GOOD FRIDAY AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, GEORGIA

"I must say that it takes two of us distributing Holy Communion to kneeling communicants at the full length of the altar railing less time than it does for four of us distributing at fixed "standing" stations! And the speed of the Veneration of the Holy Cross was the same. In fact, the entire Passion was completed at 8:10 PM! 

However, for those kneeling to either kiss the Cross or receive Holy Communion, they are not rushed or sped up in any fashion whatsoever, for them they wait for the procession to come to them and then can pause once the procession has passed. How marvelous!"--Father Allan J. McDonald

More photos Dr. Buck Melton of our Good Friday Liturgy below my comments:

 
On Good Friday, we offered the Stations of the Cross at 12:10 PM and 3:00 PM with Confessions following each. Fr. Vernon Knight and I heard Confessions for an hour and a half after each set thus a total of three hours for both of us on Good Friday. I must say that Good Friday provokes many good confessions and from people who have been away from the Sacrament for some time. It is truly a moment of grace!

At 7 PM we celebrated the Passion of the Lord. Three cantors chanted the Passion of Saint John. The Holy Cross was unveiled and all venerated it. This year we invited the congregation to kneel at the full lenght of the altar railing to venerate the Cross as our Lord's Holy Cross was brought to them in procession as they had processed to the altar railing.

Holy Communion (Mass of the Pre-Sanctified) was distributed to kneeling communicants at the altar railing as well.

I must say that it takes two of us distributing Holy Communion to kneeling communicants at the full length of the altar railing less time than it does for four of us distributing at fixed "standing" stations! And the speed of the Veneration of the Holy Cross was the same. In fact, the entire Passion was completed at 8:10 PM!

However, for those kneeling to either kiss the Cross or receive Holy Communion, they are not rushed or sped up in any fashion whatsoever, for them they wait for the procession to come to them and then can pause once the procession has passed. How marvelous!

Falling prostrate (God was so impressed He took these photos!):

 The intercessions:

The Rite of Holy Communion:

NOT ALL BENEDICTINES ARE GOOD LITURGISTS AND THIS ONE ISN'T A GOOD PASTOR OR PASTORAL IN THE LEAST

At a more progressive liturgical blog, there is this ditty by its main moderator. It is breathtaking in terms of pastoral insensitivity as well as narrow mindedness in terms of the new direction liturgical reform has taken since Pope St. John Paul in continuity with Pope Paul VI allowed for the older form of the Mass to be celebrated for pastoral need. Pope Benedict, of course, kicked that into high gear in allowing any priest capable of celebrating in Latin the option of the 1962 Missal.

The new liturgical moment begun by having now two forms of the one Latin Rite is new and disconcerting to this Benedictine. While he is entitled to his arrogant appraisal of things, he is not entitled to set the agenda about liturgical reform based upon a tired old apologetic foisted on the Church by progressive liturgists of the last century and the current one and in the most pre-Vatican II authoritarian way possible.

This is how pastorally insensitive he is and just plain wrong, dead wrong (my comments in red):

(This is a comment on a more traditional comment by one of his readers at odds with his perspective:) 

Where you and I agree is that the reforms have not (yet) been 100% successful. The task was so huge, the need so great, the cultural shift called for so monumental, that the implementation of the reforms could not but be checkered. There have been plenty of mistakes and misunderstandings and bad taste and all the rest. (Now here he makes sense and should in a full length article explain what these mistakes are that are still being made in perhaps the majority of parishes in the world!)

But there is a reason why Mother Church called for it. And as Jonathan points out, it is a reform process going on since at least Pius X (recall the massive redistribution of Office psalms he ordered in 1911 – a rupture if there ever was one). The vision put forth at Vatican II is correct. It is the Catholic understanding of liturgy now. (Vatican II Fundamentalists like to freeze it and its direction in time and for ever. One can't do this in a living, breathing Church with the Holy Spirit pulling surprises all the time, in this case through the writings of Pope Benedict since the 1960's and his authority as pope!)

