BRAINTREE -- For his first Easter Triduum as Archbishop of Boston, Archbishop Richard G. Henning decided to join in celebrations of this holiest time in the Christian calendar at various locations throughout the archdiocese.

The archbishop began his Triduum celebrations on Holy Thursday, April 17, joining seminarians at St. John's Seminary for the Mass of the Last Supper.

On Good Friday, April 18, he joined Boston College High School for their Way of the Cross in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, he joined the Communion and Liberation movement's annual Way of the Cross through Downtown Boston. The procession began on Boston Common and stopped at landmarks such as Old South Meeting House, the Old State House, and City Hall for readings and hymns.

In a crowd of about 100 faithful, Archbishop Henning walked the way of the cross through downtown's maze of streets. They passed throngs of tourists led by guides in colonial garb, corporate storefronts, jewelry shops selling golden crosses, and a man in a rooster mascot suit selling fried chicken. Some honked horns as police officers blocked traffic to clear the way. One young man on a scooter crossed himself as the procession went by. The Way of the Cross concluded at St. Leonard of Port Maurice Parish in the North End.

Later that evening, Archbishop Henning celebrated the Good Friday liturgy in Spanish at St. Columbkille Parish in Brighton.

On Saturday, April 19, the archbishop celebrated the Easter Vigil at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Brookline.

In his homily, the archbishop pointed out the parallels between Christ's sacrifice on the cross and Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.

"Isaac is a Christ figure, carrying the wood up the hill for the sacrifice and willingly allowing himself to be bound and laid upon the altar for the sacrifice," he said. "But of course, in the case of Abraham's beloved son, God stops the sacrifice."

The archbishop said that, in Scripture, God also refers to Christ as his "beloved son."

"God surprises us," he said. "The answer to our being trapped in alienation is that he gives us his son, his very heart, his beloved son, another young man who will walk up a hill carrying the wood of sacrifice, who will be bound, who will lie down upon the altar of the cross, and whose life's blood will pour. No substitute this time. And so now, the story of Abraham and Isaac is really a story of the truth that God would do anything to redeem us, to restore us, to draw us to him, to bring him to his heart."

He said that God chose not to spare his son because he wanted to set humanity free from sin.

"Those men and women in the hours and days after the resurrection, they were still struggling to understand and make sense," he said. "Like us, they lived in a world that could be beautiful and ugly at the same time. They lived with hopes and fears, but they came to understand something that changed them completely. It transformed them and their way of living, for in the resurrection of Jesus, their eyes were finally opened."

After the homily was the Liturgy of Baptism, where about a dozen catechumens were baptized by the archbishop. Following the baptisms, several candidates, those who are baptized but not Catholic, were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. They and the newly baptized then received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Henning.

After Mass, the archbishop said that he had "a special gratitude to those who have received the church or were baptized into the church this day, and all those who have accompanied you on that journey of faith."

"We are so grateful to you for this gift you give to the church today, that gift of your own witness of faith," he said. "I can't think of a better Easter gift."

Later that night, Archbishop Henning went to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England in Boston to attend its Easter Vigil, presided over by Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston. It is an annual tradition for the metropolitan to attend the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on the Tuesday of Holy Week, and for the archbishop to attend the Orthodox Easter Vigil.

On Easter Sunday, April 20, Archbishop Henning celebrated Mass at the cathedral, and offered a special blessing to those who would be running in the Boston Marathon the next day.