History, meet Eternity. Eternity - history.

I didn't know what I wanted to write about tonight. Then I went to the Holy Thursday evening Mass.

Lent ends with the beginning of the Holy Thursday Mass. We do have one more meatless Friday, and our attitude of fasting and penance doesn't decrease. Rather, it intensifies as we enter the Triduum. The Triduum - "three days" - Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday - forms a mini liturgical season of its own. The Mass on Holy Thursday isn't a full Mass. It's the first 1/3 of a Mass that starts on Thursday, has a middle section on Friday, and concludes with the Easter Vigil on Saturday night.

My watch came off before tonight's Mass. It won't go back on until Monday morning. The events we celebrate this weekend occurred in time, but they are not of time. They occurred in history, but they are not of history. Rather, they are the events in which eternity touched time and history. The eternal God became the historical Jesus, and on this weekend Jesus completes his work on earth and brings the eternal to us, in a wafer of unleavened bread, a cup of wine. And you can't really ask, "How?" It's too much for the human mind to bear. You can only ask, "Who?" "Who is the God-Man that brought eternity to earth, and presents humanity to God?" "Jesus of Nazareth."

Mass started at 7:00. That would have probably been about the time that, in three of the Gospels Jesus was presiding over the Last Supper. John tells us that, when Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus, the supper was just wrapping up, and it was dark. By 7:00 in these parts it's not dark yet.

Mass ended about 8:15. By then it was dark. We exited the Church. On that night so long ago, Judas exited that upper room. Before this night is out, there will be a trial before the Sanhedrin - Peter's bravado - Peter's triple denial - the appearance before Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate again. Then beating - flogging - crown of thorns. . .

So tonight, in Mass and after, we keep watch. We keep company. We honor the sacrifice that no other human being ever born could have made.

And time and eternity meet.

Other thoughts:

St. Mary's in  Davenport is about 75% Latino. Most of the major Masses are bilingual. So, the reading from Exodus (the account of the Passover) was read in English, with the Spanish in print. The New Testament reading - from 1 Corinthians - was the other way around. And Father Ed read the Gospel in Spanish and English. Prayers and the homily were in both languages. I'm a Eucharistic minister, and I was distributing the host, to some with "The body of Christ" and to others with "El Cuerpo de Cristo." It was all a celebration of something else - no matter the skin color, no matter the language spoken, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Bilingual Masses are a highlight of my year.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. Time meets eternity, and it does seem that time wins, doesn't it?

Thanks. Hasta luego!