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By Lauren Bierer  One Easter, not long after moving to Australia from the United States, my husband and I made a big mistake. We bought our children bikes so that they could play outside but they took it as a sign that Easter was a time for receiving gifts. Every Easter since they have provided us with a wish list and we find ourselves in an unwanted battle.
As church musicians, my husband and I have never used the Easter long weekend as a time for vacation as these days are the most important in the liturgical year and the busiest weekend for musicians. The sacred triduum is a three-day liturgy that begins at dusk on Holy Thursday and ends at dusk on Easter Sunday. Our children have experienced a few Holy Thursday Masses and remember the story of the Last Supper and the ritual of the foot washing. They have seen the altar stripped and flowers removed in preparation for the starkest liturgy in our Church calendar.
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By Dr. Jenny O'Brien  The season of Lent extends from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, when the Easter Triduum begins. During this period neither the Gloria nor the Alleluia are sung, and a different Collect (Opening Prayer) is provided for every day, to emphasise the importance of these weeks.
But have you ever wondered where the practice of having our foreheads signed with ashes originated? The Old Testament tells us that those doing penance would dress in sack-cloth and put ashes on their heads as a sign of their repentance and we know that this practice continued with the early Christians. You may not know, however, that penance in the weeks leading up to Easter was linked to preparation for baptism of adults which, in the Early Church, often took place at Easter. Quite early in the piece it became customary for all Christians to support those preparing for baptism by sharing with them in prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and taking time to reflect on what their own baptism meant to them. An 8th century sacramentary contains a ritual for the ‘Day of Ashes’ so we know that this way of marking the beginning of Lent is at least 13 centuries old! Author: Jenny O'Brien The purpose of any calendar is to help people within a given society to order their lives. Most modern countries use the Gregorian calendar, but in actual fact there are about forty different calendars in use around the world today, particularly for determining religious dates. The Church’s Liturgical Calendar is one of these and is not so much concerned with “counting days” but in setting out guidelines for the celebration of the mystery of Christ over the period of a year.
The Liturgical Year is based on the fact that Sunday is the primary day when Christians gather to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, with Easter as the most important Sunday of the year. And while Christmas does not necessarily fall on a Sunday, the birth of Christ is the other major feast around which the Church’s year is structured. |
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Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide
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