Last week, we had our beautiful celebrations of the Sacred Triduum at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

We began our celebrations on the evening of Holy Thursday with our bilingual Mass of the Last Supper.

The Mass, of course, commemorates Christ's institution of the Eucharist. But another very important part of the celebration is the Mandatum ceremony, the Washing of the Feet, which recalls Jesus washing the Apostles' feet at the Last Supper and his command that we should love one another as he loves us.

After the Mass, the Eucharist was brought to the altar of repose in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. There, we had adoration, followed by the praying of Compline at 11:30. As always, we were very happy to be joined by many of our local college students for the celebration.



Good Friday

On Good Friday, we had three Stations of the Cross processions visit the cathedral. The first was the Way of the Cross for Life.

We were also visited by the group from Communion and Liberation. They have a procession through the streets of Boston, which they conclude at the cathedral. I was very happy to greet them and give them a brief reflection in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

And, of course, we had our own Living Stations of the Cross procession organized by the Hispanic community of the cathedral.

I was with them for the first Station at the cathedral.

Then, they continued through the streets of the neighborhood before concluding back at the cathedral, where they reenacted Christ's crucifixion and burial.

Each year, many of our cathedral parishioners work so hard to bring this together and it always comes out impressively.



The Lord's Passion

Then, at 3:00 p.m., we had our Liturgy of the Lord's Passion in English.

We are so grateful to Father David Barnes, who preached for us this year, and to the members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, many of whom accompanied us for the liturgy and acted as an honor guard as we venerated the relic of the True Cross.

That evening, we had our liturgy with the Spanish community as well.



Easter Vigil

That evening was, of course, the Easter Vigil.

It's a beautiful ceremony, which begins with the blessing of the Easter fire and the singing of the Exultet.

It's always a great joy to welcome our new Catholics into the Church at the Easter Vigil.

As always, we had a number of baptisms and confirmations.



Funeral Mass

Thursday morning, I went to St. Agatha in Milton to celebrate the funeral Mass of Father Patrick McLaughlin.

Father McLaughlin had been in residence at St. Agatha's for the last several years but spent most of his priestly ministry at St. Joseph in Medford. The great impact he had during his ministry was evidenced by the large number of priests, former parishioners, and friends who turned out for his funeral. Father McLaughlin comes from a very large Irish family. So, many members of his family were there with us as well, including his brother, Deacon James McLaughlin, who joined us on the altar.

Father Frank Cloherty, a long-time friend of Father McLaughlin, preached the homily. He said they had an agreement that they would speak at each other's funerals. He said it obviously couldn't work out for both of them, but at least he got the last word!