The Three Days: A Liturgical Guide, Revised Edition

The Three Days arose from a 1997 determination by Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC) member representatives that parish liturgists lacked a suitable guide to the Easter Triduum. To address that need, Dr. Lawrence J. Johnson, author of The Mystery of Faith: A Study of the Structural Elements of the Order of the Mass, brings together not only a vivid description of the historical development of each of the rites of the Triduum, but also provides full quotations from the relevant sections of official documents. The current edition incorporates texts from the Roman Missal, third edition.

The Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC), an association of diocesan liturgical commissions and diocesan worship offices, was founded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on the Liturgy (now the Committee on Divine Worship) in 1969 to offer a grassroots perspective on the pastoral-liturgical life in dioceses throughout the country and to assist the Committee in implementing the recently revised liturgy at the diocesan level. As a network of diocesan liturgy personnel, FDLC continues to advise the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship and assists bishops and other liturgical leaders in facilitating the public prayer of the Church.

Dr. Lawrence J. Johnson, a former Executive Secretary of the FDLC, has degrees in liturgy and sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America and the Institut Catholique in Paris, France. He is the author of numerous books on Catholic worship and its music, including the recently published four-volume Worship in the Early Church: An Anthology of Historical Sources. Dr. Johnson and his wife Marlene reside on the northern shores of Lake Michigan in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula.