Stained glass windows of the Juvénat Notre Dame Chapel, Chateaulin. Stained glass windows of Maurice Rocher
«These days of the Easter Triduum from Holy Thursday to Saturday are the memory of one great mystery: the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus» stressed Pope Francis.
“The Easter Triduum marks the fundamental stages of our faith and vocation in the world, with three holy days that constitute a “matrix” of Christian life”.
Holy Thursday: «Become what you receive»
The breaking of the Eucharistic bread makes us truly participate in the Body of the Lord. In the words of St Paul (1 Cor. 6:15), we become members of this body.
At the end of the celebration, the altar is stripped and the Blessed Sacrament moved. We are therefore invited to turn our gaze to the Cross.
Good Friday: «By the passion of Christ, you have destroyed death»
The entrance hymn to the Good Friday Service immediately places the celebration of the Cross of Christ in the perspective of the Resurrection.
The celebration of Good Friday ends without a word. The silence of the tomb extends to the people the faithful. It will not end until the celebration of the Paschal light.
Holy Saturday. The silence of waiting
In the silence of the tomb, in the supreme abandonment, we believe that Christ has joined all the righteous of the old covenant who precede us to come out of death with Him.
On this Holy Saturday, immersed in death with Christ, we remain in the silence of waiting.
Easter Vigil: “This is the night when Christ, breaking the bonds of death, rose up”
On Easter night, the liturgy of light shows Christ rising victoriously from the underworld. “The firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18), he is the way of life.
From now on, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the always accessible way to life.
In full coherence with the celebrations that unfolded the baptismal theme during these three days, the liturgy proposes to catechumens to finally receive Baptism and to all the faithful to renew the promises of their Baptism.