The most important task of the church, going forward, is for everyone to come together, affirm the reforms of Vatican II (and of the previous 50 or so years), and work together to implement them as well as possible. (No, the most important task is for both traditionalists and progressives to come together to affirm that there exists now two forms of the one Roman Rite and to agree with Pope Francis in authorizing the Ordinariate's new Roman Missal, "Divine Worship, the Missal" which incorporates not only Anglican patrimony consistent with the doctrines and dogmas of the Liturgy and its spirituality but allowing for many elements of the 1962 Missal as well!)

The decision to approve the 1962 liturgy is a disaster. It is divisive. It undercuts the V2 reforms. It sows confusion and misunderstanding everywhere. It has put the wind in the sails of those who want to fight V2 and hold to an understanding of liturgy different from the Church’s (yes, that vision has evolved and changed in the last 50-100 years, so we can speak of the 1962 vision of liturgy as not the Church’s vision, as no longer the Church’s vision). (The disaster is how Vatican II was implemented by progressive liturgists in the most pre-Vatican II authoritarian way. Who is anyone to say that the 1962 Roman Missal is no longer the Church's vision except a pope? No pope has said this to include Pope Francis who will, with the help of God, fully reintegrate the SSPX back into the full canonical status with  the Church. The divisiveness of progressive liturgists who tried to suppress the 1962 Missal after the 1970 one was issued created the divisions we have now, not what Pope Benedict did in being truly and authentically liberal in allowing both forms to coexist. If this had happened in the first place, we would be in a much different place today. There is no going backwards to 1970's authoritarianism about the reformed liturgy being superior to the one that preceded it. Today they are co-equal. To denigrate either form properly celebrated by saying the black and doing the red is divisive to say the least and not suitable for today's new liturgical renewal!)

All the problems in the world in the celebration of the liturgy of Paul VI do not give reason for abandoning the Church’s understanding of liturgy and retreating to an earlier era with it’s inadequate liturgy – no matter how appealing that now-obsolete liturgy may be emotionally. (This is once again elevating the horizontal, sociological aspect of the liturgy to an idol and making it more important than what the Mass is meant to do and every valid Mass does: Renew in an unbloody, palatable way the One Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross for our salvation. The Sacrifice and Banquet of Word and Altar are present in the Church's two forms of the one Latin Rite and this is the foundation that cannot be overwhelmed with silly ecclesiological items that make the Church a self-referential community closed in on itself by a liturgy that sees active participation and laity doing this that and the other as the basis on "good Liturgy!" Poppycock! It is Christ who is the center of the Liturgy and opens a vista to our salvation and gives us grace to strengthen our faith and good works in the world!)

My final comment: This Benedictine doesn't get it! Pope Benedict makes very very clear that it isn't either/or when it comes to the two forms of the one Latin Rite, but BOTH/AND! And that folks is what is truly Catholic and authoritative and disruptive of narrow minds! 

HOLY THURSDAY IN PICTURES AT SAINT JOSEPH MACON!

 A few comments on the photos below. I am wearing a gold chasuble and the deacons matching dalmatics that have been in the parish since the 1950's if not before. When I was a transitional deacon at St. Peter Claver Church here in Macon (historically African-American parish) from January of 1980 to August, I was asked by our then bishop, Bishop Raymond Lessard, (God rest his soul, he died in early February) to bring the gold chasuble and dalmatics from Saint Joseph to the Cathedral in Savannah for my ordination on June 7, 1980. Thus Bishop Lessard ordained three of us, Father John Lyons, Father Tom Campbell (RIP) and me as he wore this gold chasuble and the two deacons, Deacon Don McArdle and Deacon George White (RIP)wore the dalmatics.

So I decided to wear it last night to remember Bishop Raymond Lessard, his priesthood and mine and the other two. If not for Bishop Lessard bringing me to Savannah in 1985 and keeping me at the Cathedral as Associate pastor, Master of Ceremonies, Director of Liturgy and Vocation Director and mentoring me out of my more progressive, silly 1970's ways, I don't know who or where the hell I would be today!

