Your Triduum, Your Life

Do you know what a triduum is? It's one of those fancy liturgical terms that most people don’t know about or don't even care about.

But everybody knows what the events are that make up the Triduum. Actually, I became a bit confused when looking into the Triduum—but it became one of those moments that got me thinking about something important I otherwise might not have thought about; something that applies to our daily lives.

The word triduum is Latin, “tri” referring to “three” and “duum” to “days”. So “three days”. But I realized I made an incorrect assumption as to which three days are referred to in the Triduum.

I thought it was the three days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday—the day of the Last Supper, the day of Christ’s death, and the day of Christ’s resurrection. The Triduum, however, refers to the three days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, being a period of preparation for the festival of the Resurrection.

There’s an important question in all of this: who is Christ and what did He come to do? A “triduum” can be a wonderful way of seeing exactly that.

The triduum of Christ’s birth, His death, and His resurrection encapsulate who He is and what He has done for us. He is God and yet became a man, humbling Himself for our sakes in order to die on the cross for the sin of the world, and conquering the grave by rising from it.

This is the “triduum” of salvation you could say. How this applies to us is obvious in that who He is and what He has done He is for us and has done for us. Further, His “triduum” has become our triduum. In Baptism we are born to new life. We die to sin and are raised to new life.

There are many important events in your life. You might say, though, that the “triduum” of your life is your birth, your Baptism, and your death. These three events in your life correspond to Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection.

God is the author of life and that applies to you personally as He granted you life in your birth. He is also the giver of salvation which He did in your Baptism. Even though death is not in the natural part of God’s plan, it is actually the entry way into heaven for you, as He will raise you from your grave. This is your life, new and eternal in Christ.