St. Joseph Catholic Church - Neptune at 28172 Nature Avenue, Hinton, IA 51024-8553 US - LENT, TRIDUUM, EASTER
| LENT, TRIDUUM, EASTER |
LENT is said to be 40 days in length but is actually 44 days long. The “40 Days of Lent” is symbolic of the tradition that the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert after being freed from slavery in Egypt and the 40 days Jesus spend in the desert praying, fasting, and being tempted by the Devil. These days help us to prepare to celebrate more fully the death and resurrection of Jesus. Wherever you are, do not miss attending the Easter Vigil! LENT is a season of spiritual preparation for Easter. It is a time of renewal when persons planning to join the Church are prepared. A time of penance when Christians seek forgiveness for sins, to reconcile themselves with God, the Church and members of the community, and to strengthen faith. Lent comes from Middle English and means “springtime.” 1. LENTEN REGULATIONS ON FASTING a. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. This means that all the faithful between the ages of 18-59, who are otherwise in good health, should eat only one full meal on Ash Wednesday. Two lighter meals are also permitted. In addition, the law of abstinence requires that all of those who are 14 years of age or over are to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday. b. Similarly, Good Friday is also a day of fast and abstinence. The same rules apply as on Ash Wednesday. (This is part of the most ancient fast in the Church, the Paschal Fast for Easter. The Holy See encourages all to continue that fast, where possible, into Holy Saturday. This is especially true for the catechumens and candidates for initiation.) c. The Fridays of Lent are to be observed as days of abstinence. For those 14 years of age and over, no meat is to be eaten on those days. d. Each individual Catholic should resolve to engage in other activities of prayer, fasting, almsgiving and mortification during the 40 days of Lent. The celebration of Mass, sacramental reconciliation, generous assistance to the poor and religious/charitable causes should be a part of everyone’s Lent. 2. THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION The celebration of well-planned Reconciliation Services should be a normal feature of Lenten observance in our parishes or parish clusters. In each celebration, Form 1 and Form 2, it is essential and necessary that individual confession of sins and valid individual absolution be given. (The circumstances for the celebration of Form 3, Penance Service and General Absolution, do not apply in our diocese.) I understand that owing to liturgical reasons and the work involved in the celebration of the Triduum, the celebration of individual confession is not scheduled generally in our parishes during the Triduum. Though I do not necessarily want to oppose that practice, I do believe, where it is feasible, that the celebration of Confession on Good Friday can be helpful to “last minute” Catholics. Priests should explain to their people throughout Lent the reasons behind the decisions on sacramental confession during the Triduum and provide AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES during Lent for the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance. Cooperation among parishes and clusters in this matter is essential so that no one parish or priest is overburdened. 3. ALMSGIVING Traditionally, almsgiving took the form of giving money to the poor and to other worthy causes. The term has been expanded to include any outreach of time, talent, money or service in behalf of those in any need. During Lent, there are a number of Collections taken up for the needs of the Church throughout the world and in this country. I would ask all of us who are ordained to be generous to these Lenten and Easter concerns. a. ASH WEDNESDAY. This is a collection taken up in our Churches for the re-development of the Church in Eastern Europe. The needs of both Eastern and Western Christians in this area are profound. b. FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT This is the oldest mandated collection in the United States, the annual National Black and Native American Collection. Attached to it is the Collection for the Home Missions. c. FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT This is the Collection for American Bishops’ Overseas Appeal (Catholic Relief Services). d. GOOD FRIDAY This is a world-wide Collection for the sacred places in the Holy Land. Our offerings maintain and support the shrines remembering events of our Lord’s life, death and resurrection in the Holy Land. e. EASTER VIGIL AND EASTER SUNDAY This is the annual Collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious. 4. CHRISM MASS We will celebrate the Mass of the Chrism on Monda April 5, 2004 at the Cathedral at 1:00 P.M. 5. TRIDUUM LITURGIES I encourage our priests and deacons to begin their work on these major liturgies of the Church year early in Lent, even now. One needs to plan with the various ministries in the parish, the musicians and liturgy committee so that these liturgies are well celebrated with reverence and dignity. Shoddy planning and perfunctory celebration of these great days is simply not tolerable. They are too important to our understanding of salvation and the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection FOR US to be done poorly. (A reminder: from Holy Thursday Morning until Easter Sunday Evening, no Funeral Masses are permitted. It is permitted to have a Liturgy of the Word and the Commendation.) May I add a note about the Easter Vigil. As has been strenuously emphasized by the Holy See repeatedly in recent years, the Vigil of Easter is not to begin until after sunset. It is not just the anticipated Mass for Easter Sunday, nor should it be treated that way in the timing or in the manner of celebration. The Vigil should not begin before 8:30 P.M. Sincerely yours in Christ, Most Rev. Daniel N. DiNardo Diocesan Administrator ---- HOLY WEEK is the holiest weeks of the year. During Holy Week we celebrate the holiest days of the year known as the TRIDUUM [Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday]. These are days that we should not plan any out of the normal activities. In fact, we should make plans to cease some of our normal activities in order that we can prepare and participate in the celebrations of the TRIDUUM. We need to take time out and respect these days as these are the HIGH FEAST DAYS OF THE LORD! THE EASTER VIGIL, the most important sacramental celebration of the year MUST begin after nightfall. On April 10 sunset is around 7:10 p.m. and nightfall begins around 8:55 p.m. Thus, no one can begin this important celebration before 8:55 p.m. There should be no excuses [other than death, serious illness, or forced labor] to miss and/or skip this celebration. There is nothing more important on TV. There is no other event more important. Please make plans to attend this Great Celebration here. THE EASTER VIGIL consists of four parts: 1. The Service of Light reminds us that God created light to dispel the darkness of the abyss. Jesus came into the world as Light dissipating the darkness of sin. So, too, in our Vigil, we welcome the Pascal Candle, a sign of Christ, lit from new fire. In turn, it kindles the flames of our candles, spreading the Christ-light throughout the Church and throughout the world. This rich symbol expresses our privilege of bringing Christ’s light to others. 2. The Liturgy of the Word consisting of nine readings—seven from the Hebrew Scriptures and two from the Christian Scriptures that summarize the story of God’s saving plan. 3. The Liturgy of Baptism in which, if there are any, unbaptized adults are baptized, confirmed, and welcomed to Holy Communion; those already baptized in another faith denomination are received, confirmed, and welcomed to Holy Communion; and all the baptized renew our baptismal promises. 4. The Liturgy of the Eucharist in which all the faithful share in Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. This celebration, and our celebration of the Eucharist each tome we gather, reminds us that we are not mere spectators of what has happened on the first Easter Sunday. But that we are participants in Christ’s resurrection! THE EASTER VIGIL does fulfill a person’s Sunday obligation just as any Saturday night Mass for Sunday does.