Easter Sunday
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Blessed Easter! Regardless of the weather, the Sun has risen and all is well. I write this greeting on a rather nasty Spy Wednesday, muggy and overcast with rain. But that is Judas’ day, the day of betrayal, when the Darkness, the Tenebrae, begins. But on the Third Day He rises again. “Behold, I make all things new.” Happy Easter.
In Spring, and really much of the year, the grounds at St. Gertrude the Great look like an Easter card, especially at dawn and sunset. Rabbits and robins gambol about in the green grass, gently lit by the sun. The odd skunk or deer join them at times, but don’t make it into the Easter card. Such a peaceful setting. Sometimes neighbors visit, but we rarely see the faithful enjoying the grounds.
Happy memories, grateful ones for another Holy Week well done. God is glorified, men are edified, Faith is fortified, and the Devil exorcised. Your hours of labor or prayer or even a prayerful presence today make such a difference. Your generosity continues unabated. God reward you.
Don’t forget Palm Sunday, one for the photo album. What a grace. The perfect morning was crisp and sunny, the fervor of the faithful palpable, the bells and music glorious and the mule (thank you,
Brueggemanns), well, a very model of meekness. He munched on the lawn contentedly whilst we sang the Gloria Laus outside in the cool air, waiting for Heaven’s gates to open.
Lent is drawing to a close, with all of its beloved customs. We will miss its fervor, but pray for lasting benefits. The clergy are always impressed by the devotion of our school boys, who join us for early Vespers after the daily High Mass. The idea symbolically is to complete the day by chanting Vespers, evening prayer, before we break our fast with a full meal. It’s sometimes a long service, 90 minutes or so but the annual “Boy Vespers,” as Darlene used to call them, continue. It’s good to have them praying with us.
This year we blessed the Holy Oils and will be happily distributing them to 15 priests who have requested this charity. The original Oil Vessels we purchased some 28 years ago are becoming too small. Everything grows. Despite the dark horizon, or perhaps because of it, strength seems to be added to strength. “Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.”
Easter’s high point is not the empty tomb, I always think, but the full Tabernacle. “I arose, and am still with you.” The glory of it. This glory be yours, dear faithful. I send a blessing home with you all.
– Bishop Dolan