Into the Sacred Triduum Lent is ended — the great three days begin ✠

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H O LY W E E K · A N N O D O M I N I 2 0 2 6

Dear friends of Septuagesima70 — we have arrived. The long Lenten road, which began in the grey ashes of Septuagesima and carried us through the disciplines of these weeks, now delivers us to the threshold of the holiest days in the Christian year. Lent, properly speaking, is finished. What lies before us now is something alto‐

gether different: the Sacred Triduum.

From the evening of Holy Thursday, through the silence of Good Friday and the great fast of Holy Saturday, until the Exsultet rings out at the Easter Vigil — these are three days unlike any other in the calendar of the Church. They are not merely a solemn conclusion to Lent; they are the very heart toward which every Lent has always been pointing.

"We should glory in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ: in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection."

I N T R O I T, M A S S O F H O LY T H U R S D AY

The disciplines you have undertaken through this programme — the fast‐

ing, the almsgiving, the works of penance and interior recollection —

were never ends in themselves. They were a preparation of the soil, a clear‐

ing away, so that the seed of the Paschal Mystery might fall upon ground

made ready to receive it. That mystery is now upon us.

✦ ✦ ✦

During the Triduum, the Church calls all her children to fast. This is a fast distinct in character from the Lenten fast — more ancient, more absolute, and more immediately bound up with what we are commemorating. We fast because the Bridegroom is, in the most literal sense, taken from us; we fast because we keep vigil beside the sealed tomb; we fast because the whole of creation holds its breath. This fast is observed strictly on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and it does not cease until the Easter Vigil has been celebrated.

When the first Alleluia of Easter rings out — whether at the Vigil on Holy Saturday night or as Easter Sunday dawns — the fast ends, and the feast begins. Every bell, every candle, every white vestment, and every joyful Alleluia is the Church's answer to the silence of the tomb. We shallhave kept faith with the fast; we shall be ready to keep faith with the feast.

✠ A N O T E O N Y O U R L E N T E N O F F E R I N G S

Many of you have asked, or are wondering, where best to direct the alms and charitable o#erings you have set aside over these weeks of Lent. On Easter Sunday, I will post here a number of proposals — worthy causes and apostolates to which you might consider sending your Lenten gift, or making a contribution in the spirit of this season. Watch this space, and hold your generosity in readiness.

For now, enter these three days with calm and with courage. Go to the sacred liturgies if you are able. Observe the fast faithfully. Keep your hearts recollected. There is nothing left to do but what the Church has always done at this hour: to stand at the foot of the Cross, and to wait.

He who entered Jerusalem on Sunday and washed the feet of His disciples

on Thursday will be lifted up on Friday. On Saturday there is silence. And then —

et resurrexit.

A blessed and holy Triduum to each one of you.

✠

Fr. Withoos

T H E S A C R E D T R I D U U M · H O LY W E E K 2026

iriafoundation.org/septuagesima70