap into the graces available to us during these holiest days of the year (and beyond)? How many of us REALLY take to heart what Christ has done for us personally?
Christ came into the world, taking on human form, entering into the deep ache of our human hearts in order to heal and redeem our aches with His Divine presence, grace and love. He alone can fill the void of love we all have.
Jesus is alive and in our midst and He’s holding out His heart to us – burning with Divine Love. And, as we receive His heart of love into our own, our ache and hunger for love is sated.
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and oh, how I wish it were already blazing,” He tells us in Lk 12:49.
May we all have the grace to enter into these Triduum days, which for Catholics begins Thursday evening. In this Holy Thursday celebration, we remember when Jesus gives Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist and establishes the holy priesthood. Literally, for Catholics, Jesus is handing out His heart to us in Holy Communion to receive Him. Are we disposed to His presence, grace and love (certainly a good confession helps us to rightly prepare)? Mary, Jesus’ Mother, is a model for us in opening our hearts as receptive “brides” to our Divine Eucharistic Bridegroom.
On Good Friday we are called to unite with Mary, St. John the Beloved and Mary Magdalene as we enter into the passion and death of Jesus – recognizing that it is by His wounds that WE are healed. Let us go to Calvary with all that we are and bear our hearts and lives to Jesus, allowing His Precious Blood to fall upon us, and permeate us, that we may truly become “a new creation.” Let us also love and thank Jesus as He suffers for love of us, and kiss His sacred wounds from which flow His precious, redeeming blood. Oh how the evil one hates this “blood of the Lamb”, especially as we put it on the doorposts of our Hearts. For then he has no power over us (cf Exodus 12).
Holy Saturday is a time to rest with Mary as we reflect still more on Jesus’ great act of love for us. This is a day also to reflect on Mary’s role in our lives as our spiritual mother, given to us by Jesus before dying on the cross (Jn 19:27). Jesus gave her to us because He’s a “jealous God” and wants her to teach us how to receive His love and love Him in return with our “whole hearts” as she did so perfectly.
And in the evening begins the Easter Vigil where we begin the celebration of Jesus’ glorious Resurrection, and redemption in our lives. Because, “He has taken us out of darkness and into His wondrous light” (1Pet2:9)… and, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1Cor 15:56). Through His suffering and death, Jesus opens up the gates of Heaven to us and invites us to live in the Father’s Kingdom as His children, even while here on earth.
May we all have the grace this Easter Triduum to encounter our risen Lord in a very personal way, for His heart is on fire with an all-consuming love for each of us in a way that we cannot even begin to imagine in this life. He is the perfect lover who longs for us to be open and receptive to His love; this is why He suffered so greatly in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the point of sweating His Precious Blood – because His love was not received or loved in return. (This is why He cried over Jerusalem as well.) Jesus is alive and in our midst, and “blessed are those who do not see but believe!” (Jn 20:29)
“Jesus we love you! We thank you for loving us so greatly to the point of dying on the cross! Give us the grace to receive your love ever-more deeply into our hearts!”
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