Monday, April 06, 2015

How was your Triduum?

On Holy Thursday, Rocky and I went to our parish and he ushered.  Fr. Sharp is not an orator but what he says is like gold nuggets for your soul if you listen. Looking at him is like seeing a geyser that is about to go off. He's so full of the Holy Spirit and has such piety it's almost too much for a body to contain.

After Mass the Blessed Sacrament was taken in a procession to the altar of repose and the altar boys stripped the altar and left the tabernacle open. Rocky and I try to visit different churches to pray before their repose altars but both of us were beat and so we just visited two, Our Lady of Vietnam in Arlington and St. James in Falls Church.

For Good Friday we went to Old St. John's in Silver Spring. It's an old and quite lovely little church. The celebrant was a young priest from Kentucky. In the evening we picked up my mother and we all went to the burial of Christ at the Franciscan Monastery in DC. We've been going for 20 years. The brothers tweak and edit the order of the service every year and so there are slight differences each time one attends. It's an intense experience and we look forward to it every year.

We went back to the Monastery for Easter Vigil. It was sublime and it's always thrilling to see people from all over the world at Mass. We had to move because the couple next to us brought their little daughter who was restless and fussy and wandering around while waving a lit candle. People discreetly shifted in their seats and gave her a wide berth. She stumbled into some chairs and came too close to Rocky's ear and that was enough for him. We left the area and sat on two folding chairs next to a back staircase.  Immediately after we sat down the couple came down the stairs and left.  I hope we didn't offend them by moving but it beat going to the ER.  After Mass we went home and went to bed.
For Easter dinner we laughed, told stories, and ate veal with squash and duck with orange sauce. A happy Eastertide to everyone.