Please note too my personal chalice, a gift from my parents but a very 1970's chalice. It has Jesus Christ surrounded by the 12 Apostles on it, all of whom have halos including Judas!!!!! And one knows it is Judas because he has the money sack in hand. Now you would think that the designer of the chalice who knew to place the money bag in his hand would have known not to place a halo! But deep down I pray that poor old Judas repented at the point of death and Jesus on Holy Saturday when He descended into hell released him along with Adam and Eve and the other Old Testament figures.

We washed 6 person's feet as a tribute to Bishop Lessard who would only wash six feet, men or women from the 1970's onward because he wanted to make clear they did not represent the Apostles or the first priests of the Church--a wonderful solution to the tension of washing the feet of 12 mixed gendered feet!

The Mass of wonderful as was the music! Apart from a festive English Gloria, the other parts were in Latin to include the "Per Ipsum" and "Ecce Agnus Dei!"

Thanks to Dr. Buck Melton who is so good at taking these!

GOOD FRIDAY: THE PASSION OF OUR LORD WITH POPE FRANCIS AT SAINT PETER'S AND THEN THE WAY OF THE CROSS AT THE ROMAN COLISEUM

WHAT A LOVELY LETTER! WHICH REMINDS ME THAT WE SHOULD NEVER UNDERESTIMATE WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN DO!

This photo is our foot washing from 2012 I think. We washed the feet of men being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil two days later. The one on the far left is Nate Swan who now is in his second year of seminary philosophy at Mt. St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD and studying for our diocese! Did this do it for him?????

And who will be a priestly candidate this year? Perhaps the person kneeling by Fr. Vernon helping to wash the feet? I simply cannot get on the ground any more to do this, so I simply assisted. I thought of getting a shoe-shinning chair for each person to get in for me to do it more easily or to have them sit on the altar railing, but not, I thought better! Last night:

I continue to be amazed at any negative reaction to Pope Francis washing the feet of 12 people at Holy Thursday's Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. These twelve were Catholics, Muslims, Hindus and Eastern Orthodox.

Pope Francis called them all children of the same God! Can they be children of any other god? Of course not. All of us, no matter our religion or lack thereof are children of God; no ifs, ands, ors about it.

God's grace can work wonders in people who feel as though God has touched them spiritually or physically. In the new evangelization, which Pope Francis is modeling for us, he reaches out to people and raises their dignity especially those whose dignity has been threatened or diminished by the "world", i.e devil.

With this in mind, here is the email I received early this morning, Good Friday:
 

Fr Allan,

Just a short note to wish you a Blessed Triduum!

15 years ago this weekend changed my life (and Ethan's) forever! I doubt you remember, but you washed my feet at the Mass of the Lords Supper - it remains the only time in 15 years as a Catholic for me & still moves me deeply when I think of it.

I understand the theology of the 'male only' foot washing, but I am personally glad this Pontiff has allowed women to be involved in this rite as an action of servanthood to all, especially as it was such a powerful & meaningful moment for me all those years ago as I was coming into the Church.

I am enroute to ND to spend Easter with Ethan at the Seminary - a special blessing to be able to celebrate this anniversary together as well as in the beauty of ND's Basilica; especially as he will be away at Novitiate next year.

Perhaps next year I may just have to travel to Macon for #16! :)

Special Prayers for you this Easter Season, Lauren

THE EVENING MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER WITH POPE FRANCIS! IT DOESN'T GET ANY MORE PARISH-LIKE THAN THIS. IT IS GOOD THAT THIS IS ELSEWHERE AND NOT AT ST. JOHN LATERAN OR SAINT PETERS

It is clear that the morning Mass of Chrism at Saint Peter's is the Papal Mass with all the bells and whistles and where the priesthood is properly celebrated as being instituted by Christ on Holy Thursday. The oils that are bless and the Chrism that is consecrated are intimately associated with the priesthood and the sacraments flowing from Christ's High Priesthood to his ordained priests and ultimately to the laity.

