The Easter Triduum

The Easter Triduum begins tonight with the Mass of the Last Supper and ends with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. I can't believe Lent has flown by so fast, and Easter is almost here! Maybe it is due to Easter being so early this year. Anyhow, I thought I would take a second and share our plans for the next few days.


Holy Thursday:

• Our candle is lit in living room & has been all week.
• Read Bible Story for today and place symbol on Jesus Tree.
• Since today is also called Green Thursday, lunch will be spinach noodles and veggies.
• Read John 13:1-15.
• Story time: Through the Eyes of John
• Make or Buy Hot Cross Buns for Tomorrow.
• For dinner ~ Mexican Restaurant with relatives.
• 7 pm ~ Mass of the Lord's Supper.

Good Friday:

• Candle lit in living room.
• Fast (adults), abstain (kids).
• Read Bible Story for today and place symbol on Jesus Tree.
• Hot cross buns for breakfast.
• Story time: The Little Rose of Sharon & Children's Stations of the Cross
• Create a page for our Liturgical Notebooks while listening to The Passion of Christ (We have been listening to this all lent and my kids LOVE it!)
• Blow out candle in living room.
• 3:00 at Church: Passion & Veneration of the Cross.
• Don't forget to bring Rice Bowls to Church!
• Purchase Easter lilies while in town.
• Hubby & I will watch The Passion of the Christ after the kids are in bed.

Holy Saturday:

• Read Bible Story for today and place symbol on Jesus Tree.
• Decorate Easter eggs.
• Make Easter Candy--I bought a really neat kit for this!
• Make Resurrection Cookies.
• Decorate Paschal Candle.
• Hubby & Boys will clean out Fire Place (since there is no light/fire in it today).
• Prepare food for tomorrow.
• Prepare clothing for tomorrow.
• Easter Vigil Prayers at Home.
• Assemble Easter baskets and hide eggs after the kids are in bed.

Easter Sunday:

• Early Mass.
• Light Pascal Candle.
• Read Bible Story for today and place symbol on Jesus Tree.
• Easter Baskets for kids.
• Brunch at home.
• Indoor Easter Egg hunt.
• Dinner at Rascal's Godparents home.

We are also doing an easy little craft that I found in The Fifty Days of Easter for the Christian Family that you could still start today... I have been meaning to post about it, but got sidetracked with my Spring/Easter Cleaning. It is a Caterpillar/Cocoon/Butterfly project. On Palm Sunday, you create a caterpillar. I used these directions. We then placed the caterpillar on the school table, where the kids have been looking at it all week. Tomorrow, Good Friday, we will place the caterpillar in a brown paper bag cocoon. After the kids go to bed on Saturday night, and I am decorating for Easter, I will depose of the caterpillar and replace it with a beautifully decorated butterfly. On Easter morning, the kids will open the cocoon to find the butterfly, which is a symbol of the Resurrection! This can then lead to a discussion about Jesus who rose from the dead, and in the future butterflies will remind them of our Resurrected Lord!

Next year I hope to do a Jonah project with the kids... We'll see! :)

Does your family have any special Triduum traditions?