The Triduum

Karl Rahner writes: “What we call his resurrection – and unthinkingly take to be his own private destiny – is only the first surface indication that all reality has already changed in the really decisive depth of things. The new creation has already started, the new power of a transfigured earth is already being formed from the world’s innermost heart, into which Christ has descended by dying ... He is here. He is the heart of this earthly world and the mysterious seal of its eternal validity.”

Jesus did not begin to save the world by transfiguring first the visible symptoms. Because the evil of injustice, war and greed still carves new marks in the face of the earth, we fear that Easter really is about the next life. We wonder whether the world is absolutely saved. But, as with sick and shallow institutions and churches, the resistant surface is usually the last to collapse. Easter faith is about believing in the light while it is still dark. The Triduum is never over. And a vital contribution still belongs to us. By virtue of our solidarity with the Saviour, everyone and everything is redeemed and completed

Daniel O'Leary's Human touch of Easter in the TABLET, March 2007

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 47

On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God

The indicating of the hour for the Work of God
by day and by night
shall devolve upon the Abbot
either to give the signal himself
or to assign this duty to such a careful brother
that everything will take place at the proper hours.

Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned
by those who are appointed for it,
in their order after the Abbot.
And no one shall presume to sing or read
unless he can fulfill that office
in such a way as to edify the hearers.
Let this function be performed
with humility, gravity and reverence,
and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.