Pope Francis has turned the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper into a rather pedestrian affair, quite literally. And the music, well, the music, it is what so many experience throughout the world in the post Vatican II milieu.

Interesting there are no deacons!

I would love to know Msgr. Guido Marini's take on this!  Of course, we must give an A for effort and good faith! The sound is very  Italian, thus dripping syrupy! (I can say that as an Italian!)

And this is Pope Benedict's last Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated the Missa in coena Domini on Holy Thursday evening, at the CARA Welcome and Hospitality Centre operated by the Auxilium cooperative. Located a short distance outside the Rome city limits, in Castelnuovo di Porto, the Centre provides temporary lodging and services to nearly 900 asylum seekers from 25 different countries.
In his homily, Pope Francis renewed his condemnation of those who – like Judas Iscariot – sow discord for gain and trade in arms, selling the tools of bloodshed for profit. The Holy Father also spoke of the communicative power of concrete actions, saying that gestures of fraternity, concord and peace among people of different religion and cultural tradition who truly desire peace and resolve to live as brothers and sisters is a powerful witness to a world sorely in need of such signs.
Below, please find Vatican Radio’s English translation of the Holy Father’s remarks
******************************************
Gestures speak louder than pictures and words. There are, in the Word of God we read, two gestures: Jesus serving, washing the feet ... He, who was the “head man”, washing the feet of others, of His own, even of the least; one gesture. The second gesture: Judas who goes to the enemies of Jesus, those who do not want peace with Jesus, to take the money that bought His betrayal; the 30 pieces of silver.
Two gestures.
Even today, here, there are two gestures: this, of all of us together, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Copts, Evangelical [Protestants] brothers and sisters – children of the same God – we want to live in peace, integrated. One gesture. Three days ago, an act of war, of destruction in a European city, by people who do not want to live in peace. Though behind that gesture, as there were behid that of Judas, there were others. Behind Judas there were those who offered money, that Jesus be delivered up to them. Behind that [other] gesture [on Tuesday in Belgium], there are manufacturers, arms dealers who want blood, not peace; they want the war, not fraternity.
Two gestures, just the same: Jesus washes feet, Judas sold Jesus for money. You, we, all of us together, of different religions, different cultures, but children of the same Father, brothers – and there, those poor people, who buy weapons to wreck fraternity. Today, at this time, when I do the same act of Jesus washing the feet of twelve of you, let us all make an gesture of brotherhood, and let us all say: “We are different, we are different, we have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and we want to live in peace.”
This, then, is the gesture that I make with you. Each of us has a story, each of you has a story you carry with you. Many crosses, many sorrows: but also an open heart that wants brotherhood. Let each, in his religious language, pray the Lord that this brotherhood be contagious in the world, that there be no 30 pieces of silver to purchase a brother’s murder, that there be always brotherhood and goodness. So be it.

POPE FRANCIS CHRISM MASS AT SAINT PETER'S AND HOMILY

The Chrism Mass traditionally is celebrated on Holy Thursday morning in all Cathedrals or important churches. Pope Francis did so this morning with Rome's priests where the priests renewed their priestly promises/vows. Then the three liturgical Holy Oils were blessed. In the case of Sacred Chrism, it was consecrated much in the same way as the Holy Eucharist is.

The Holy Father's homily in English is below the video (am I the only one who finds the official hymn of the Year of Mercy tedious?):

(Vatican Radio) On the morning of Holy Thursday, Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of Chrism at St Peter’s Basilica.

During the Holy Mass, the Holy Father blessed the sacred oils (Chrism, the oil of catechumens, and the oil of the sick), which will be used during the Easter Vigil, and in liturgical celebrations throughout the year.

In his homily during the Mass, Pope Francis once again on the theme of mercy, speaking especially of two areas in which the Lord shows “an excess of mercy”: in encounter, and in forgiveness.

Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ prepared homily for the Chrism Mass:

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Mass of the Chrism

24 March 2016

After hearing Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah and say: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21), the congregation in the synagogue of Nazareth might well have burst into applause. They might have then wept for joy, as did the people when Nehemiah and Ezra the priest read from the book of the Law found while they were rebuilding the walls. But the Gospels tell us that Jesus’ townspeople did the opposite; they closed their hearts to him and sent him off. At first, “all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words that came from his mouth” (4:22). But then an insidious question began to make the rounds: “Is this not the son of Joseph, the carpenter?” (4:22). And then, “they were filled with rage” (4:28). They wanted to throw him off the cliff. This was in fulfilment of the elderly Simeon’s prophecy to the Virgin Mary that he would be “a sign of contradiction” (2:34). By his words and actions, Jesus lays bare the secrets of the heart of every man and woman.

Where the Lord proclaims the Gospel of the Father’s unconditional mercy to the poor, the outcast and the oppressed, is the very place we are called to take a stand, to “fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim 6:12). His battle is not against men and women, but against the devil (cf. Eph 6:12), the enemy of humanity. But the Lord “passes through the midst” of all those who would stop him and “continues on his way” (Lk 4:30). Jesus does not fight to build power. If he breaks down walls and challenges our sense of security, he does this to open the flood gates of that mercy which, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he wants to pour out upon our world. A mercy which expands; it proclaims and brings newness; it heals, liberates and proclaims the year of the Lord’s favour.

The mercy of our God is infinite and indescribable. We express the power of this mystery as an “ever greater” mercy, a mercy in motion, a mercy that each day seeks to make progress, taking small steps forward and advancing in that wasteland where indifference and violence have predominated.

This was the way of the Good Samaritan, who “showed mercy” (cf. Lk 10:37): he was moved, he drew near to the unconscious man, he bandaged his wounds, took him to the inn, stayed there that evening and promised to return and cover any further cost. This is the way of mercy, which gathers together small gestures. Without demeaning, it grows with each helpful sign and act of love. Every one of us, looking at our own lives as God does, can try to remember the ways in which the Lord has been merciful towards us, how he has been much more merciful than we imagined. In this we can find the courage to ask him to take a step further and to reveal yet more of his mercy in the future: “Show us, Lord, your mercy” (Ps 85:8). This paradoxical way of praying to an ever more merciful God, helps us to tear down those walls with which we try to contain the abundant greatness of his heart. It is good for us to break out of our set ways, because it is proper to the Heart of God to overflow with tenderness, with ever more to give. For the Lord prefers something to be wasted rather than one drop of mercy be held back. He would rather have many seeds be carried off by the birds of the air than have one seed be missing, since each of those seeds has the capacity to bear abundant fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, even a hundredfold.

As priests, we are witnesses to and ministers of the ever-increasing abundance of the Father’s mercy; we have the rewarding and consoling task of incarnating mercy, as Jesus did, who “went about doing good and healing” (Acts 10:38) in a thousand ways so that it could touch everyone. We can help to inculturate mercy, so that each person can embrace it and experience it personally. This will help all people truly understand and practise mercy with creativity, in ways that respect their local cultures and families.

Today, during this Holy Thursday of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, I would like to speak of two areas in which the Lord shows excess in mercy. Based on his example, we also should not hesitate in showing excess. The first area I am referring to is encounter; the second is God’s forgiveness, which shames us while also giving us dignity.

The first area where we see God showing excess in his ever-increasing mercy is that of encounter. He gives himself completely and in such a way that every encounter leads to rejoicing. In the parable of the Merciful Father we are astounded by the man who runs, deeply moved, to his son, and throws his arms around him; we see how he embraces his son, kisses him, puts a ring on his finger, and then gives him his sandals, thus showing that he is a son and not a servant. Finally, he gives orders to everyone and organizes a party. In contemplating with awe this superabundance of the Father’s joy that is freely and boundlessly expressed when his son returns, we should not be fearful of exaggerating our gratitude. Our attitude should be that of the poor leper who, seeing himself healed, leaves his nine friends who go off to do what Jesus ordered, and goes back to kneel at the feet of the Lord, glorifying and thanking God aloud.

