At the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, the Trappist monks will chant. In Sacramento, numerous voices and instruments will fill the vast Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. And in Red Bluff, as in many rural parishes of the diocese, a small choir will lead parishioners in song through the three sacred days of the Easter triduum.

“Music is integral to all our liturgies, especially during the solemn ones when music takes a more central role,” said Jackson Schoos, director of the office of worship for the diocese.

He is also the director of liturgy and music at the cathedral. Like his colleagues in other parishes, he is spending the final days of Lent preparing the musicians whose voices and instruments will help weave the separate liturgies of the Easter triduum into a unified whole.

The triduum (in Latin) refers to the three-day period of liturgical observance which begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening and ends with evening prayer on Easter. The liturgies are the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and Death, the Easter Vigil service and the Easter Sunday Mass of the Resurrection.

At the cathedral, Bishop William K. Weigand will preside throughout the triduum. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday will be a bilingual observance of many voices.

“It’s a time when we bridge a lot of traditions,” Schoos said.

The Latin hymns that commemorate the institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist will blend with songs from the English and Spanish-speaking traditions, he said.

On Saturday the solemn Easter Vigil service begins in the plaza outside the cathedral where the bishop will ignite a fire, then bless and light the large white Paschal candle. Schoos will carry it into the darkened nave while he sings the ancient Easter proclamation called the “Exsultet.”

“That really expresses the heart of the Easter message. Through his death and resurrection Christ has brought light into the world, and a promise to share that light with us,” Schoos said.

“Everything we do in liturgy has another level, another whole set of meanings that transform us and connect us to God,” he added. “We join ourselves to Christ through our participation in liturgy.”

For many, the triduum forms one observance of the central moment of salvation history in the life of every Christian and the Christian community.

“It’s important to view the triduum as one liturgy in three movements,” said Father Michael Hebda, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Red Bluff. “I always encourage people to attend all three services. If we don’t, we haven’ t experienced the fullness of the triduum.”

He said that the most valuable aspect of music during the triduum is that it allows people to express the deep feelings that they are experiencing.

“On Good Friday when people are approaching the cross for veneration, music is essential because it gives them an outlet for the emotional response to the Gospel they’ve just heard,” he said. “The music becomes more than ‘sung prayer.’ It’s a catharsis.”

He says worshipers need that physical and emotional expression. “Lyrics put into words what we’re feeling,” he said.

For that part of the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and Death, Marie Stricker, choir director at Sacred Heart, plans to have the choir sing the Taize refrain, “Jesus Remember Me.”

“It’s almost a melodic mantra. You lose yourself in that song as you approach the cross,” she said.

She says that the procession to venerate the cross is one of the most emotionally evocative moments of any of the liturgies.

“We embrace the cross, kiss it or touch it, and all of us take our time,” she said. “We all have to have our moment with God right there.”

She pointed out that music helps emphasize the unity of the triduum.

“There’s an entrance hymn on Holy Thursday, but no exit hymn. Then on Good Friday there’s neither an entrance nor an exit,” she said, noting that a concluding hymn does not occur until the end of the Easter Vigil. “The triduum is one big service.”

She finds that Holy Thursday, with its emphasis on the Eucharist, is an important liturgy for the community and for all persons involved in ministry.

“Our response to the sacrament has to be service,” she said.

Stricker has been involved with music at Sacred Heart Parish since 1967 after the Second Vatican Council laid the groundwork for liturgical change, including a focus on parishioners worshiping through song.

“I want to proclaim the word in music and through music,” she said. “It’s never about any one musician. We’re simply the servants.”

Denise Peters provides piano accompaniment for Sacred Heart’s choir throughout the year, but not on Good Friday.

“Our choir sings a cappella that day,” she said.

To take advantage of the soaring arched ceiling and excellent acoustics in the Red Bluff church, the choir sings from the balcony loft for one day of the year.

“There’s nothing more beautiful, more magnificent than voices making music,” Peters said. “Walking up the aisle, it’s such a moving experience to see the mix of people ó young and old ó embracing the cross. The music comes down from the choir loft and falls directly into my soul.”

She admits that preparing volumes of music for the Easter triduum requires enormous amounts of practice.

“But it’s a ministry,” she said. “You reach a point where you understand that it really is for the greater glory of God.”

When she became the accompanist a few years ago she was nervous about making mistakes. But that subsided when she realized the difference between playing the piano for others and being part of a music ministry.

“You know those silent prayers musicians say before they begin ó ‘God, make it work, make me forget about my fingers. This isn’t about me, just work through me.’ It’s simply a gift,” she said. “It’s what I have and what I offer. It’s so transcendent from the self, and you hope to develop a servant’s heart.”

Copyright © 2003 Diocese of Sacramento - All Rights Reserved