Easter 2011

Happy Easter!

All of creation is reflecting the Glory of God today, with bright sun, blue sky, vibrant trees, and a chorus of birds. It is a nice change since it had been a gray and rainy spring, including most of Holy Week.  On Holy Thursday Megan and I went to Mass together, she had immediately showed interest in going with me and remarked that she liked hearing about Jesus. At the end we joined the procession of The Eucharist from the church to the chapel and before leaving she asked to stop at the prayer garden to say a little prayer. It was such a blessing to worship with her. Good Friday was appropriately dark and stormy. Our family went to the Tenebrae Service that evening. The mournful readings and songs as the church progressively gets darker really makes an impact and reflects the meaning of the the day in a very physical way that I think we forget when going to Mass.   Rachael leaned over wide-eyed during one of the readings to share her awe that the whole world went dark went Jesus died.  Bridget meanwhile attempted to color the Stations of the Cross coloring book but fussed that there was no light. She tired anyway and held each crayon up in order to tell what color it was. Every time they turned out another set of lights she would make some sort of exclamation. Bridget was sad when I explained Jesus's sacrifice for us, but she also had a sincere enthusiasm and joy at hearing of God's power to beat death for us and rise again. 

On Holy Saturday I pulled out all of the decorations and a joyful mood settled on the house. Bridget's face was so sad though to discover that she didn't have a stuffed Easter bunny like the other girls, but the sadness went away as she laid on her tummy, feet swinging in the air, playing with her little chick in her basket and Easter grass. We filled the dozens of plastic Easter eggs with goodies and ate a few along the way for the egg hunt today. In the evening after dinner we dyed eggs together around the table. They all worked really well together passing colors as needed and helping each other figure out which color was in which cup. Then it was time for bath and bed.

 We began our Easter morning with a bed full of excited girls, where we played the alphabet game using an Easter theme. We went through the alphabet in age order. Bridget began with A- Alleluia, when it was her turn again she had G and came up with Jesus. Rachael had some hard letters I, O, U but came up with Incarnate, Open the Gates and Undead. Megs and Em chimed in and with just a little help we ended with Zion. The girls sat in front of their baskets eating treats and playing. Bridget hugged her new stuffed Easter Bunny. Then we decided to watch "Tangled" as Jim fried bacon and eggs. We finished the movie after breakfast and lost track of time. So instead of getting to Mass early we rushed getting into Easter dresses and got to church right at the start. But we did get seats even if it was upstairs in the cry room. We were glad to celebrate and we look forward to continue the celebration at my parents for the egg hunt and dinner.

Happy Easter!