We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
April 15, 2025
Hello Everyone –
Well, we’re almost there once again. At the Paschal Triduum — the three days to be celebrated as one — the sacred bridge that joins Lent to the Easter feast.
How have these past weeks been for you? It’s not that long ago — at the beginning of Lent — when we heard the prophet Joel speak the words, “return to me [the Lord] with your whole heart.”
Have these days been a means to deepening your relationships with the Lord (prayer), internally with yourself (fasting), and with the world (almsgiving)? How have they aided you in lessening your grip on your own heart? What still remains to be done?
I offer the following quotes to guide your days through the Triduum on your way to Easter Sunday.
Holy Thursday
Origen — an early Christian (3rd century) ascetic and scholar:
Jesus, come, my feet are dirty. You have become a servant for my sake, so fill your basin with water; come, wash my feet. I know that I am bold in saying this, but your own words have made me fearful: “If I do not wash your feet, you will have no companionship with me.” Wash my feet, then, so that I may be your companion. But what am I saying: “Wash my feet”? Peter could say these words, for all that needed washing were his feet. For the rest, he was completely clean. I must be made clean with that other washing of which you said: “I have a baptism with which I must be baptized.”
Good Friday
Dietrich Bonhoeffer — a Lutheran pastor/theologian; executed in a Nazi concentration camp (1945):
It is immensely easier to suffer in obedience to a human command than to suffer in the freedom of one’s own responsible deed. It is immensely easier to suffer with others than to suffer alone. It is immensely easier to suffer openly and honorably than apart and in shame. It is immensely easier to suffer through commitment of the physical life than in the spirit. Christ suffered in freedom, alone, apart and in shame, in body and spirit, and since then many Christians have so suffered with him.
The great Vigil of Easter
Romanos — (known as the Melodist) — a 6th century Byzantine hymnographer:
Sing hymns to him, O earth-born; praise the one who suffered
And died for you, and when in a short time
You behold him living, receive him in your hearts;
For Christ is going to be resurrected from the tomb
And he will make you new . . .
Make ready for him a pure heart
In order that your King will dwell in it,
Making a heaven.
Only a short time now, and he will come to fill with joy
Those who are afflicted,
In order that Adam might exult.
The Light shines on in darkness. May Easter find you blessed.
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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