Low Sunday
Gloria in Excelsis Deo!
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Daily Sermons
March 20 – Fr. McKenna – Babylonian Musings
March 21 – Fr. McKenna – Actions Speak Louder than Words
March 22 – Fr. McKenna – St. Isidore and the First Fruits
March 29 – Bp. Dolan – Why the Foot Washing?
March 29 – Bp. Dolan – At the Maundy
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
The weather last week, Easter week, was positively weird. Old Man Winter just doesn’t want to give up, and Spring is the recusant which must sneak about as it may. Still, wasn’t it glorious for nature, like the angels at the tomb, or neophytes in Rome, to be vested in shining white robes, for Easter Monday (and again yesterday)? But then Tuesday’s warmth made us forget the snow, and wonder if tornadoes were not on the way. Our Spring flowers are barely blooming, but they do last, in the chill.
I hope all of you had a chance for some well earned rest these Easter octave days, and to consolidate your Holy Week graces. Thanks again for everything, including our quiet, and well attended Novena High Masses last week. The ninth day is tomorrow, the transferred feast of the Annunciation. Solemn High Mass is at 11:25, and a Pro-Life Holy Hour is prayed before the Blessed Sacrament at 2:30. We are celebrating the In-carnation of the Word of God in the spotless womb of the Virgin Mary. We are praying against the unspeakable crime of abortion.
This Holy Week I was thinking about smells and bells. Katie never could bear the almost overpowering fragrance of lilies in the church. Allergies. But this year only a faint whiff, just the once. Instead I smelled tuna or the servers’ breath at the Maundy on that heavy humid Holy Thursday afternoon. Fr. Lehtoranta reports he got one unwashed foot, which was a “little extra humiliation.” We did well for the feet here. Pre-washed, all of them, I suspect. From time to time you could smell the fragrance of the incense, and once at the Maundy Thursday Gospel, hear it, as the fire alarm went off. Some of the smoke had settled in the All Saints hall. Too bad we had not thought to coordinate it with the Gloria. The young servers ring their little hearts out, and do a very good job on the bells. All of the ceremonies went well, which is saying quite a bit. The Faith is being passed on.
The attendance was good, but the Easter Sunday was excellent! Some 450 souls, each of the three Masses being filled, just as many years ago, when we were “the only Latin Mass in town.” But what struck me even more was how the congregation stayed, after the long solemn Pontifical Mass. No one stirred. Everyone sat quietly, still taking it in, or giving thanks. It was a beautiful moment.
Something similar occurred the day before, Holy Saturday, at the Easter Luncheon. People stayed. No hurry to go home. The children were frolicking in the cold Spring sunshine, hunting out eggs, and the adults were visiting after dinner. Another fine moment, one to remember.
The actual hour of the Resurrection was just before dawn on Easter Sunday. We are some of the few who sanctify it. This we do by the beautiful chant of the Di-vine Office of Matins and Lauds, the Church’s own pray-er, in the cold, candlelit church. Nothing is forgotten, nothing is left undone at St. Gertrude the Great during these most sacred days of the year. And so many count themselves privileged to participate in so many ways. Deo Gratias!
That hound of Hell, Bergoglio, has now for the fourth time in the press denied Hell’s existence with impunity, scandalizing the whole world, and in Holy Week! It is almost as sad to consider our former comrades in arms, who have nothing to say anymore as they prepare to join the Church of Hell. The best they could offer would be a childish comment or two, as they continue to “go along to get along.” Offer reparation, and enlightenment if you may, for these souls. Peter souls you could call them, some of them doubly so. May tears be their salvation to wash away so much willful ignorance and cowardice. May the so patient Risen Jesus visit them yet, and convert them.
Blessed Easter!
—Bp. Dolan