LITURGY MATTERS: Walking together through the Paschal Mystery

By Michael McKenna, Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies

Soon we will enter three days that stand at the very centre of the Church’s life. The Easter Triduum is the summit toward which the entire liturgical year leads, and the source from which our mission flows. Over these days, the Church prays together, walks, serves, suffers, listens attentively, discerns, and rises together with Christ.

Perhaps one of the clearest images of a ‘synodal’ Church, everything synodality seeks to foster—communion, participation, listening, accompaniment, discernment, and mission—is embodied in these three days. More than a sequence of beautiful liturgies, the Triduum gives sacramental expression to a people journeying as one in Christ. Drawn into the heart of the Paschal Mystery, we learn again who we are and who we are called to become as the People of God.

Holy Thursday, presents us Jesus’ astonishing act of service: the washing of feet. Christ kneels before his disciples, showing us that communion is built on humility, generosity, and mutual care. A synodal Church is one where no one walks ahead alone and no one is left behind unnoticed. Each called to serve, but also allowing ourselves to be served. In the Eucharist, Christ gathers us as one body. Listening to his Word and sharing one bread, we are reminded that the true work of the Church is achieved in the disposition of the heart—a willingness to humble oneself, to accompany, and to love.

Good Friday places the whole Church at the foot of the Cross. Across the world, in countless languages and countless places, we will enter a deep silence of prayer. The Solemn Intercessions give voice to what synodality requires daily: to hold the suffering, the forgotten, the broken, and even the unbelieving before God with compassion and hope. Good Friday reveals that the Church’s path is marked by participation in shared vulnerability and hope. A synodal Church dares to face human pain honestly and to accompany it with Christ’s tenderness.

Finally, at the Easter Vigil, light will break into the darkness. From a single flame, the light of Christ spreads until the whole assembly shines—no one illumined alone, but all illuminated together. This is synodality made visible: each person’s faith strengthening the faith of all. As we hear the account of our salvation and renew our baptismal promises, we are reminded that the mission of the Church is entrusted to all the baptised. We rejoice with the newly initiated, and we go forth as a community of missionary disciples, filled with Easter joy.

The Triduum draws us into communion, into participation, into mission. It reminds us that synodality is not a new initiative, but an ancient way of being Christ’s Church. Walking together through the Paschal Mystery this Easter, may we rediscover the Church Christ calls us to be.