Rome issues Triduum instructions

[Southern Comfort]

French, English and Spanish.

[pdsfd]

It is a shame that the period from the 4th Sunday of Lent through to Pentecost and all the liturgies that come with it couldn't be moved to later in the year, in place of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

[Nick Baty]

That's been suggested in an April Fool published today: https://www.facebook.com/groups/300911236958173/

[Southern Comfort]

It is a shame that the period from the 4th Sunday of Lent through to Pentecost and all the liturgies that come with it couldn't be moved to later in the year, in place of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

You can't pretend that you are somewhere different in the calendar. It's the same case as if you were in an isolation hospital or on a desert island for 6 months. When you come out, you pick up life at the date where you find yourself, not trying to live in an imaginary different world.

Let's say we emerge from this crisis at the end of August. In September, we won't be able to celebrate Easter or Pentecost, but we will be able to
* celebrate a return to some kind of normality, although the world and our lives will look very different by then;
* baptise those who have been thirsting for this moment;
* bless palms, or distribute them if we already blessed them privately on Palm Sunday;
* bless and distribute candles, lit from the Paschal Candle;
* commemorate those who have died as a result of the pandemic;
* and much else besides.

Even now we should be at least starting to plan what that joyful celebration / those joyful celebrations could look like. People will need a really cathartic experience after these times of privation.

[Nick Baty]

It is,of course, an April Fool, SC. But it has inspired some fine ideas from your good self!

[John Ainslie]

It is a shame that the period from the 4th Sunday of Lent through to Pentecost and all the liturgies that come with it couldn't be moved to later in the year, in place of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

You can't pretend that you are somewhere different in the calendar. It's the same case as if you were in an isolation hospital or on a desert island for 6 months. When you come out, you pick up life at the date where you find yourself, not trying to live in an imaginary different world.

Let's say we emerge from this crisis at the end of August. In September, we won't be able to celebrate Easter or Pentecost, but we will be able to
* celebrate a return to some kind of normality, although the world and our lives will look very different by then;
* baptise those who have been thirsting for this moment;
* bless palms, or distribute them if we already blessed them privately on Palm Sunday;
* bless and distribute candles, lit from the Paschal Candle;
* commemorate those who have died as a result of the pandemic;
* and much else besides.

Even now we should be at least starting to plan what that joyful celebration / those joyful celebrations could look like. People will need a really cathartic experience after these times of privation.

Bless and distribute palms later on in the year? It is indeed an option given by the official advice of the Congregation for Divine Worship, but I see no sense in it. Palms are a liturgical 'prop' for a procession that occurs only on Palm Sunday with a particular ritual significance on that day. No Palm Sunday, no procession, no prop.

[Southern Comfort]

Bless and distribute palms later on in the year? It is indeed an option given by the official advice of the Congregation for Divine Worship, but I see no sense in it. Palms are a liturgical 'prop' for a procession that occurs only on Palm Sunday with a particular ritual significance on that day. No Palm Sunday, no procession, no prop.

The thing is, many of the faithful like to keep palms, whether "straight" or folded into crosses, in their homes as devotional objects. Yes, I know they've already got them from last year and previous years, but there you go. People probably need prayer-props more than liturgical props just at the moment. In the same way that we will bless and distribute candles, I expect people to hanker after their palms, because in both cases they will see them as an aid to devotion rather than as a liturgical symbol.

It is going to be a strange time. One priest writing in today's Tablet says that we are currently promising memorial Masses for all the deceased whose funerals we cannot now properly celebrate, and that the period after all this is over will be a very busy time for priests in that respect. And of course additionally there will be baptisms, confirmations, first Communions, weddings and ordinations to catch up on....

[alan29]

It is a shame that the period from the 4th Sunday of Lent through to Pentecost and all the liturgies that come with it couldn't be moved to later in the year, in place of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

You can't pretend that you are somewhere different in the calendar. It's the same case as if you were in an isolation hospital or on a desert island for 6 months. When you come out, you pick up life at the date where you find yourself, not trying to live in an imaginary different world.

Let's say we emerge from this crisis at the end of August. In September, we won't be able to celebrate Easter or Pentecost, but we will be able to
* celebrate a return to some kind of normality, although the world and our lives will look very different by then;
* baptise those who have been thirsting for this moment;
* bless palms, or distribute them if we already blessed them privately on Palm Sunday;
* bless and distribute candles, lit from the Paschal Candle;
* commemorate those who have died as a result of the pandemic;
* and much else besides.

Even now we should be at least starting to plan what that joyful celebration / those joyful celebrations could look like. People will need a really cathartic experience after these times of privation.

Bless and distribute palms later on in the year? It is indeed an option given by the official advice of the Congregation for Divine Worship, but I see no sense in it. Palms are a liturgical 'prop' for a procession that occurs only on Palm Sunday with a particular ritual significance on that day. No Palm Sunday, no procession, no prop.

We have cut leaves from our neighbour's palm tree (with permission) and are going to put them on our front door like a Christmas wreath.
And on Easter day we are going to put our Christmas tree lights in our front window and a "Happy Easter" sign.
You don't have to be in church ........