We read at Holy Mass today: The disciples did as Jesus had ordered and prepared the Passover. (Matthew 26:19)
If you looked up at the sky last night, you certainly noticed a bright full moon. The Passover moon. The Easter moon.
A comforting sight, perhaps. The moon serenely does her business, unaffected by our struggles here below. She accompanies us with firmness and constancy in her cycle. Unlike “the heartache and the ten thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” here below, as Hamlet put it.
It is one of the central and most profoundly comforting ideas or our Christian faith. God does not depend on us. He does not depend on the competence of the World Health Organization, or the nations’ heads of state. God depends solely on Himself; He alone possesses genuine ‘independence.’ Whether or not He ever made an earth, or a moon, or a universe, He would dwell in eternal beatitude, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He transcends all, and He acts with all-powerful, totally generous love.
Jesus ordered the disciples to prepare the Passover. We will obey. This year will go a little differently. We will obey in our own particular spaces.
Here at church we will prepare everything, so that we can pray together the Liturgy of the Paschal Triduum. We will undertake the livestream video, as the data highway of the internet allows.
Meanwhile: Prepare a place in your home. Find the readings, get them ready. Prepare some candles and a crucifix. Schedule your time. [Our local schedule is: 7pm tomorrow: the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. 3pm Friday, Stations of the Cross. 7pm Friday, the Celebration of the Passion. 8pm Saturday, the Easter Vigil. Then 11:15am Sunday morning, too.]
Let’s make lemonade out of these lemons. I had a dear friend years ago in Maryland who had a house completely full of religious images—statues, paintings. His daughter brought her boyfriend home from college for Thanksgiving. When they got to the door, she warned him: ‘Listen, my parents are wonderful people, but just prepare yourself. When you walk in, it’s going to be kinda like a church.’
Here in our humble part of the world, we will have a special guest with us for the Triduum. Father Kyle O’Connor. You may remember him as our seminarian here in the summer of 2013. He will preach tomorrow evening.
Father Mark White Blog 