Mercy restores everything; it restores dignity to each person. This is why effusive gratitude is the proper response: we have to go the party, to put on our best clothes, to cast off the rancour of the elder brother, to rejoice and give thanks… Only in this way, participating fully in such rejoicing, is it possible to think straight, to ask for forgiveness, and see more clearly how to make up for the evil we have committed. It would be good for us to ask ourselves: after going to confession, do I rejoice? Or do I move on immediately to the next thing, as we would after going to the doctor, when we hear that the test results are not so bad and put them back in their envelope? And when I give alms, do I give time to the person who receives them to express their gratitude, do I celebrate the smile and the blessings that the poor offer, or do I continue on in haste with my own affairs after tossing in a coin?

The second area in which we see how God exceeds in his ever greater mercy is forgiveness itself. God does not only forgive incalculable debts, as he does to that servant who begs for mercy but is then miserly to his own debtor; he also enables us to move directly from the most shameful disgrace to the highest dignity without any intermediary stages. The Lords allows the forgiven woman to wash his feet with her tears. As soon as Simon confesses his sin and begs Jesus to send him away, the Lord raises him to be a fisher of men. We, however, tend to separate these two attitudes: when we are ashamed of our sins, we hide ourselves and walk around with our heads down, like Adam and Eve; and when we are raised up to some dignity, we try to cover up our sins and take pleasure in being seen, almost showing off.

Our response to God’s superabundant forgiveness should be always to preserve that healthy tension between a dignified shame and a shamed dignity. It is the attitude of one who seeks a humble and lowly place, but who can also allow the Lord to raise him up for the good of the mission, without complacency. The model that the Gospel consecrates, and which can help us when we confess our sins, is Peter, who allowed himself to be questioned about his love for the Lord, but who also renewed his acceptance of the ministry of shepherding the flock which the Lord had entrusted to him.

To grow in this “dignity which is capable of humbling itself”, and which delivers us from thinking that we are more or are less than what we are by grace, can help us understand the words of the prophet Isaiah that immediately follow the passage our Lord read in the synagogue at Nazareth: “You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God” (Is 61:6). It is people who are poor, hungry, prisoners of war, without a future, cast to one side and rejected, that the Lord transforms into a priestly people.

As priests, we identify with people who are excluded, people the Lord saves. We remind ourselves that there are countless masses of people who are poor, uneducated, prisoners, who find themselves in such situations because others oppress them. But we too remember that each of us knows the extent to which we too are often blind, lacking the radiant light of faith, not because we do not have the Gospel close at hand, but because of an excess of complicated theology. We feel that our soul thirsts for spirituality, not for a lack of Living Water which we only sip from, but because of an excessive “bubbly” spirituality, a “light” spirituality. We feel ourselves also trapped, not so much by insurmountable stone walls or steel enclosures that affect many peoples, but rather by a digital, virtual worldliness that is opened and closed by a simple click. We are oppressed, not by threats and pressures, like so many poor people, but by the allure of a thousand commercial advertisements which we cannot shrug off to walk ahead, freely, along paths that lead us to love of our brothers and sisters, to the Lord’s flock, to the sheep who wait for the voice of their shepherds.

Jesus comes to redeem us, to send us out, to transform us from being poor and blind, imprisoned and oppressed, to become ministers of mercy and consolation. He says to us, using the words the prophet Ezekiel spoke to the people who sold themselves and betrayed the Lord: “I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth… Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God” (Ezek 16:60-63).

In this Jubilee Year we celebrate our Father with hearts full of gratitude, and we pray to him that “he remember his mercy forever”; let us receive, with a dignity that is able to humble itself, the mercy revealed in the wounded flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us ask him to cleanse us of all sin and free us from every evil. And with the grace of the Holy Spirit let us commit ourselves anew to bringing God’s mercy to all men and women, and performing those works which the Spirit inspires in each of us for the common good of the entire People of God.

