The Paschal Triduum: A Roman Catholic way of teaching how to live and how to die

Abstract

This study explores the ritual of the Paschal Triduum, the Roman Catholic Church's highest expression of the mystery of faith. The research interprets the three-day celebration as a ritual pilgrimage of hope. It reveals a cycle of deep human activity. Drawing insight particularly from the work of Gabriel Moran, the study maintains that the liturgy of the Triduum discloses a profound rhythm of life, namely, showing participants how to live and how to die.^ The guiding question of the research is: How does the Paschal Triduum religiously educate toward a way of being in the world? To engage this question, education is viewed as a process of the reshaping of life in its multiple forms from birth to death.^ Contextually, the topic and thesis is set in a historical, theological, and liturgical frame of reference and analysis. The distinct approach of the study is that it views the Triduum from the perspective of a form and practice of religious educational activity.^ The study's purpose is to demonstrate that the ritual pilgrimage of the Paschal Triduum teaches, and the gathered community learns, to practice a unique Roman Catholic way of being in the world.^