A Letter From Our Pastor: Three Days That Will Change You

Dear Parish Family,

My favorite time of the whole year is Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday, celebrated this year on April 10. On Tuesday of Holy Week, the priests of the Diocese will celebrate the Chrism Mass at our Cathedral in Green Bay. The priests renew their promises that were made at their Ordination. The bishop also blesses the three oils that will be used throughout the year for Baptism, Confirmation, and Anointing of the Sick.

We then move into the Paschal Triduum, the three-day celebration of the Paschal Mystery. The word “triduum” means “three days” and refers to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil celebrated on Holy Saturday night. “Paschal” comes from the Hebrew word for the Passover. I love the simple yet profound rituals that allow us to enter into the mystery of Divine Love.

Holy Thursday commemorates the evening of the Last Supper. At that meal, Jesus gave His disciples the intertwined gifts of the Priesthood and the Eucharist. We become dinner guests at the Last Supper. We watch Jesus, in the person of the priest, wash His disciples’ feet. Then we process with the Eucharist into a “garden,” a prayer space where we can spiritually watch and pray with Our Lord as He undergoes His agony in the Garden.

Good Friday is marked by the absence of Christ. The altars are bare, and Mass is not celebrated. We will hold two services of the Lord’s Passion that include a reading of the Passion, the veneration of the Cross, and Communion from hosts that were consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the night before. Sts. Mary & Hyacinth will host Tenebrae, an evening service that reflects on the Seven Last Words of Christ in word and song.

Holy Saturday is marked by patient waiting. Folks inevitably try and show up for 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. Mass, but Mass on Holy Saturday is never celebrated until sundown, this year at 8:15 p.m. We begin in darkness with the lighting of the Easter fire and the chanting of the Exsultet, an ancient hymn of praise to God. We listen in the darkness to the words of the Old Testament, then sing the Gloria finally as we proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection. We renew our Baptismal promises and are blessed with Easter Holy Water. Those who are entering the church will make a profession of faith and receive Confirmation and First Communion. It is a glorious, blessed, and grace-filled participation in Jesus’ Resurrection.

You can, of course, just come for Easter Sunday Mass. But I promise you that you will find the three-day celebration to be a profoundly rich experience. I promise that if you come each day for all three days, you will be changed by the experience. I have so experienced the transforming power of these grace-filled days that I get emotional just thinking about it. May you experience new life in Christ this Easter season.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Joel Sember, Pastor

Fr. Joel Sember, Pastor