The Great Triduum

A special practice of early Christian worship was to treat the three days from Thursday night to Sunday morning as an act of one continuous worship. That practice of the "Three Great Days" has been revived in the worship renewal of the twentieth century. Most congregations are accustomed to service on Holy (Maundy) Thursday and Good Friday. Far fewer will be familiar with the Paschal Vigil on Holy Saturday/Easter day. On both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday the emphasis is likely to fall on the commemoration of the Last Supper and the crucifixion of Jesus as separate events in the distant past. The integral relationship of these events in the distant past. The integral relationship of these events to each other and to the Resurrection is not stressed. Persons may attend one or both as they chose, with no real sense that anything essential to the meaning of Easter has been lost if they choose to attend either. Not Three but One But the services of the historic triduum are more than…