Easter Triduum 2021

 Tonight begins the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper marking the end of Lent!  The Easter Triduum services are meant to be one complete Liturgy over three days beginning with the Mass Thursday night, the celebration of the passion on Good Friday and ends at the Easter Vigil…please note that at the end of Thursday’s mass and Friday’s service there is no dismissal, the liturgy doesn’t end until Saturday.     

 

After the Gloria in Excelsis Deo at the Mass of the Lord's Supper all church bells are silenced and the organ is used only to support the chanting or hymns. Because of this, no bells and no superfluous music, the period that lasted from Thursday morning to before Easter Sunday began was once, in Anglo-Saxon times, referred to as "the still days".

 

In the Roman Catholic Church, weddings, which were once prohibited throughout the entire season of Lent and during certain other periods as well, are prohibited during the Triduum.

Lutherans still discourage weddings during the entirety of Holy Week and the Triduum, like it matters.

 

Easter Blessings all!

 

Pax,
Tom

Under the personal protection of Saints:
1. George
2. Thomas Becket
3. Anthony
4. Jude
5. Nicholas
6. Gabriel Possenti
7. Theresa of Lisieux
8. Genesius
9. Michael the Archangel
10. Lawrence
11. Stephen
12. Francis
13. Padre Pio

Spy Wednesday

 Today is often called Spy Wednesday. This is because, right after Our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered together and plotted to kill Jesus, even before the feast of Passover. They needed someone on the inside, like the spy Aldrich Ames, to inform the Jewish Leaders when would be the best time to strike…and this inside agent would be Christ’s betrayer. 

  
On the Wednesday before his death, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. As they sat at the supper table, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus' head and feet with costly oil of spikenard.

“Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein.

Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you; but me you have not always.” John 12:1-8 1

Jesus pointed out something our own lawmakers often forget, There will always be poor…. From this moment on, Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. 

Today and during the Sacred Triduum tomorrow, In the public recitation of the Divine Office (The Liturgy of the Hours) the Matins and Lauds are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae ("tenebrae" meaning "darkness"), which is basically a funeral service for Jesus. During these prayer services, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus, a loud crashing noise, meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing. 

On a lighter note; legend says that the tree upon which Judas

hanged himself was the Cercis siliquastrum -- a tree that is now known as the "Judas Tree." It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, with brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring -- flowers that are said to be blushing in shame over what Judas had done.  

John Climacus

Today is Tuesday of Holy Week….if it was not, it would be:

Saint John Climacus

Also known as
John of the Ladder
John Scholasticus
John the Sinaita

memorial
30 March

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Our Saint for today was a monk on Mount Sinai at age 16. Virtually nothing is known about his life other than he was a Hermit in various places in the Arabian Desert. We’re not sure the year he was born, we know it was somewhere between 505-and 579…which really narrows in down.

We do know he was a prolific writer; his topic was the ascetic life. We know about him because his writings are still with us. They are readily available and have influenced those seeking the holy life for 15 centuries.

His basis for spirituality is a ladder, hence his name, like Jacob’s ladder in the Old Testament. Each step was a discipline that brought one closer to God. There were a total of 30 steps on this ladder; the age Jesus was when he began his ministry. Traditionally there are 33 buttons on a cassock; the age of Jesus at his crucifixion. He is depicted as an abbot carrying a ladder; we are not sure if he was an abbot or if he ever owned a real ladder. The Little Giant is quite safe if you are in need of ladders…they are a bit pricey though.

Born
between 505 and 579 in Syria

Died
between 605 and 649 on Mount Sinai of natural causes

Laser

Saint Laser

Also known as
Lasar
Lassar
Lassera
Lassara

memorial
29 March

Captain Kirk using a relative of our saint
 to try and stop the false god, Gary Mitchell

Profile

Our saint was a sixth century nun in Ireland. Or, is a device that stimulates atoms or molecules to emit light at particular wavelengths and amplifies that light, typically producing a very narrow beam of radiation,  She was a niece of Saint Photon Torpedo.

Hi Saint Gang

I'm going to take a break from sending around the saints for a few days. Sorry for any inconvenience or stress this may cause.

After all these years I can trust you will all celebrate accordingly.

Pax,
Tom

Under the personal protection of Saints:
1. George
2. Thomas Becket
3. Anthony
4. Jude
5. Nicholas
6. Gabriel Possenti
7. Theresa of Lisieux
8. Genesius
9. Michael the Archangel
10. Lawrence
11. Stephen
12. Francis

13. Padre Pio

Frances of Rome

Saint Frances of Rome

Also known as
Franziske av Rome
Francesca Bussa de’ Leoni
Francesca Romana

memorial
9 March

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Our Saint today was a 14th century visionary in Rome. She was born to the aristocracy, she felt called to the religious life.

Guided by an invisible Archangel, she founded religious orders and the first foundling home in Rome. She spent her life ministering to the sick and it is said she hat up to 97 mystic visions, in which she witnesses the torments of Hell.

Pious legend says that when Frances went out at night, her guardian angel went before her with a lamp to light the way. Because of this she is the patron saint of cars and drivers. Priests and Deacons are supposed to bless your car today.

She is buried under the sacristy of the church of St Cecilia in Rome.

