Snow in April

"Mom, it's snowing!" the kids announced shortly after lunch.  Today was a heavy day.  For no real reason, I just felt the weight of everything.  I was easily distracted, unmotivated, had difficulty focussing.  Daily tasks piled up, homeschooling was way behind schedule, and I felt everything.  My husband, knowing how good it is for me to get out and clear my head, suggested I go out for a run.  But I didn't want to.  It was snowing in April.

What the Sign Indicates Really Happens

"This is the height which Christ reached as Lord of history. In His Resurrection, He has set the terms of assimilation to Himself, of His glory, of His making explicit that in Him all things consist, everything belongs to Him.  The assimilation of Christ brought about by Baptism is the Resurrection of Christ that penetrates history; it is the Body of the risen Christ that grows ever more according to the times of the Mystery of the Father.  And the gesture that makes the new creature possible, the one re-made by the power of God and therefore capable of new things, is the Eucharist, viaticum, food for the journey, true nourishment for the person and for his hope.  In this gesture, in giving Himself, Christ continues to bring man to perfection in Himself.  Under the sign of matter, what the sign indicates really happens - Christ becomes one with me.  An unimaginably profound ontological relationship is truly communicated to our life in a sign."  (Msgr. Luigi Giussani).

Do Not Spare Us

I have been reflecting over this Easter Triduum what a grace it has been that I still have a domestic church to live my faith with.  It has been a real comfort to still gather the kids, and even the small annoyances of trying to plan meaningful gestures with kids become a comfort, because they make them more real and true to what we would have been living if churches had not been closed.  We have been almost as busy during this last week as we normally are, and in many ways this has been a blessing, because it connects us to the universal church.  In many ways, we have not missed too much.

Prepared in Haste

In his homily for Holy Thursday, our Bishop spoke of the first Last Supper being prepared in haste.  The apostles thought they were preparing the usual Passover meal, but then Jesus transformed it into something new that they could not have expected. He gave them His very Body when He instituted the Eucharist, established the priesthood, and gave us the possibility of sharing in this meal with Him every day since that day.

A Different Kind of Easter

This morning while I was out for a run, I thought: next Easter is going to be amazing. We are so fortunate in our diocese that our Triduum Masses will be livestreamed, but of course, it's not the same.  Many like us look forward to attending and participating in the Easter liturgies, and not being able to be there in person to receive the Blessed Sacrament and be united with our fellow parishioners and our pastors is sure to leave a big hole in our celebrations this year. If we pretend that it will not, we are fooling ourselves.