Why does our Easter Vigil Mass have to be so late in the evening? As we draw closer to Easter, I want to speak of the Easter Vigil Mass in the life of the Church while also addressing the question of why it starts at the scheduled time of 9:30 pm (and not earlier). In the liturgical year, it is the Sacred Triduum that stands as the high point of the entire liturgical year as the Triduum commemorates the Lord Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. For it is in these mysteries that Christ accomplishes His redeeming work of freeing us from sin and gifting us with a share in His eternal kingdom. This “triduum” contains the three separated, but deeply connected moments of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night after dark on Holy Saturday. In fact, these three moments are so intimately connected that they are kept as one liturgy (and hence this is why the