The Three Holiest Days of the Year: The Easter Triduum

We are about to enter into the three holiest days of the Christian calendar which are celebrated as one unbroken service.  Many people, including a number of practicing Catholics, don't realize that beginning at sunset on Holy Thursday, through Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday are the three holiest days in the year. These three days, starting Thursday evening and going through Sunday evening are known as the Holy Triduum.  They give us a wonderful opportunity to pray and reflect on Christ's Passion, death, and Resurrection.

A Holy Week overview in two minutes:

Over the years, I have prayerfully written a number of reflections on these three holiest of days and how they are observed.  Below, I've included links to those reflections as well as to those posts that chronicle the joyous, miraculous occasion of my husband returning to the Catholic faith.

Holy Thursday: Washing of the feet and Institution of the Eucharist

This evening we will remember what Christ did in His 72 hours on earth.  To read more about the significance of Holy Thursday and what we do to honor it, check out this reflection.

Good Friday: Veneration of the Cross

A reflection on The First Station of the Cross

A new look at Christ's words on the Cross: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Remembering Christ's Sorrowful Passion

Easter Vigil: A culmination of the faith and summary of Christianity through Scripture reflection, songs, and sacraments.  Saturday evening is when people are Baptized and brought into the church through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.

Easter Triduum Observation

 Fond Memories from 2013 Triduum

Check out Very Special Fond Memories of the Holy Week for a more detailed account of one of the best Holy Week's of my life, when my husband Kevin returned to the Catholic Church in 2000 (and was named "the patron saint of boyfriends" by Fr. Remi Sojka, the priest who served our Catholic Campus Ministry at Hollins University and Roanoke College.

May you and your family have a very blessed and most Holy Triduum!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 116)

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First Things First Saturday the first thing we did after dropping our things off at the cottage was to go to 4:30pm Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church, the same place where my parents got married in the 70s, where I brought Kevin even before we were dating to attend Mass with me, and where he later went weekly on his own once he came back to the Catholic faith in which he was raised.  Most recently, St. Charles Borromeo was where my grandmother, Marilyn Lohwater’s funeral Mass was held.  The weather was so bad this past February, Kevin and I were unable to make it up there, since airports were closed due to the blizzard.  It was also through involvement at St. Charles that my grandmother knew Kevin’s aunt and uncle, who rented us their side of the cottage some sixteen years ago, initiating a friendship that may never have occurred otherwise. 

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With Grandma Gone It feels strange being in Rochester without my grandmother alive.  So many of my memories here have to do with her.  Growing up, this was the one place we returned to each summer.  During the year, Grandma would come visit us wherever we happened to live at the time.  I lived with my grandma in her two bedroom apartment off of Lake Avenue the summer after I graduated from high school, so Kevin and I would only be three miles apart rather than 500 miles.  So many connections, so many memories.

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Want to Make Mudpies?! I can still picture my cousin (who is now a teenager in high school) when he was just a toddler.  My aunt, uncle, and their two children came to spend time with us at the cottage and enjoy the beach and the lake.  With the utmost enthusiasm and a huge grin on his face, my cousin would approach our grandmother and ask in what came out in almost a high-pitched shriek: “Gamma, wanna make mudpies?!” as if this was the most thrilling activity on the planet (which, of course, to a little guy playing at the beach, it was). 

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Playing Cards One of the many things I learned from my maternal grandmother was how to enjoy playing card games.  We started out with Crazy Eights, Go Fish, and later progressed to War, Gin Rummy, and Conasta.  When four of my cousins came to visit one time, we all ended up in a line on our living room floor, paired off playing cards. 

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When the Cousins Came My grandma also taught me how to knit.  One of my earliest knitting projects was a baby blanket for my soon-to-be-born youngest sister.  Another memorable, amusing and definitely Grandma-inspired activity when my cousins came to see us was wearing the knit slippers Grandma had made each of us and seeing how far we could slide in them on the hardwood floors in our house.  That was an interesting Thanksgiving break!

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Sweet Sixteen My mom, sisters, grandma, and I met Kevin and his dad, the real Harry Potter, when I was only sixteen.  All of us became friends when we rented the other side of the cottage where Kevin and his dad lived, so we could spend a week right on what my mom refers to as “her lake.”  None of us imagined what God had in store for the next sixteen years, but here Kevin and I are, back where it all began, coming up on our ninth wedding anniversary.  Just like the lyrics said in one of the mixed tapes Kevin made me when we were dating, “I can tell you my love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer have gone.”  It’s a pretty fitting song for Kevin and me that you can listen to below, if you like. 

    

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Family Ties Now when Kevin and I come to Rochester, we spend much of our time traveling down memory lanes (because there are multiple ones in this town for both of us).  We also have fun spending time with family, mostly Kevin’s sisters and their families, who we usually only get to see when we’re in town staying at their side of the cottage.

     
God has given us so much to be grateful for!!  Thank You, Lord!

                   

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 109)

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My Very First Time Kevin and I celebrated Independence Day by going to Mass in thanksgiving and prayer for our religious liberty, eating hot dogs for lunch, then we practiced riding around the church parking lot in preparation for my very first time out on Kevin's motorcycle (or any other motorcycle, for that matter).  We were quite patriotic in our red, white, and blue.  We swung by friends of ours who took a couple pics of us on the bike, but we haven’t gotten those from them, yet.  I’ll post them when I receive them.  Lord, thank You for the true freedom that comes from following Christ. Amen.

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Favorite 4^th of July My favorite Independence Day I spent with Kevin and his family in Rochester, NY on Lake Ontario. I was used to having a cook-out with my parents and sisters and usually going somewhere to see a legal fireworks display, but the Fourth of July at the cottage with Kevin’s family was something entirely different…Read more. 

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Up on the Altar Kevin and I photographed Claire & Augusto's wedding and reception last Saturday afternoon/evening. We're praying for them and all couples the Lord has united through the Sacrament of Marriage, that all may be strengthened by faith, lifted up in love, grounded in prayer, and filled with joy. Amen!

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Let’s Make It Musical I cracked up when Claire and her twin sister linked arms and started singing one of the Broadway show tunes Vivi has learned from yours truly.  In case you were wondering, “Sisters, Sisters” from White Christmas takes on another level of special when done by a woman wearing a wedding gown and her twin sister who’s a bridesmaid who burst into song in the banquet hall in the downstairs of the church.  I already knew it was going to be a fun afternoon/evening, but when two of her bridesmaids started doing a clapping game, none other than a full-out “Miss Mary Mack/All dressed in black,” it was clinched that this pre-wedding show was just a preview for what would be a rocking reception. 

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Cheese Whiz or Not A dear friend of mine and I were having a late lunch after our successful shopping spree, and I was treated to another hilarious story.  This one was about how the cheese pump at the fast food place where she worked for a brief stint while in college was her demise.  She was working with one manager who just didn’t like her, personalities clashed.  Of course, this person was working the shift my friend is having a night where she couldn’t seem to get any order right. 
     Finally, the manager tells her to just go in the back and clean the cheese pump.  She went back to the apparatus she had trouble even getting to work and stared at it.  She didn’t know how to clean it.  She returned to the manager, who told her to just take the thing apart and clean it.  Next thing she knows, my friend staring at a very clean and completely dissembled cheese pump.  Yes, it was a genuine case of Amelia Bedelia works fast food. 

Head manager the next day: “So what happened last night?”

“I took apart the cheese pump,” she answered.

“That you did,” he said.

“And I couldn’t put it back together again,”

“No one could put it together again.  Not even me.  I had to order a new one,” he said before they mutually agreed food service isn’t her thing.

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Priceless I can be serious and very intense when I’m set on doing a good job, so I was concentrated and “on-the-job” getting hundreds of photos at the wedding rehearsal, Brazilian barbecue, wedding, and reception.  A few hours into the reception, the bride told me not to worry about taking anymore pictures.  I couldn’t resist, so I took a bunch more then gave Kevin my camera so I could get my groove on.  It was quite amusing to see the looks on people’s faces when I joined the party on the dance floor for a song.  I love to dance, and I’ve been told: “for a white girl you got rhythm.” 

    

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Caregivers Unite There have been a number of times in my life when I’ve played the role of caregiver which makes me that much more compassionate and empathetic when friends and family become wary under the weight of such responsibility.  A reminder that I’ve had to relearn a million times: if you don’t take care of yourself, it will affect your ability to take good care of others, especially on a long-term basis day and night with no substantial breaks in sight.  I pray that all who are caring for others who are sick in mind, body, and/or spirit will be encouraged by the Lord, who is Wonderful Counselor, Perfect Physician, and Holy Comforter. 

                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.