Born
1384 in Rome

Died
1440 in Rome,

Patronage
against plague
automobile drivers (given in 1951)
automobilists
aviators
cab drivers
death of children
lay people
motorcyclists
motorists
people ridiculed for their piety
pilots
Roman housewives
taxi drivers
widows
women

John of God

Saint John of God

Also known as

· Juan de Dios
· Juan Ciudad

Memorial
· 8 March

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Our saint today spent a wild youth. He was at one time or another a shepherd and a soldier of fortune (mercenary).

For some reason he became mentally unhinged and had a brief bout of, for want of a better term “insanity.” That might be the 16th century polite term for what was probably alcoholism, brought on, in part, by his work as soldier for hire. It is not clear, it might also have been a schitzofreniform disorder.

Maybe as part of his mental disease, or his alcoholism he apparently was homeless for a while, like many of our undomiciled brethren today and from the same etiology, supporting himself by peddling religious books and pictures in Gibraltar, though without any real religious conviction himself.

In his 40’s he received a vision, this one was of the Infant Jesus who called our Saint, “John of God.” Some cynics would argue that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (the DSM 4), visual and auditory hallucinations along with grandiosity of ideas and self-identity, are hallmarks of Schizophrenia. This would be yet another sainthood stopped with the proper use of Thorazine; I again, digress.

Anyhoo…To make up for the misery he had caused as a soldier, he left the mercenary life behind him. John then rented a house in Granada, Spain, and began caring for the sick, poor, homeless and unwanted. He gave what he had, begged for those who couldn’t, carried those who could not move on their own, and converted both his patients and those who saw him work with them. John founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. He is the patron saint of heart disease.

Our Saint contracted a very bad case of aspiration pneumonia while trying to save a drowning man. Remember scouts: “Reach, Throw, Row, Then go…” While in Spain, praying before a crucifix he succumbed to this malady, on this date, which is also the date of his birth.

Born
· 8 March 1495 Portugal

Died
· 8 March 1550 at Granada,

Patronage

· against alcoholism
· against bodily ills
· against sickness
· alcoholics
· bookbinders
· booksellers
· dying people
· firefighters
· heart patients
The homeless
· hospitals
· hospital workers
· nurses
· publishers
· printers
· sick people

Casimir of Poland

Saint Casimir of Poland

Memorial
• 4 March

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Our saint today was a very happy fifteenth century Polish prince. I say he was happy as he never married. He lived a celibate life although a layman. In 1471 he was crowned the Grand Duke of Lithuania.

In addition to his vow of personal celibacy he lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer, dedicating himself to following the Mets and the Jets… you get the idea. In all this Casamir had a great devotion to Mary, and he did all he could to help the poor.

Hungarian nobles prevailed upon Casimir’s father to send his 15-year-old son to be their king due to his honesty and morality; Casimir obeyed, taking the crown. During a time of military strife Casamir was a strong pacifist ...ignoring the military. His army was outnumbered and His troops began deserting because they were not paid. Casimir returned home, and was a conscientious objector from that time on. To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven……

He happily returned to prayer and study, maintained his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter, (who was nicknamed the orangutan so maybe it wasn’t his vow alone that kept him from the altar). He died of tuberculosis in 1484.

Born
• 3 October 1458

Patronage
• against plague
• bachelors
• kings
• Lithuania
• Poland
• princes
• single laymen

Chad

Saint Chad

Also known as
· Ceadda

memorial
· 2 March

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Our saint today has a father and 2 brothers who are also considered saints: his dad was Saint Adian and his brothers were Saints Cedd and Saint Cynibild.

The story goes that not long after Chad became abbot of his monastery, the newly chosen Bishop of the local diocese went to Gaul for consecration, and stayed so long that the King declared the see vacant and procured the election of Chad as bishop of York.

Naturally the humble Chad felt unworthy, but threw himself into the new vocation, doing the Lord’s work. When The Bishop returned, Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, decided that Chad’s Episcopal consecration was invalid, and that Chad must give up the diocese to Wilfrid the original bishop. Chad replied that he had never thought himself worthy of the position, that he took it through obedience, and he would surrender it through obedience. Theodore, astonished at this humility, consecrated Chad himself, and appointed him bishop of the Mercians in Lichfield in 669.

Chad went on to found monasteries, preach and built churches and a cathedral. He dug a well for the comfort and relief of travelers and miraculous cures began to be reported there.

Legend says that on one occasion two of the pagan king’s sons were hunting, and were led by their quarry to the oratory of Saint Chad where they found him praying. They were so impressed by the sight of the frail old man upon his knees, his face glowing with rapture that they knelt, asked his blessing, and converted. The pagan King was so angry that he slew his sons, and hunted down Saint Chad in order to deliver his comeuppance. But as he approached the bishop’s cell, a great light shone through its single window, and the king was almost blinded by its brightness; he abandoned his plan for revenge. The murder of his sons was declared an “oops” apparently.

During storms, Chad would go to chapel and pray continually. He explained, “God thunders forth from heaven to rouse people to fear the Lord, to call them to remember the future judgment…”

He died in England of natural causes after a brief illness, probably the plague on 2 March 672.

Patronage
For humility