Why you should personally invite your liturgical ministers for the Triduum

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

It’s less than four weeks to Lent, but don’t let that distract you from your long-term advance planning of this year’s Triduum because what you do during Lent can become part of your Triduum preparation.

For example, now is the time to hand-pick the liturgical ministers who will serve at the Triduum. Don’t just leave a sign-up sheet in the sacristy for the most important liturgies of the year! Instead, choose from your best altar servers, lectors, psalmists, greeters, ushers, and Communion ministers. You could invite the parish staff, parishioners, and other liturgical ministers to discern who among the parish ministers has shown excellence in their work, commitment to the parish, and humility in their service.

Let your invitation to serve at the highpoint of the liturgical year be a public affirmation of what your parish expects of all its liturgical ministers. (If you’re having trouble finding enough excellent ministers for the Triduum, that’s your wake-up call to do more ongoing formation and evaluation throughout the year.)

Then invite your chosen ministers to use the Lenten season to prepare spiritually and practice together. Gather with them as a group to do faith sharing on the Triduum readings and to deepen their understanding of the rich treasure of rites we celebrate during those three days. Invite them to pray especially for the catechumens who will celebrate the sacraments that Easter.

This post was first published in “GIA Quarterly: A Liturgical Music Journal.”

Image credit: Frantisek Duris, unsplash, CC0.