Liturgy and Easter

Last weekend we completed the most sacred time of our liturgical year, a time when we recall God's saving act of love, the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Church calls those three days the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil.  

On Holy Thursday we came together as a parish and celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper; and in remembering His Last Supper, we celebrated too His institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. Perhaps the most moving part of the liturgy is the Washing of the Feet at which our two priests, following the example of our Lord, washed the feet of twelve parishioners. It is a good reminder, not only to the clergy but to all Christians, that we are called to serve not to be served.

I haven't seen the exact figure, but I estimate that close to 1,000 parishioners attended our Holy Thursday Mass.

Then, to accommodate all those who planned to attend, we scheduled two Good Friday liturgies, one at the traditional time of 3 p.m. and a second at 6 p.m. No Mass is celebrated on Good Friday, but all present took part in a Liturgy of the Word, the adoration of the Cross, and then came together to receive our Lord in Holy Communion. At Thursday's Mass the pastor consecrated enough hosts to accommodate parishioners who took part in the Good Friday services. Probably upwards of 1,500 people attended the two services. 

On Saturday evening, just after sunset, we celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass. Always a beautiful liturgy, it began with the blessing of the Paschal Candle. Carrying the candle the deacon, followed by the other ministers, processed into the church which was illuminated only by the hand-held candles of the parishioners. The deacon then chanted the Exsultet, the song of Easter joy and praise. The extensive readings from Sacred Scripture highlighted the clear foreshadowing of Easter found throughout the Old Testament and contributed to our celebration of the fulfillment of God's loving plan for our redemption and salvation. During the Vigil Mass we also celebrated a baptism and received two people into the Church. All three were then confirmed and celebrated their first Holy Communion, making the liturgy even more special.

As the deacon in the parish with some responsibility for things liturgical, I have to be careful. Acting as Master of Ceremonies it's too easy to get so caught up fretting about the liturgy and its "mechanics" that I fail to take in its beauty and purpose. During the liturgy I must constantly remind myself of God's goodness and the wonder of the saving events we celebrate. And so we praise God for giving us this opportunity to thank Him through these Triduum celebrations. It was a very special time for our large and growing parish community.

Praise God -- praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Parish Deacons

For several years now I have been my parish's Director of Liturgy, an interesting assignment for which I am uniquely unqualified. I am certainly no liturgist, since I often find myself at a loss when faced with a particular liturgical issue, and usually have to run to the books and documents for the answer. Most liturgists I have known always seemed to be able to provide ready answers to pretty much any liturgical questions that came their way. Ah, well...I will muddle through and trust our liturgies do not stray too far from what the Church intends.

The reason I bring this up is the nearness of Holy Week and Easter, a time of the year when liturgy takes a front row seat and all its elements must be blended smoothly, with grace and holiness. The problem for me is that I spend so much time preparing for the Triduum liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil that I really don't have the opportunity to prepare for them spiritually. Even worse -- for me, at least -- is that I usually function as a sort of Master of Ceremonies during the Triduum and find myself necessarily focusing only on the liturgical process, making sure everything "goes well", and unable to appreciate the liturgy as it really is. I suppose that's just the way it is for anyone with liturgical responsibility and rather than whining, I should just thank God for the opportunity to serve Him, even as a part time liturgist. And, fortunately, I have the full support of my pastor and my brother deacons in the parish.

Because our parish is located adjacent to The Villages, a large retirement community here in central Florida, a significant majority of our parishioners are retired age. As you might expect we have relatively few young families and so baptisms are not very common in the parish. We will, however, celebrate an adult baptism at our Easter Vigil Mass, followed by four adult confirmations -- all the result of our budding R.C.I.A. program. We look forward to welcoming these new members into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

Another benefit of our location is the size of our parish's diaconal community. We have a total of eight deacons assigned to the parish, and all eight of us are transplants from other dioceses. Four are seasonal deacons (for some reason, they prefer not to be called "snow birds") who spend only part of the year with us; but the other four minister here year round. Given the rapid growth of our parish -- 20 to 30 percent per year -- these men have been a true blessing, and we will certainly miss our seasonal deacons as they begin their northern migration next month.

Seven of us and our wives got together last week for a little R&R in advance of Holy Week. (One of our brother deacons and his wife had to go north to care for a family medical emergency and were unable to join us.) We drove to the nearby resort town of Mt. Dora, enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the lovely, old, 19th century Lakeside Inn, and then took a two-hour boat tour of Lake Dora and the old Dora Canal offering us a glimpse into a more natural, almost primeval Florida. It proved to be a wonderful trip to view some of God's marvelous creatures: bald eagles, osprey, storks, herons, alligators, hawks, snapping turtles, and many other critters that I couldn't identify. I placed a few of the photos I took during our boat trip on flickr.com. Click here to view a slide show of these photos.

Above: Parish deacons and wives on the steps of the Lakeside Inn, Mt. Dora, FL

And so, we had a wonderful day. We not only strengthened the bonds of our community of deacons in the parish, but had an opportunity to enjoy and reflect on the wonders of God's creation, right here in our own backyard.

Blessings and God's peace.