The English-Speaking Catholic Church of Paris

8th April , 2007

ONCE UP A TIME ..

We are really only beginning to get used to the idea that Holy Week is a time of celebration! Ask most Catholics of my generation “when does Lent end?” and they will probably go into a dither, and maybe offer ‘Easter Sunday, or is it Holy Saturday, possibly Good Friday?’ The answer, as no doubt you all know, is that Lent ends at sunset on Thursday of Holy Week. (Before I get into trouble with all those who stay off things until Easter Sunday let me make it clear that you should continue to do so – it’s an appropriate way to mark the Sacred Triduum, which begins at sunset on Holy Thursday, and is marked by the Holy Thursday liturgy! After all, we fast and abstain on Good Friday!)

But in fact the Sacred Triduum is a time of celebration! On Holy Thursday we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and of the priesthood at the Last Supper. It might seem strange that a ceremony commemorating something as central to our faith as the Eucharist is principally remembered for something completely different – the washing of feet. The washing of the feet is not simply a piece of eye-catching drama that brings some variety into our liturgy – it is, rather, a reminder of the Lord’s call that we serve one another in humility.

On Good Friday we celebrate the life-sacrificing love that Christ showed for us “even though we are sinners”. Friday is a ‘why’ day – why did they go to so much trouble to convict an innocent man who had done nothing but good; - why did He permit it all to happen; why does a God who needs us like the proverbial hole in the head actually love us to the extent of dying for us? Because He is so humble, that “He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”

And, of course, at our Easter Vigil we have celebrated the wonder of the Resurrection, the new hope, the new life, offered us by Christ Himself. It is the crowning glory of the story of the Paschal Mystery – but it is not the end of the story! That’s the part that’s up to us, and it requires us to have that same humility – to be able to recognise that we can’t make it on our own. We thank the Lord for His graciousness in suffering, dying and rising for us, and we humbly accept our commission to live happily ever after!