Did you have a Glorious Easter? 3/24/08 MH article

Week of March 24, 2008


Did you have a Glorious Easter Celebration? We did! Little did I know when I awoke on Sunday morning just how special a day it would turn out to be. Holy Week is always a very busy week for me. For the last few years I have always been able to take the week off to prepare for the many services and to save my voice for all the singing and Gregorian chant that is involved.

Thursday evening, my throat was still a little tight from the cough and sinus drainage I had been living with for a couple of weeks but I ‘limped’ through the Pange Lingua and the incense that night. Good Friday services don’t traditionally have a lot of music. It is, after all, the most solemn of nights. I spent Saturday at home practicing the hymns and the Easter Sequence so I would be ready for Sunday.

Easter is the perfect time for baptisms and confirmations and we had both. A whole family was welcomed into the church, just as it happened in the early days of the Christian Church. Mom and Dad were confirmed and their precious little baby girl was baptized. The music on Easter morning is very festive. We sing Alleluia and the Gloria for the first time since the beginning of Lent. Being a soprano, I tend to get on up into the rafters, which is one of the reasons I love the Easter hymns. Ben and Jettie began our service with some beautiful music. The rest of the service consisted of traditional hymns.

Traditional until communion that is. I had chosen an instrumental piece on a new CD I had purchased and loaded it into the stereo. The CD cover stated that it was Classic Traditional Christian Hymns. Now what could go wrong with that? The hymn I chose was Christ the Lord is Risen Today. That’s pretty traditional right? The music began playing and all seemed serene until the guitar riff. HUH? I was already seated when it happened. Ben turned and looked at me with shock in his eyes. Another riff! The tempo picked up and the ‘traditional classic’ instrumental hymn turned into a classic rock version of the hymn. We all had that deer in the head lights look. My daughter leaned over and whispered in my ear, ‘Gee mom, I’ve missed church for a couple of months and ya’ll go and changed on me.’ We were all suppressing giggles by the time the hymn was finished. I was afraid to look at Father Tim but his expression didn’t tell me anything.

After the final blessing and closing hymn, while everyone was standing around and visiting, Ben and I checked out the CD a little more closely. In fine print we read ‘celebratory’. I will know better next time. Father Tim laughed with us later on. He said it was a brilliant choice. I don’t know about the brilliant part but it was purely accidental. I guess you could say the ‘Spirit was a movin’ at St. Luke the Evangelist Church on Easter morning.

Now to answer one of the questions that I have been asked. How does the Catholic Church answer the question, "What must I do to be saved?" First, the average Catholic might look at you and quip, ‘Saved from what?’ But then they will seriously tell you that we believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God who gave his life as payment for our sins. And yes, we do believe in Christ as our only Redeemer. We also believe that our conversion is a lifelong process that begins with our baptism is only finished when we finally see Jesus face to face.