Easter is a Triduum of love in the person of Jesus Christ. The mystery of the Jewish Passover is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, his passion, death and resurrection. Through his sacrifice of love, Jesus brings us salvation and passage into heaven.
Holy Thursday seen as the institution of the priesthood and the eucharist comes with the words “Do this!” Good Friday, the only day without the celebration of the Mass is the paradox of being “Good” when at the same time the Lord is being crucified and proclaims on the cross “It is finished!” Holy Saturday is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” from darkness to light with the lighting of the Easter candle, a sign of the Lord’s resurrection and the conquering of death concluding with Easter Sunday. Thus, Easter is not a day or a moment but a living out of life through a process of love that begins with a command “Do this!” and so by doing it we enter into the life of Christ, his sacrifice, death, and resurrection.
“Do this!” Jesus command to his disciples to follow “the way”, his way before his death was to take his high priesthood as son of God and bestow it to his disciples. It is the call to his royal priesthood. This was not a public proclamation but a solemn event to those he called to be his disciples in order to give them a mandate of love through an act of charity by washing their feet. This was “the way” of continuing to multiply the “loaves” of bread to feed his sheep and tend to his sheep through his body and blood in the Eucharist. Jesus taught publicly many lessons but he reserved to these disciples a call to a life apart, a sacramental life, and a sacrificial life for the stranger making disciples of all nations.
How is it that on a day when “sin” tries to claim its victory over God in the crucifixion of Jesus we recall it as a “Good Friday”? Is there anything more of a paradox in life than to see Jesus crucified and call it “good”? It is good that Jesus remained obedient to the Father through all his suffering even till death on a cross. It is good that “it is finished” in bringing us the final victory over sin and death so that at the name of Jesus sin and death can have no power over us. “Death, where is your sting?” It is good that we never forget this day in the life of faith so we may endure our own suffering knowing grace and patience until the day of our deliverance. Yes, it is good to recall “God doesn’t give us what we can handle, God helps us handle what we are given” by our “cries and supplications” and by his grace to the God of deliverance.
Exult for we have come from darkness to light, from death to life, and from sin to holiness. Exult for the history of salvation is revealed to us in order to give us wisdom and understanding of the mysteries of faith. Exult because now is the time of deliverance from the power of evil from the days of Adam and Eve to a new creation in Jesus Christ. Let us exult for we now are transformed into the creation of the temple God longs to live in when we surrender into the waters of our baptism to rise again as he did from the darkness of death. This is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” to rise again from our darkness.
Rejoice children of God in Easter Sunday as the temple is raised again as promised in three days. Rejoice because in rising from the dead he appeared to his disciples with a new command to forgive sins with the power of the Holy Spirit that is to come into them. Rejoice children of God for our Shepherd is with us as we listen for his voice. From the day of birth of mother church in the institution of the priesthood to the rising of the Son of God we rejoice for we are not alone, never abandoned nor forsaken by the Lord who suffered his passion in order to remain with us until the end of time.
Easter, a Triduum of love has been called the “silent times” in which we have offered our sacrifice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during our Lenten season in order to experience the resurrection of the Lord in our own mind, body, and spirit. In these silent times God speaks and his words are both universal to the world as they come also to each of us to say, “Do this for love of me.” In the quiet of our hearts, we now come to Lord to receive his glory and to celebrate our own victory as we pass through from death to life in Christ.
Happy Easter! Happy Resurrection Day!
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