It is amazing how quickly lent came and went and now we approach the Triduum. I've found that Triduum services can be either wonderful or excrutiatingly boring, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground. One place that is unparralled for Holy Week is the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. They put on a good event, pleasant to listen and look, spiritually uplifting and community building. I think they do put a lot into preparations.

Last weeks Palm Sunday Gospel, Mark's Passion, was a bear. At our parish we read the entire thing and the reading was not as crisp as it should have been. It seemed like we stood for almost a half hour. By the way, it is believed that the passion is the original or foundational piece in Mark's Gospel and that the rest of the narritive was written to fit around it. It is dissproportionately long relative to everything else in the Gospel.