Paschal triduum refers to the liturgical rites during three days of Lenten week that starts with Holy Thursday and culminates on the evening of Easter vigil in preparation for the resurrection. It is the period to recall the passion, death burial and resurrection of Christ. For the believer and other interested people, I summarize the three pillars of these rites.
The mass on Holy Thursday recalls the events of the Last Supper. On this day, Christ instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is the source and summit of Catholic ecclesiastical life. As explained by the Roman Catholic Catechism, the Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
The Last Supper teaches us about the importance of humility, selflessness and service as the true meaning of leadership. The act of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples runs counter to how the world understands leadership. The accepted norm for most of us is for a leader to be served rather than to serve. In this sense, Christ was a revolutionary. He has shown the most extreme form of humility and love for man resulting in the ultimate sacrifice of His life on the cross. Humility is the acceptance that without Christ we can do nothing; that our abilities, skills and resources have been given by God not solely to serve our needs but to serve others.
The humble leader lacks arrogance; gives preference in serving others rather than promoting oneself. Often, we misunderstand humility as lack of aggression, ambition and resolve. This revolutionary concept of leadership is the reason why people are baffled when they encounter a humble servant-leader, a leader who personifies Christ’s humility and brand of service. Yet, history has shown us that being humble is never incompatible with achieving great things. Roosevelt, Gandhi, Einstein and other great leaders stood out not only by their exceptional accomplishments but by their humility. In the home front, people exalt Jose Rizal, President Ramon Magsaysay and Secretary Jesse Robredo for their humility and extraordinary service more than anything else.
If all leaders are conscious of the real reason for their being, they will recognize that self is the least consideration in holding a position but rather that the good of the majority, particularly the poor, underprivileged and the weak always takes precedence. If only . . . then there will be no corruption, arrogant leaders, and disunity but only authentic service, cooperation and harmony.
This is what Cardinal Tagle, in his Palm Sunday homily, meant when he declared: “In our world today, we have many kings filled with arrogance, lacking in humility. In our time, many of us follow kings who use violence, weapons, fear—truly lacking understanding of and solidarity with the weak.” (Translation from the original Filipino is from the report of Rappler on the homily.)
Good Friday is the day when we commemorate the suffering and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The passion of Jesus Christ evokes images of gruesome physical and spiritual suffering. But for Christians, the suffering of Jesus is not only a poignant and heart-wrenching experience of a historic human individual. Rather Christ’s suffering out of the abundance of God’s love for humanity gives meaning to the sufferings of humanity. In this modern and secular age where societies endeavor very hard to avoid any form of suffering and discomfort to the extent of sacrificing morality and rejecting the laws of God, Christ’s passion is a constant reminder that suffering is no reason for us to alienate ourselves from others nor should it separate us from God. Pope Benedict XVI once said “It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.”
When a man preaches the crucified Christ, he dies unto his old self, his selfish desires, greed, violence and utter sinfulness. He surrenders and submits his whole self to the will of God. For the death of Christ on the cross is a sacrament of God’s eternal and infinite love for humanity. Jesus himself preaches: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Therefore, anyone who loves in the dimension of the cross will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Quoting again from Tagle’s homily last Sunday, we must ask these questions: “In the eyes of the world, he is a king without strength and power. Where is his strength? Where is his power?” Using scripture, Tagle responds by pointing at the first two readings of the Palm Sunday mass: “In the First Reading, we saw his strength, strength that came from trust in God. Our king does not trust in violence or weapons, bullets and guns. Our king trusts in God. In the Second Reading, he is powerful as the son of God, but he chose to strip himself. He did not cling on to this power. Why? So that he may be one with us. He became humble. That is his strength, his power: Solidarity with the weak.”
Finally, Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. On this day, a vigil service is held after nightfall on Holy Saturday (with readings from salvation history and a renewal of our baptismal vows) and end on the evening of Easter Sunday with the gospel of the two disciples walking to Emmaus and encountering the risen Messiah. That Christ is risen is the reason why Christians believe in his divinity; it is the very core of Christian faith. St. Paul proclaims to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” It is in the risen Christ that all his works and teachings are confirmed and the definitive proof of his divine authority.
This faith is why Pope Francis, in his Palm Sunday homily the other day, exhorts all of us: “Do not be men and women of sadness: A Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy born of having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! And in this moment the enemy, the devil, comes, often disguised as an angel, and slyly speaks his word to us. Do not listen to him! Let us follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world. Please do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! Do not let hope be stolen! The hope that Jesus gives us.”
I pray that all my readers will experience silence and peace in these coming days with the Lord.
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