How to unite the Triduum (in the minds of your parishioners)

How to unite the Triduum (in the minds of your parishioners)

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

It feels far away, but today marks ten weeks to Holy Week. If you haven’t already, now is the time to prepare for the Triduum. For the next several weeks, let’s look at a few major liturgical elements you’ll want to prepare your ministers and assembly for so that your Triduum can be even better than it was last year.

Plan to communicate that the Triduum is one celebration—one event, Christ’s paschal mystery—spanning three days. When we treat each day of the Triduum as separate days and disjointed liturgical moments, we miss helping our assemblies experience the fullness of Christ’s love for us. Some may even simply choose their favorite day to go to and miss the rest of the story!

When we treat each day of the Triduum as separate days and disjointed liturgical moments, we miss helping our assemblies experience the fullness of Christ’s love for us. Click To Tweet

You can catechize that the Triduum is one event by preparing one integrated worship aid that includes all the music and text needed from Holy Thursday all the way to the end of Easter Sunday. Even if a person attends only one of the days, the worship aid lets them know they may be missing out on something bigger.

Also, be sure the pastor is the presider at the principle liturgy of each of the days. His ritual leadership for these most important liturgies of the year reflects the unity of the parish and creates a sense of one progressive liturgical event building over the three days.

 
This post was first published in “GIA Quarterly: A Liturgical Music Journal.”
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Image credit: Yeo Khee, unsplash, CC0.

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