THE EASTER TRIDUUM : GOOD FRIDAY AND THE LITURGY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD, THE VENERATION OF THE CROSS, AND HOLY COMMUNION..........

As we enter and commemorate the second day of the Easter Triduum, Good Friday - the Paschal Mystery focused on Jesus the Christ's Passion and Death, at first look today would seem to be a sad and somber, a day of defeat. But the suffering and crucifixion Jesus endured was in God the Father's Plan for the salvation of Humankind. What more perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins than God's Co-Eternal Son, who supplanted the sacrificial lambs of Paasover, to become the Lamb of God, our new Paasover and Pasch. At 12 noon today Sacred Heart Parish celebrated the Solemn Liturgical Service of Good Friday : The Liturgy of the Word and Passion Proclamation of the Lord; the Veneration of the Cross; Holy Communion. In the First Reading we hear the fourth of Isaiah's Suffering Servant Songs. It denotes the prophetic fulfillment of the sacrifice rendered on Good Friday. We believe as Catholic-Christians Jesus Christ is the Suffering Servant sent for us as Atonement for our sins and the One who reconciles our otherwise mortal flesh with the eternal God. The Letter to the Hebrews underscores the priestliness of Christ, indeed His High Priesthood over all Creation, totally superior of that of Caiphas, Herod, or Pilate. The Passion Narrative of John portrays Jesus as completely in control and victorious, even as he endures the ignominy of being crucified to the wood of a Cross. As on Good Friday Mass is not celebrated, reserved Eucharist consecrated at the Lord's Supper last night is brought not from the empty tabernacle, but a repository elsewhere in the church and in a very simple Communion Rite is distributed to the faithful. Therefore, we commemorate this second day of the Easter Triduum, not in abject sadness and sorrow, but in solemn remembrance of the greatest sacrifice ever offered in the history of salvation. Here in East Sacramento, Stations of the Cross were celebrated in the midafternoon, and tonight the Seven Last Words of Christ, will be prayed..........May Your Triduum Continue To Be Blessed As You Behold The Wood Of The Cross On Which Hung Our Savior, Fr. Troy