Today we begin the Sacred Triduum

 Today This is the most important time in the Church's calendar, and beginning last evening, we've now begun it's most important feast. The three-day Easter Triduum commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and, through him, the very mystery of our salvation. It's what we've spent all of Lent preparing for, a time for earnest prayer, consideration of what we hold most dear in our lives, and an invitation to draw ever closer to our Savior, before whom all pales in comparison. As St. Paul said, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Php 3:8).

On Wednesday, the day before the beginning of the Triduum, there is a tradition here in Rome of an ancient pilgrimage, and one which for me was a nice way to cap off the station church practice.  Known as the Seven Church Walk, the path was first laid out in the mid-16th century by St. Philip Neri and his friends as a way of visiting the four major basilicas of Rome(above: B: St. Mary Major, E: St. John Lateran, G: St. Paul Outside the Walls, and H: St. Peter's) as well as three important minor basilicas (C: St. Lawrence Outside the Walls; D: Holy Cross of Jerusalem; F: Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls). In the succeeding centuries, it's been a way of gathering to worship with friends, spend some time in the fresh air, and see some of the beautiful religious and cultural sights of Rome all in one day. These same things were what appealed to those of us who undertook the walk on Wednesday. Our group included priests and seminarians from the NAC, American college kids studying abroad for the semester, some lay men and women who work here in Rome, and a few other colorful individuals.