Change your life

Every year I make a promise to people. I say that if they keep the triduum with me at St Mary’s then it will change their life and change their faith.

The Triduum is the three days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day. Although the various services take place over several days, it is really one big feast, which is what makes it so extraordinary when you keep it in one place and experience the whole thing. It really is life changing stuff.

I blogged a bit about it last year, and it might be worth pointing people to those blog posts:

Maundy Thursday
Veneration of the Cross
Three Hour Devotions
Good Friday Evening
Holy Saturday – all hands on deck!
The Vigil

I’d say you’d kept the Triduum with me if you come to the Maundy Thursday evening service, two of the three services on Good Friday (try for the three hours if you can), the clean and polish on Saturday and the early fire Vigil and the main Festival Mass on Sunday.

It really is life-changing if you do it all and there are people around who will testify to just that.

A spine tingling start

We had a great start to Holy Week yesterday. A very full church in the morning with an excellent procession outside and back into church. All glory, laud and honour!

At night, my spine was tingled more than once by the choir. In particular, the repeated phrase “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord your God” in the Bairstow Lamentations. It crept up on me each time.

Knowing that the wall of sound was going to hit me was no preparation for the tingle that came each time when it did.

The journey has begun.