THE EASTER TRIDUUM!

None of the Liturgies of the Church celebrate a reenactment of the history of our salvation. While the "faith-anchoring" events of our liturgies are historical, they cannot be repeated or "reenacted." That is why the Church's long tradition insists that what happened once in history passes over into the mystery of the Church's liturgical/sacramental celebrations. What the Paschal Triduum celebrates is mystery, not history: anamnesis, not mimesis. The Liturgies of these days do not "take us back" to the upper room or the path to Calvary. Their ultimate purpose is not to retrace or relive the last hours of Jesus' life--nor to catch sight of Him emerging from the tomb at Easter's dawning. They celebrate not what once happened to Jesus but what is now happening among us as a people called to conversion, gathered in faith, and gifted with the Spirit of holiness. They celebrate God's taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core, recreating us a new human community broken like bread for the world's life--a community rich in compassion steadfast in hope and fearless in the search for justice and peace.  ("The Three Days of Pascha" by Nathan Mitchell)

My comment: The above description of the Easter Triduum and all the Sacraments of the Church is true but it is also too horizontal. All liturgies of the Church are horizontal in the sense that we join as Church, clergy and laity together, Jesus Christ our High Priest, but now Crucified and Risen in His Glorious Risen Body of which we have been made a part by Christ through Holy Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist.

It is He, the Head of the Church that we celebrate in the present, the eternal presence that transcends time and place. So the entire Church (Triumphant, Militant and Suffering) in a horizontal way is completely united to Christ the Crucified, Risen and Glorified High Priest, the One Who is, the I AM of eternity.

The Sacramental Liturgies of the Church, especially the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass propels us forward in Faith and Good Works as we make our pilgrimage to heaven accompanied by our Crucified and Risen Lord who points the way to God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is here that the "vertical" breaks the closed circle of the "horizontal" and moves us outside of idolatry and self-referential narcissism to God's love and generosity to us poor miserable sinners who fail so often when we think we are the center and not God the Most Holy Trinity.

The above quote is not wrong, but it exalts the Church in a horizontal way. When we buy into this theology hook, line and sinker, what happens when the "we" of Church, the horizontal aspect, fails so miserably as "we" did with the sex abuse scandal where nothing of  God's taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core, recreating us a new human community broken like bread for the world's life--a community rich in compassion steadfast in hope and fearless in the search for justice and peace is self-evident in the horizontal Church? People leave and look for something else that will satisfy their deepest longings.

But we have it or had it when the focus is on the vertical otherness of Christ, completely holy and at the same time taking on all our miserable sins that cause so much suffering to others and ourselves and would have led us to the fires of hell if not for God's saving acts in human history that transcends our sins, idolatry and narcissism. When the vertical is the focus and we see ourselves as sinners in need of being saved from the fires of hell, even the worst scandals of the Church make sense. Without this belief, nothing makes sense especially:  God's taking possession of our hearts at their deepest core, recreating us a new human community broken like bread for the world's life--a community rich in compassion steadfast in hope and fearless in the search for justice and peace.

Our Easter Sunday 12:10 PM Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form High Mass:

EXTRAORDINARY FORM HIGH MASS FOR EASTER SUNDAY

The best way to actual participation in this Ancient Use Form of the Mass is not to try to follow the priest or choir verbatim but simply have a sense of what is being prayed or chanted. Most important for actual participation in the EF Mass is to experience and contemplate in our soul the mystical presence of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for us poor miserable sinners. In other words, this Mass is not meant to be an intellectual or cerebral pursuit but rather an affair of the mind, heart and soul.

