Good Friday to Easter Vigil

Good Friday was completely pregnant with so many events yesterday that touched me completely in different ways - from sitting before the Blessed Sacrament (yep, still present in the one church i run to every now and again...) and hearing a father recite the stations of the cross with his little family, two little girls, his wife, and either his mother or mother-in-law - they all genuflected reverently before each station as they recited "we adore You, o Christ, and we bless You" - really, really touching to see the little ones take part and it struck me that this wasn't the first time they had done this together...

the second was in the middle of my meditation and reflection --- please recall my fondness for chatting or distractions --- the caretakers decided it was a good time, between the hours of 12 and 3 p.m. no less, to go around and empty the change containers at all the altar candles sites.

sit for a moment and reflect on that with me. all of them. this is a Catholic church, replete with icons and statues and beautiful paintings, and lots and lots of candles. many, many change containers.

**sigh**

"o Lord," i cried out in my usual melodramatic way when i am being perturbed, "WHY O WHY THIS? WHY NOW??" imagine eyes heavenward, a fist being shaken up at the Almighty (theoretically, mind you) and you know what i felt was His response to my query? "i was sold for 30 pieces of silver, it's only fitting."

well, now.

Good Friday services were amazing. i was a little flipped out because as you may know, we are leaving for jamaica on monday at 7:15 a.m. and well, penni procrastinated and failed to get her credentials in order and thought "gee, i should go to the dmv and get a photo i.d." dmv was privatized a few months ago, and while i revel in the fact they were closed on Good Friday, i didn't not revel in the fact that i have no government issued photo i.d. to board said airplane with. so yeah, i was a little flipped out, but got to church on time (thank you Lord) because i was lector D.

or so i thought.

lector B, which meant i also needed to do the second reading, as well as my part for the Passion. it was too late for me to peruse the reading so i said to one of the other ladies that i can only pray for God's grace and mercy on me and was hopeful He'd help me through the reading. as it turned out, it was Hebrews 4 (in part):

So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

okay, Lord. got me.

as a backtrack - is there anything more reverent than the priests processing down and laying prostrate before the altar? it makes my heart quicken and brings tears to my eyes at the thought.

after the service, husband told me dmv was open saturday, 8-noon, so i have a shred of hope.

my brother-in-law (husband's bro) was in a community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar so we took the kids to see uncle mar as an apostle and leper. it was amazing and was a really good way to spend the night with the kids. i am not going to critique the play at all - the music really brought tears to my eyes (again, i was very tearful yesterday) because i grew up listening to that and the soundtrack to Godspell; it kept me near the foot of the Cross, which is where i needed to be, believe me, when i was growing up dysfunctional.

got home late, submitted my article to the editor (i am still not happy with it, but he will refine it more i hope...i am really doubting if this is for me. i am not a reporter. i am a writer. does that make one ounce of sense??) and got to bed at 1:00 a.m. yikes.

*****

today. i woke up with a start, flew to the dmv which promptly TURNED ME AWAY because i didn't have my marriage license, which i couldn't find, and knew if i didn't have it, i'd have no photo i.d. for jamaica and i'd wave to my husband as he flew off into the sunrise...

long story short - and yeah, you can bet there was a flood of tears at this point - i called our parish's secretary who called monsignor and i met him at the rectory wherein he gave me an *official church document* stating my maiden name and my married name and the dmv took it and i have a photo i.d.

i failed to mention a "Lord, we are faithful to You, we serve you without asking for anything, but Lord, for this instance i ask that you honor my husband's desire to go away this week and allow this to all go through..."

*try not to get worried, try not to turn on to, problems that upset you...don't you know, ev-ry-thing's al-right now, ev-ry-thing's fine and we want you to sleep well to-night...*

He did. He is faithful and yes, i remembered to say thank you...

*****

that was my last two days. i won't bore you with the details of my errand-running today in preparation for the Easter vigil tonight; two of my rcia adults are being baptized and i am so excited. i read again at the Easter service tomorrow morning, then we are off!

i will try to get in tomorrow morning to see how everyone is doing - if i don't visit your blogs personally, please accept my humble wishes for a Happy Easter and know that i have you all in my thoughts and prayers :)

penni