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HOLY TRIDUUM YEAR - C ~ APRIL 17-20, 2025

HOLY TRIDUUM YEAR – C ~ APRIL 17-20, 2025

SERVICE TO SACRIFICE TO VICTORY

Today we begin Holy Triduum which brings us to the solemn celebrations of the Holy Week.  These three days are holiest days for us all Christians to remember what Jesus did, how it was done?  Holy Triduum is a journey of Ordinary to Extraordinary because God is looking for not only an ordinary person but also a walking person who can trust in him and take this journey with him.  From the very beginning, God had a relationship with Adam and Eve that found them “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). God created man for the enjoyment of a walking relationship that involved companionship, dialogue, intimacy, joint decision-making, mutual delight, and shared dominion. God longs to walk with us, which is why his arms of grace have been pulling us into a closer walk with him.

Long ago there was a young man who always used to visit Sages. Once he stayed with a Sage and pleased with his service Sage said, “If you have any wish, I can fulfil it.” The young man wanted to gain fame. He said, “I want to become powerful. I want to know the secret of Meditation.”

Sage gave him a mantra and made him practice meditation. After some time, the young man experienced a strange power in himself. He thanked Sage and left.

On his way, he saw that some hunters were taking away a lion in an iron cage. The young man wanted to show off his recently gained powers. So, he recited a mantra and freed the lion from the cage. The lion came out and killed one of the hunters. Soon, other hunters again caught lion and caged him.

Seeing this, the young man laughed and said, “Should I free the lion again?”

Listening to this, all hunters ran toward the young man to kill him. The young man ran away and somehow saved himself. He continued and reached a mountain village. There he saw that due to the mountain terrain, people were unable to farm.

He thought to himself, “If I move mountains, people can farm here and then they will respect me.” So, he recited a mantra and soon the mountain started moving from their place. As soon as mountain moved, rocks started falling on the village and whole village was destroyed.

When the people got to know the reason for this, they went to the young man and started beating him. Young man somehow escaped. After some time, he reached a fisherman’s village. In that village there was shortage of fish. Young man called the people of the village and said, “With my power I can fill these ponds with fishes.”

Saying this, he recited a mantra and soon all the ponds were filled with fishes. Fisherman were able to catch nets full of fishes and started praising young man.

But as soon as the people ate those fish, they got sick and some died. The remaining people of village started beating the young man with sticks and when he became unconscious, they threw him out of the village.

When the young man regained consciousness, he was in the middle of the forest. He couldn’t get up and walk. He started screaming. Listening to his scream, a sage who used to live in the forest came to him and took him away to tend to his injuries.

In morning, the young man narrated all incidence to Sage and said, “I have power but still I neither have prestige nor peace. What’s reason for this?”

Sage said, “You don’t know how to utilize your power properly. Being egoistic, you unnecessarily displayed your power to satisfy your ego. The use of power is to give up the ego and serve the poor. This brings fame and happiness.”

Listening to this, the young man’s ignorance was destroyed and from that day onwards he dedicated his life to use his power in social service and good.

On Holy Thursday we learn the aspect of service. Pope Francis explains it this way; On this Thursday, Jesus was at the table with the disciples, celebrating the feast of Passover. And the passage of the Gospel which we heard contains a phrase that is the very core of what Jesus did for us: “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”. Jesus loved us. Jesus loves us. Without limit, always, to the end”. Jesus’ love for us knows no limits: always more and more. He never tires of loving anyone. He loves us all, to the point of giving his life for us. Yes, giving his life for us; yes, giving his life for all of us, giving his life for each one of us. And every one of us can say: “He gave his life for me”.  He gave His life for you, for you, for you, for you, for me, for him…   for each person, by first and last name. His love is like that: personal. Jesus’ love never disappoints, because He never tires of loving, just as He never tires of forgiving, never tires of embracing us. This is the first thing that I wanted to say to you: Jesus loved us, every one of us, to the end.

And then, He does something that the disciples don’t understand by washing the feet. It was not done by the master of the house but by the slaves. That was the task of a slave. And like a slave, Jesus washes our feet, the feet of his disciples, and that is why He says: “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand”. Jesus’ love is so great that He became a slave to serve us, to heal us, to cleanse us. He washes us entirely, He purifies us, He lets us feel his love yet again. There is a very beautiful phrase in the Bible, the prophet Isaiah says: “Can a mother forget her child? But even if a mother could forget her child, I will never forget you”. God’s love for us is like this. How are we serving the Lord and his people?

We need to have the attitude of Ruth: “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” (Ruth 1:16-17).

An unkempt, unwashed, little lad about 10 years old was coming up the alley swinging this old caved in bird cage with several tiny birds shivering on the floor of it. The compassionate Dr. Gordon asked the boy where he got the birds.

He said he trapped them. Dr. Gordon asked what he was going to do with them.

The boy said he was going to play with them and have fun with them.

The preacher said, “Sooner or later you’ll get tired of them. Then what are you going to do with them?” The lad said, “I have some cats at home. They like birds. I’ll feed them to my cats.” Dr. Gordon said, “Son, how much do you want for the birds?” The boy, surprised, hesitated and said, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. There just plain old field birds. They can’t even sing. They’re ugly.”

The preacher said, “Just tell me. How much do you want?” The grubby little lad thought about it. He squinted up one eye. He calculated and hesitated and said, “Two dollars?” To his surprise Dr. Gordon reached into his pocket and handed the boy two, one-dollar bills. The preacher took the cage.

The boy, in a wink, hurried up the alley.

In a sheltered crevice between buildings, Dr. Gordon opened the door of the cage and tapping on the rusty exterior he encouraged the little birds, one at a time, to find their way out through the narrow door and fly away. Thus, having accounted for the empty cage beside his pulpit, the preacher went on to tell what seemed, at first, like a separate story. About how once upon a time, Jesus and the Devil had engaged in a negotiation. Satan had boasted how he’d baited a trap in Eden’s garden and caught himself a world full of people. “What are you going to do with all those people in your cage” Jesus wanted to know.

The Devil said, “I’m going to play with em’, tease em’. Make them marry and divorce and fight and kill one another. I’m going to teach them to throw bombs on one another. I’m going to have fun with them!”

Jesus said, “You can’t have fun with them forever. When you get tired of playing, what are you going to do with them?” Satan said, “Damn them! They’re no good anyway! Damn them! Kill them!”

Jesus said, “How much do you want for them?” Satan said, “You can’t be serious! If I sell them to you, they’ll just spit on you. They’ll hate you. They’ll hit you and beat you. They’ll hammer nails into you! They’re no good.”

Jesus said, “How much?” Satan said, “All of your tears and all your blood. That’s the price.” Jesus took the cage, and paid the price, and opened the door.

Without service there is no sacrifice, and Jesus has given us the best example of sacrifice as we celebrate Good Friday to commemorate Jesus’ death on the cross. Pope Francis has a beautiful reflection for God Friday, “ Lord Jesus, help us to see in your Cross all the crosses of the world: The cross of those who hunger for bread and for love; The cross of those who are alone or abandoned even by their own children and family members; The cross of those who thirst for justice and peace; The cross of those who do not have the comfort of the faith; The cross of the elderly who are bowed down under the weight of years and loneliness; The cross of migrants who find doors closed because of fear, and hearts sealed by political calculations; The cross of the little ones, wounded in their innocence and purity; The cross of humanity that wanders in the darkness of uncertainty and in the darkness of the culture of the fleeting moment; The cross of families broken by betrayal, by the seductions of the evil one or by murderous lightness and by selfishness; The cross of consecrated persons who tirelessly seek to bring your light into the world and feel rejected, mocked and humiliated; The cross of consecrated persons who, along the way, have forgotten their first love; The cross of your children who, believing in you and trying to live according to your word, find themselves marginalized and discarded even by their families and their peers; The cross of our weaknesses, our hypocrisies, our betrayals, our sins and our many broken promises; The cross of your Church which, faithful to your Gospel, struggles to carry your love even among the baptized themselves; The cross of the Church, your bride, who feels continually attacked from within and from without; The cross of our common home that withers seriously before our selfish eyes that are blinded by greed and power. Lord Jesus, rekindle in us the hope of the resurrection and of your definitive victory against all evil and all death. Amen!”

Saint John Chrysostom says “If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also, with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim, and I have been saved by it.

And the Author of the Letter to Hebrews sums up the sacrifice of Jesus in this way “When Christ came as high priest of the good things which have come to be, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation. He entered, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, and achieved eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself up unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God!

This is why he is mediator of a new covenant: since his death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Where there is a testament, it is necessary that the death of the testator be confirmed. For a testament comes into force only in the case of death; it has no force while the testator is alive. Hence, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

When Moses had read all the commandments of the law to the people, he took the blood of goats and calves, together with water and crimson wool and hyssop, and sprinkled the book and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.” He also sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of worship with blood. According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

It was necessary that the copies of the heavenly models be purified in this way, but the heavenly realities themselves called for better sacrifices. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself that he might appear before God now on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself there again and again, as the high priest enters year after year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer death over and over from the creation of the world. But now he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sins once for all by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that men die once, and after death be judged, so Christ was offered up once to take away the sins of many; he will appear a second time not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him” (Hebrews 9:11-28).

The third most important day in the Holy Triduum is Easter Sunday, the day our Lord conquered the death and rose from the dead. This victory can only be understood by people who know how to serve and sacrifice for others. He is truly risen from the dead, Alleluia, Alleluia. According to St. Augustine “it was impossible for the Author of life to stay under the earth for long” The Christians all over the world have been preparing themselves with prayer, penance, and work of charity to celebrate the greatest feast of all times, that’s Easter. No one expected that it is going to happen that a man who was once crucified going to rise. St. Paul rightly says in his first letter to Corinthians “Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

According to Pope Francis “The women had gone to anoint the Lord’s body and instead found themselves standing before a surprise. When God announces something, it is always a surprise because God is a God of surprises. It has been that way from the beginning of the story of salvation with Abraham: one surprise after another. God does not know how to make an announcement without surprising us. Surprise moves our hearts and touches us where we do not expect. Once those women saw he is risen, they did not stop there but their reaction was priceless. They rushed back to share with the disciple, what they have seen. God’s surprises demand an immediate response. Peter and John ran to the tomb. The shepherds on the night when Christ was born ran to see what the angel had revealed to them. The Samaritan woman also ran to say to her people, “this is something entirely new. I have met a man who has told me everything that I have done—and the people knew what she had done. Even St.  Andrew did not waste time to go to St.  Peter to say that he had found the Messiah.

The Feast of Easter is a feast of proclamation of his resurrection and victory over death.  That salvation for us is won by Lord by his own blood. Are we ready to proclaim that “Truly he is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia?

Wishing you all a very Blessed and Happy Easter!

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