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Email a FriendI have a 6 & 4 yr old boys and a 9 month old baby girl. We haven’t been able to participate regularly in years and looks like this will continue for near future. I took the boys this morning to church while no one was there and we walked through the Stations of the Cross together. After dinner I will break some Matza and pass it around with some grape juice and read about the last supper from a children’s Bible. Might wash their feet. Tomorrow we will go to the 3:00 PM service as a family for adoration of the Cross for the first time in years. Saturday we will die eggs and then will go to the Ressurection Mass on Sunday morning. On Sundays I normally take the boys and my wife goes to the next Mass by herself so she can get at least one hour of peace and reflection during the week without a child trying to climb on her. For Easter we will try to go together.
Triduum Juggling
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 3:00 PM
Celebrating the Triduum is a lot easier when you don’t have children yet.
I remember the days when I could concentrate through Mass on Thursday, the Good Friday service, and the entire Easter Vigil, and use the time in between liturgies to read the scriptures and pray and meditate.
I love having children, but I do sometimes think wistfully of the simplicity of those days.
Bryan and I have had several discussions about the most prudent way for us to handle the various liturgical celebrations this year. Our daughter gets very cranky when she’s tired, so it would be a bad idea to keep her up late for Mass on Holy Thursday and then take her to the Good Friday service right in the middle of her nap time the next day. We do want to take her to one of them, but which one? And who gets to go the other one and who has to stay home with her?
The baby is still small enough to sleep through anything, so I could go and leave the toddler home with Bryan. But on the other hand, wouldn’t it be better for me to stay home with both kids and let him go entirely unencumbered so he could concentrate? Do we try to make the Stations of the Cross at the church on Friday, or keep our expectations reasonable and plan to read them at home?
We’ve already decided the Easter Vigil is not an option for us this year, and we’ll go to Mass Easter morning. At least that’s one thing decided.
Add to this the fact that we’re traveling back to our hometown to spend the Triduum there and celebrate Easter with my family, and the logistics of the next four days are a little overwhelming. I think we’re just going to have to relax and play it by ear as much as possible.
What does your Triduum look like? How do you juggle the logistics of taking your family to different services?
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