(Please refer to the booklet for all the other English translations and directions)

PROCESSIONAL HYMN: Good Christians All Rejoice and Sing - #545 (Stand)

RITE OF SPRINKLING HOLY WATER: Vidi Aquum  

Schola: I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple, alleluia: and all they to whom that water came were save, and they shall say, alleluia, alleluia (Priest sprinkles all with Easter Water)

P. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam. All: Et salutare tuum da nobis.

P. Domine, exaudi orationem neam. All: Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

P. Oremus: Hear us, O holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, and vouchsafe to send Thy holy angel from heaven, to guard, cherish, protect, visit and defend all that are assembled in this place: Through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen (as the priest changes from cope to chasuble, all kneel for the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, which are prayed quietly by the priest and ministers as the schola chants the Introit.)

INTROIT: Psalm 138 18, 5, 6 I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia; Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia; Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia. -- (Ps. 138. 1, 2). Lord, Thou hast searched Me and known Me; Thou knowest my sitting down and My rising up. V.: Glory to the Father . .  -- I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia . . .

KYRIE #105, Hymnal

GLORIA (Stand) #106 Hymnal

COLLECT - O God, who, on this day, through Thine only-begotten Son, hast conquered death, and thrown open to us the gate of everlasting life, give effect by thine aid to our desires, which Thou dost anticipate and inspire. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost . . .

EPISTLE I Corinthians 5: 7, 8 (Sit)

GRADUAL Psalm 117: 24,1 This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it. V.: Give praise unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. Alleluia, alleluia. V.: (I Cor. 5. 7). Christ our Pasch is immolated.

SEQUENCE Christians! to the Paschal Victim offer your thankful praises. The Lamb the sheep redeemeth: Christ, who only is sinless, reconcileth sinners to the Father. Death and life contended in that conflict stupendous: the Prince of Life, who died, deathless reigneth. Speak, Mary, declaring what thou sawest wayfaring. "The tomb of Christ who now liveth: and likewise the glory of the Risen.

Bright Angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting. Yea, Christ my hope is arisen: to Galilee He goeth before you." We know that Christ is risen, henceforth ever living: Have mercy, Victor King, pardon giving. Amen. Alleluia.

GOSPEL Mark 16:1-7 (Stand)

Homily (Sit)

CREDO: #213: Hymnal (Stand)

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON (Sit) Psalm 75: 9-10: The earth trembled and was still when God arose in judgment, alleluia.

Offertory Anthem: Ave Verum (schola)

P: ORATE FRATRES (Stand)

All: Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de minibus tuis ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad utiltatem quoque nostrum, totiusque Ecclesiae suae sanctae.

SECRET - We beseech Thee, O Lord, accept the prayers of Thy people together with the Sacrifice they offer, that what has been begun by the Paschal Mysteries, by Thy working may profit us unto eternal healing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . . . .

PREFACE (Preface for Easter) -It it truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, at all times to praise Thee, O Lord, but more gloriously especially this day when Christ our Pasch was sacrificed. For He is the Lamb Who hath taken away the sins of the world: Who by dying hath destroyed our death: and by rising again hath restored us to life. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing the hymn of Thy glory, evermore saying:

SANCTUS: #119, Hymnal (Please kneel at the beginning of the Sanctus.)

PATER NOSTER (Stand) Page 86, hymnal

AGNUS DEI: #120, Hymnal (Kneel)

Communion Hymn: #709, Panis Angelicus (In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, Holy Communion is received kneeling at the altar railing and only on the tongue.)

COMMUNION ANTIPHON: I Corinthians 5: 7, 8: Christ our Pasch is immolated, alleluia: therefore let us feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

POST COMMUNION PRAYER (Stand) - Pour forth upon us, O Lord, the spirit of Thy love, that, by Thy loving kindness, Thou mayest make to be of one mind those whom Thou hast satisfied with the Paschal Sacraments. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost . . .

P. Ite Missa Est, Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia

All: Deo Gratias, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

SOLEMN BLESSING (Kneel)

LAST GOSPEL (Stand)

RECESSIONAL HYMN: Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Hymnal #589