Tag: Lent
Triduum – The Sacred Days
The Triduum is known as the summit of the liturgical year. The USCCB gives us this definition:
The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season, and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.
The Triduum includes the following three liturgical services: Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Service on Good Friday, and the Mass of the Lord’s Resurrection (both Vigil and Morning Mass).
Holy Thursday morning usually includes the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the diocese where the Bishop of the diocese blesses the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of the Catechumens, and Sacred Chrism. (In case you were wondering, Sacred Chrism is one of my favorite smells in the whole world. )
Holy Week! – Prayer and Preparation
It seems almost crazy that it is already Holy Week! Lent seems to have gone by both fast and slow. It is strange to think that we have just celebrated Palm Sunday of Passion of the Lord and that the Triduum and Easter are approaching.
My Daily Roman Missal said the following about yesterday, Palm Sunday:
On this day the Church recalls the entrance of Christ the Lord
into Jerusalem to accomplish His Paschal Mystery.
This is what the entire week is about. The whole week leads up to Good Friday when Jesus dies upon the Cross for all our sins. The whole week leads up to Holy Saturday when the Church awaits the coming Resurrection. The whole week leads up to Easter Sunday and the empty tomb.
The whole week is about the accomplishment of our redemption and the salvation of the world. This week is all about the Son of God, the Word, the Logos, the Lamb, the Son of Mary, the Christ, giving His very Life for us.
February 2016 in Review
Things that Happened in February
- First of all, this is going to be a LONG post.
- Lent started which means that Easter is on the way!
- I wrote TWO discussion posts. I am thoroughly impressed with myself.
- There has been nasty stuff floating around the school I work at. I have, thankfully, not caught anything terrible yet. I, however, have been feeling a little under-the-weather.
- Speaking of weather, we have been having the weirdest winter ever! I live in Montana. We should have snow in February. Instead, all of the snow and ice has melted and we have been enjoying temperatures in the 50s and 60s! This isn’t exactly as good as it sounds since the ranchers really need the moisture from the snow in order to for the year to work out. It has been… odd.
- I finally convinced my sister to sign up with Pottermore and be sorted. (She is a Hufflepuff, in case you were curious.)
- I attended a Brew Fest with my family. It was… interesting. I cannot drink beer due to celiac and an alcohol allergy. It was thanks to that alcohol allergy that I started to go into anaphylaxis at the event. I was all, “I can’t breathe.” My dad was, “You’re fine.” I was all, “No! I really can’t breathe!” Then my dad and a family friend got me out of the crowd enough that I could recover.
- I had an amazing Religious Ed class with my students. They were extremely interested in why there are Popes, how Popes are elected, and the Popemobile (which they didn’t believe was a real thing until I showed them pictures).
- I’m slowly learning to let God take over since things have been… interesting lately.
- On the note about God, I am in the process of applying for acceptance into a Masters in Theology program. (Yes, this is a different program than my other Masters work and the previous credits will mean zero. *sigh*)
- My favorite book of the month (non-reread) was Raelia which left me completely broken and (almost) sobbing on the floor. AMAZING!
- My favorite reread of the month was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I love this entire series, obviously, and could definitely use a time-turner.
Lent is Almost Here! – My 2016 Lenten Sacrifices
It is crazy to think that it is almost time for Lent to start. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday already! What has happened to this year! Anyway, I want to share my Lenten Sacrifices, the things I am going to give up during Lent to grow closer to Christ. Some people may be going, “Why give anything up? That sounds ridiculous.” Well, I give up something so that I can deny myself and grow deeper in my love for Christ. Here is what EWTN says on the topic:
By denying ourselves something we enjoy, we discipline our wills so that we are not slaves to our pleasures. … By disciplining the will to refuse pleasures when they are not sinful, a habit is developed which allows the will to refuse pleasures when they are sinful. There are few better ways to keep one’s priorities straight than by periodically denying ourselves things of lesser priority to show us that they are not necessary and focus our attention on what is necessary.