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Paul, unchained
Dear Editor,
Here is an anecdote about how our parish celebrated the Triduum this year. I was reading
the piece in your May issue (Worship Times, ML 15:4) about the "chain letter" from Paul,
and it made me think of this experience during our recent Easter celebration.
For some time now, we who prepare the Triduum liturgy in our parish of St. Francis have
wondered how best to present Paul’s powerful letter to the Romans that is proclaimed
during the Easter Vigil. Coming as it does after many Scripture readings, our experience
has been that the assembly is a little tired by the time we get to it and thus may not listen
very well. So this year, we asked the lector to be creative in her delivery. To the surprise
of all gathered, this is what happened. Following the Scripture stories, the Gloria was
sung, Easter flowers were brought in to the assembly, and the presider said the prayer.
Then we saw a person striding down the aisle to the ambo, waving a piece of paper,
yelling, "I have a letter! I have a letter from Paul to the community of St. Francis!"
Everyone present hung on every word of the proclamation.
It is, of course, but a very small piece of our Triduum. We have done much in our small
inner-city parish to engender "full, conscious and active participation" among the faithful.
For the last four years we have celebrated our Easter Vigil in the early morning hours
before sunrise. Approximately two-thirds of all who come on Easter come to the Vigil.
About the same number come on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Having walked with
our catechumens on their journey of faith since before Lent, the baptisms, professions of
faith and confirmations are joyfully celebrated by all when the Easter sunrise pours
through an east-facing window. The newly initiated are welcomed to the table of the Lord
for the first time. Then the whole community breaks the fast together with a meal in our
parish dining hall.
Janet Stevens
Portland, Oregon
Triduum reservations
Dear Editor,
Thank you for your fine periodical.
We have found each month of ML to be very helpful, informative, and easy to understand.
Keep up the good work!
St. Brigid’s Parish, located in historic Lexington, Mass., is made up of over 7,500
members of all ages. Since its establishment in 1848, St. Brigid’s has helped weave
together the ever-present sense of history so vital to Lexington with the challenging needs
of our common future.
These are before-and-after pictures of our chapel of reservation from this year’s Triduum.
Our ideas and inspiration came in part from ML and was a collaborative effort between
our director of religious education and the worship commission. We were very pleased
with results and received encouraging feedback from our parishioners. These pictures
demonstrate, as you have shown in your periodical, how one can take a plain space and
turn it into a peaceful and prayerful atmosphere.
Rev. David P. O’Donnell
Lexington, Mass.
Web discovery
Dear Editor,
I recently discovered your website <> and have fallen in love
with ML. It seems, from what I have so far devoured from the portions of the magazine
available on-line, that there are references to goings-on in my diocese (Worcester, Mass.),
with one most recently about immersion baptismal fonts with Fr. Peter Joyce (ML
25:2).
At my parish, St. George’s in Worcester, I am family ministry coordinator. I am also a
member of the baptismal preparation team and the choir. We are planning an immersion
font in the very near future, so that topic was of particular interest to me. Your Home
Church department is a definite interest as well.
My plans are to subscribe to ML as soon as possible.
Ruth Viens,
Worster, Mass.
email: Ruth Viens
What do YOU Think?
Send an e-mail to ML Editor
or post an entry on the ML Current Issue
Discussion Board. (All submissions become the property of RPI and may
be edited for length.)
—ML
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