Easter always has been a deeply moving liturgical season for me.
As a college student, I was heavily involved in the Triduum
– Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. I didn’t know it then, but those
incredible adults who were role models, along with one inspirational pastor, laid
the groundwork for my love of tradition, the beautify of the sacraments and combining faith with hospitality.
Though my life has changed dramatically since my college choir years – I since have graduated college,
started teaching, gotten married, had children, switched careers, and started
hosting Easter on Sunday for family and friends – still, the
Triduum remains one of the most beautiful times of the year ~ and I am so blessed that my girls feel the power of these three days as well.
There is so much beauty in the Holy Thursday Mass.
Watching our priest take a towel and a basin with a pitcher
of water, and bend to wash the feet of twelve men from our parish, I’m moved
to serve. Jesus knew he was going to die, and, yet, he loved his apostles – he
washed their feet, caring for them in a way that takes humility, compassion and
great tenderness. He knew one would betray him, but, still, he ministered to them and helped them feel comfortable and refreshed before he broke bread with them.
As our priests consecrate the Eucharist, I am reminded of the institution of the Eucharist and the initiation of the priesthood. Then, just as Jesus asks his
apostles to keep watch on the night before he is killed, we are invited to stay
and keep watch. We pray – in silence. In darkness. In adoration.
Perhaps I didn’t know it yet, but Holy Thursday set a
foundation for me – a model of meeting people where they are – and extending an
invitation for coffee, a meal or just a place to spend time together. Holy Thursday begs me to be
a servant first. It calls me to be a better homemaker -- a better wife, a
better mother, a better friend. It demonstrates the great blessing bestowed
by sitting with someone ... even sitting in silence.
A wonderful woman was the hands and feet of
Jesus for me when I was a new(ish) mom, overtired, afraid, alone, feeling like
an inadequate mom and failing as a wife … this woman invited me to
her home, in the dead of winter and snow and cold – almost an hour away, mind
you – and her children took my children and she made me a cup of coffee, gave
me a blanket, sat with me and cried with me and encouraged me. She prayed with me. And then she
fed me. I will never forget that day. It changed the way I experienced Holy Thursday. It forever altered the way I look at friendship – it hearkened back to
Jesus and the Last Supper and in the Garden of Gethsemane … when being present is the gift.
She was the face of Christ for
me, and she still is. Recently, in a moment of desperation, at nearly midnight, she answered the phone, she listened, and she prayed with me. She lives the gospel message fully -- even when it is inconvenient for her.
And then there is Good Friday. You can’t get to
Easter Sunday without having walked through Good Friday. This is the embodiment of the pure agony Jesus endured – for us. But one element
that I hadn’t thought about until I was older was that Jesus didn’t walk the
road to the cross on his own. In his most difficult steps toward Calvary, he
accepted help from Simon of Cyrene.
He accepted help.
He didn’t scoff and say,
“I can handle this.” He accepted help with grace. And then, he alone felt every nail, painfully drew breath, and withstood vicious taunting. All of this he did to fulfill every prophecy.
This
reminds me to not only bear suffering with grace, but to accept help with
grace. I’ve been humbled in so many ways – and have had to ask for help so
frequently -- and, so often, it is that friend who answers.
Easter Vigil celebrates the Resurrection – that blessed
night that brings with it hope for the world – there is victory over the grave.
All is grace.
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| Lumen Christi |
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| The Light of Christ ... a light in the darkness ... spreading across our church. |
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| Newly baptized |
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| Consecration of the Holy Eucharist. |
Wishing you a beautiful and blessed season of Easter. May
you find hope in Christ, may you be hope to another, may you hope in the glory
of the Resurrection.
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| Our church after Easter Vigil Mass. |
