Catholics journeying towards the New Jerusalem through the sacrament-season of Lent, our mysterious New Exodus, from this Sunday onward especially via the Roman Rite’s Extraordinary Form, begin to undergo severe liturgical kénosis, or emptying. Images are covered over to deprive the sense of sight, prayers are pruned from Mass. When the Triduum strikes, more and more things, including light itself, will be stripped away as we set our faces towards the mount, the Cross and the tomb.
If we can connect ourselves in heart and mind with the Church’s liturgy in which these sacred mysteries are re-presented, then by our active receptivity we become participants in the saving mysteries of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
