SECULAR ORDER OF DISCALCED CARMELITES
England, Wales and Scotland
Easter Triduum reflections
by Fr Matt Blake OCD
In these reflections, Fr Matt draws on the Gospels and the insights of the Carmelite saints to take us through the most important days of our Christian year.
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We look at the Last Supper through Jesus’ eyes, as he tells his disciples all that they need to know before he departs – about his love with which he has loved them, his peace he gives them, and his own joy that will be in them, a joy that need not be contradicted by suffering. And he promises that he will send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who will lead them – and us – to the complete truth, the new relationship with God.
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The Good Friday reflection focuses on the conversation between Jesus and Pilate that can be seen as the climax of St John’s gospel, and gives an answer – so far as it can be expressed in words – to Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” It is an answer that Pilate was afraid to hear, but which the mystics have understood, recognising the Cross as the brightest light of Truth that our world has ever known or ever will know.
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Holy Saturday is a journey from death to life. For Jesus this journey involved a descent into hell, and Fr Matt explores what this meant for Him and what it means for us and for the world. For the women who stood at the foot of the Cross, the journey was into silence and solitude, and we can follow them, in the dark faith that St John of the Cross speaks about, and so be able to recognise the resurrected Jesus, completing our journey from darkness to light.
