Happy Easter!

    Our family has had one of the best Easter weekends we've ever had. Maybe its because our youngest child is four, and so I could participate in the mass more fully. Maybe it is because our teenagers embraced it: our family lived out the tragedy of the betrayal and arrest of Jesus on Thursday, the crucifixion, the death, on Friday. Our beloved parish, St. Rita, has such powerful Triduum liturgies. They mirror the timing of the historical events, and the dramatic story unfolds through the sequence of days. At home on Friday night, some of us watched Jesus of Nazareth while others watched The Passion. We were all taken with the agony of it all. Then, fasting and tired, we sat in the darkened church on Saturday night for hours, while the readers took us from the creation of the world through the history of humanity's fall and long wait for the God's saving hand. In a flash, the lights came on and the bells rang and we sang "Hallelujah" as we celebrated the moment that Christ rose again. What a visceral experience, the most poignant reminder of the heart of our faith, which is the very purpose of my life.
    What stands out the most to me this Easter is the humility of Christ being the very power of God.  Who could imagine such a thing?  The leader, the master, choosing to become a servant, and wash the feet of the followers? The master becoming bread and wine, the passover meal itself? The master becoming the passover lamb, slain, so that his blood could afford us protection from the angel of Death? It is like nothing else in human history, human reality, human experience. Such a deep, impenetrable mystery, so beautiful to enter and in which to participate in any small way God affords.  Hallelujah!