It'll be the first Easter "alone" in a few years. I went to Holy Thursday mass today at St. Matthew's. This day, part of the triduum, was always my favorite of Holy Week. I remember going with mom as a little kid, seeing the church all bare and solemn, the altar servers filling rows of pews. The washing of the feet. The incense. The candle lit ceremony, the procession, the canopy...the hymns, the silence. The build up to Good Friday and the Holy Saturday blessing of the Easter baskets, with their potato salad, ham, eggs, kielbasa, and the other Easter feast foods. It has been over twenty years now, I think, since I've been to that type of service. And I think I will remember those masses more than most of the ones I've attended in my entire life (I'm guessing at least 2,000?!).
I ran into one of our lawyers after Palm Sunday mass and we had tea, chatting a bit about Catholicism and college and times when you fall away. And I said this is why you trust your child, to continue on in the faith they were raised. And maybe they will remain or maybe they will drift away, only to return when they leave campus.
On a somewhat related note, there are reports that Jews are being ordered to register in East Ukraine. Now, more than ever, is time to speak out for people of faith, people who have been persecuted in the past, during one of the holiest times of the year.
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