Things Borrowed for Good Friday

From Paul Brian Campbell, SJ at People for Others, this ancient Irish Prayer:

O King of the Friday
Whose limbs were stretched on the Cross,
O Lord who did suffer
The bruises, the wounds, the loss,
We stretch ourselves
Beneath the shield of thy might,
Some fruit from the tree of thy pass
Fall on us this night!

From Fr. Austin Fleming at A Concord Pastor Comments, "What Our Savior Saw from the Cross" by Tissot:

Palm Sunday 2010

Blessed are they
who fidget creatively in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!

Gentle Reminders as We Approach Holy Week

In some parts of the world, these:

Are perfectly acceptable substitutes for these:

Triduum Try This at Home Guide

Although the Triduum -- Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil -- is an especially important time to participate in Christian community (aka, Body of Christ), you may also observe it at home. For years I've made an effort to mirror beloved customs and liturgical activities in my domestic church. On this Maundy Thursday, I'm happy to share my Triduum Try This at Home Guide.

Holy (Maundy) Thursday at home:

• Strip religious chotchkes from all walls and surfaces.
• Give someone a pedicure.
• Meditate on all the events leading up to the Crucifixion, especially the scene at Gethsemane without dozing off like those slacker disciples.

Good Friday at home:

• Don't eat.
• Don't talk.
• Choose from among the approximately 3,381 Requiems as background music for the day.
• Switch your lights on and off at 3:00 PM.
• Slam doors.

Preparation for Easter Vigil if you're going to church: Take 10 mgs. of Loratadine approximately two hours before arriving to offset the olfactory impact of lilies.

Easter Vigil at home:

• Get Baptismal and Confirmation candles out of the freezer where they've been stored.
• Take a bath while wrapped in a shmatteh and reciting your baptismal promises.
• Take 10 mgs. of Loratadine.
• Circa 1:00 am, sing the Hallelujah chorus while restoring your religious chotchkes and filling your home with lilies.

Mystery Rocks

Today, I woke up to an email from someone wanting to know if I was okay. She had noticed the sudden drop in the frequency of my blog posts. I'm okay. In fact, I'm much better than merely okay.

In Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics, Marsha Sinetar writes:

"The typical imagery of a mystic's vocabulary involves the words of progress, action, of movement toward or away from God: finding; searching; keeping on the way; being 'stuck,' lost, separated; illumination; union; arrival; completion."

This would basically sum up my experience of Lent, Holy Week, and the Octave of Easter. By Easter Wednesday, I finally stopped trying to track how and how often the invisible hand of God was made visible in even the most mundane events. (I stopped believing in "coincidence" decades ago.) And whenever I caught myself thinking that I'd finally experienced a Holy Spirit grand finale, God's absolute, constant, and merciful presence would be revealed. Again. And then, again.

I'm somewhat happy to report that the mystical path is exhilaratingly and exhausting. It's also nearly impossible to write about without sounding completely insane which, if you ask me, only serves to enhance the allure of trying.

St. Patrick's Day in 5768

Was going to write a rant about St. Patrick's Day and all the hubbub about it being during Holy Week this year. Heaven forfend that International Drink 'Til You Puke Day be disturbed because of the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. Sr. Mary Martha tackles this in more vituperative depth on her blog.

By the grace of God (and maybe you're able to recite the rest of this sentence), I don't have to freak about staying sober. Indeed, I am blessed with higher class problems this year because Purim starts at sundown on Holy Thursday (3/21) and ends as Easter Vigil gets started (3/22).

I'm trying to figure out when, where, and how I'm going to scarf down a pile of Lekvar or poppy seed Hamentashen and if I should be listening to the Bach, Fauré, or Mozart requiem while doing so.

Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder

How is this seder different from other Christian seders?

Years ago, I decided to create a seder that would reveal Judaism's legacy to Catholics by highlighting the symbolic (and liturgical) similarities of our faiths. I also wanted Catholics to better understand the history of Jewish-Catholic tensions and to appreciate the challenges of reconciliation. And, I wanted to make all this available in a book that provided practical instructions for creating a seder in either a parish or home setting. Not too ambitious, eh?

I'm happy to report that more parishes adopt Come to the Table each year. During the past three years, I've received lovely notes from people who have used this seder service at home. I'm starting to hear from catechists who are using this little book to teach about the Eucharist throughout the year. Last year, I had the privilege of presiding at a parish-wide seder at the Church of St. Luke (Plainfield, NJ).

This year's liturgical calendar crunch seems to be throwing everyone into a tizzy about whether they can, in fact, put together a seder at this point. I say you can! Why not? The book provides the service -- you just have to pull together the food, the table settings, readers, and a presider. People will show up for this event.

And yes, churches do receive a discount on bulk orders. Please contact me directly: meredith@meredithgould.com. And yes, you can get an autographed copy if you buy directly through Plowshares Publishing.