Dear Family and Friends,
Have you ever noticed the profound silence in nature on Good Friday afternoon?
When I go outside after the 3pm Veneration of the Cross and Liturgy of the Presanctified, the feeling is real… that all creation knows exactly what is happening liturgically. It seems that the darkness really has overcome the light. The Lord of creation is taken lifeless down from the cross.
Have you noticed the emptiness you feel in Church on Holy Saturday?
The place where we celebrate the Easter mysteries every Sunday is now hollow and echoing, only the silent prayer before the tomb.
Again, you can feel it! The Lord is gone. The tabernacle open and empty. The sanctuary light extinguished…but not for long.
When we participate in the Sacred Triduum, we experience the same gamut of emotions that the disciples experienced: The intimacy of Holy Thursday where the Lord calls us His friends, gives us the Sacrament of Love, and pleads with the Father that we may all be one. On Good Friday and throughout Holy Saturday our one cause of unity seems to be gone. Yet, if we keep watch at the tomb long enough we see, at the Paschal Vigil, that the light shatters the darkness.
At the moment when it seems the darkest, our eyes are drawn to a singular light. The waters are stirred. Those who once sat in darkness now stand clothed with Christ and are given new life in the waters of baptism. Through it all we are reminded, Be not afraid! Be not afraid! The darkness will not triumph! Easter Joy breaks forth like the dawn!
One of my favorite parts of the rite of baptism is tracing the cross on the forehead of each candidate. It is a gentle reassurance that we Christians do not fear the darkness. Anxiety and despair have no place in our lives. G.K. Chesterton beautifully put it, “men signed with the cross of Christ, cheerfully walk through the darkness.” Cheerfully, because, so long as we follow after the Light of the Risen Lord, we cannot be overcome by darkness.
So, we are able to heed the words of St. Paul -- rejoice and be glad! For indeed “Christ is risen!” Seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on Earth.” Truly the Risen Lord says to each and every one of us, “come follow me, I am going before you.” It is a recognition and a re-confirmation that without the Good Fridays in our lives there would be no Easter Sunday.
All of the priests and brothers of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius pray you have a grace filled Holy Week. May our Risen Lord bless each of you abundantly in the fifty days of Paschal joy that follow.
In the Risen Lord,
Fr. David
Holy Week and Easter Schedule 2024
Holy Week and Easter Schedule 2024 “In Holy Week we participate in the most sublime drama of religious history.” —Fr. Pius Parsch