Three great days
We are about to enter three very special days in our lives as Christians as we celebrate Jesus’ last meal with the disciples, his death and his resurrection. These three celebrations on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday gather up the whole life and ministry of Jesus and help us understand better the life to which we, too, are called.
Once again this year we are presenting our Celebrating At Home series of prayer and reflections which you can use even if you are able to celebrate in Church.
We remain conscious of so many members of our Carmelite Family around the world who cannot celebrate either in Church or with family and friends this Easter. Many parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and South America remain in lockdown. Even those in Brisbane may not be able to gather. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
The liturgy on Holy Thursday is a meditation on the essential connection between the Eucharist and Christian love expressed in serving one another. Christ is not only present in the Eucharist but also in the deeds of loving kindness offered to others through us. We are the ones who make ‘real’ the presence of Jesus in every smile, kind word and loving action.
On Good Friday our liturgy is a meditation on God’s love poured out in the passion and death of the Lord. We pray for all those who share the passion with Jesus, for whom life is often a struggle who are scarred and wounded in many different ways. We pray for the love, courage and strength we need to help them.
Easter Sunday is a celebration of transformation. Where once there was only absence in death, now there is real Presence in life – an enduring presence of Christ who lives in and through us, continuing to raise the dead, restoring, healing and making whole.
As we journey together through these three days may our hearts be moved, our love and compassion deepened and our sense of the Risen Jesus with and within us strengthened.
The Carmelite of Australia & Timor-Leste hold you in our thoughts and prayer over these days.
Download our Celebrating At Home liturgies for these three days: