Thank y'all for the love shown these past few days. I am always so blown away when you reach out and send prayers and practical support. We will get it done, I promise we will be OK. I am working full-time now and God is so very good with his provision. Yes, there is debt but that's a fact of life when you spend twenty-two years caring for a medically fragile special needs child. It will be paid off as we can do it. All will be well.
Holy Week.
The final week week of preparation before the Triduum and finally Easter Sunday.
This time last year, I was dying Easter eggs and preparing our home for the holiest day of the year. I have always done my spring cleaning during this week. I am not a huge fan of house cleaning so this had become my penitential rite these past few years.
This year though is very different. This year I am a full-time liturgy coordinator for my local parish and Holy Week is the big time. Easter Sunday being the Super Bowl of the church year.
There are three major liturgies in the Triduum... Holy Thursday (The Celebration of the Lord's Supper), Good Friday (The Celebration of the Lords Passion) and Easter Vigil where those who are coming into the church will be baptized, confirmed and receive Holy Communion. Then there is Easter Sunday where we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord.
For the priests and liturgy coordinators in the world it is a marathon of epic proportions. There are so many details and many moving parts to each liturgy. These three days require patience and calm along with some serious people skills.
I have recently discovered I have one of the three. People skills I got, patience and calm...not always my strong suit. This is my first Easter in this job and I have learned so much in the past few weeks. I have been a Catholic my whole life and I learn something new everyday.
Today I buried the chrism oil that was not used in the last year, preparing the containers for the new oil. Yep, there I was with my little shovel tapping down freshly turned earth in my sunshine yellow flats. I was one stylin ditch digger.
I have pressed vestments, steamed altar cloths, polished the brass of many sacred vessels and gotten hot candle wax out of the carpet in the sanctuary.
There are still holy water fonts to empty, candles to move and flowers to arrange and rearrange, and so on and so on...
I have gone over every detail of these three liturgies for days now and I just know I will forget something. I mean that is the way it goes you know. The higher the visibility the harder the fall.
Add in a tender heart still grieving for my Courtney, and that makes for an interesting Holy Week.
I was thinking of this at Mass this morning and I looked up to see the Cross. The Cross where my Savior hung for me and my transgressions. I am saved by His blood. The Cross is the ultimate love letter from Jesus to me and you. My daughter resides in Heaven with him singing and laughing and running and dancing with her beloved for an eternity. I gotta say I am envious some days. To bask in the glory of His love must be absolutely amazing.
Maybe one day I will get a direct invite to that dance party but until then I will do my best not to spill anymore hot candle wax on the carpet or set anything on fire as I light the incense charcoal.
May your Holy Week be...well...holy and if you feel so inclined send up a prayer or three for me and my nerves. I would appreciate it.
Labels: catholic life, holy week, life of a liturgist
