Happy Easter

Just back from Easter Vigil Mass at the Holy Spirit Church in Ballymun. Even though the congregation was rather scanty, and hardly anybody sang along with the hymns, and the Exsultet was played on a tape recorder, and there was more than a little bit of muddle and confusion about lighting candles and the Paschal fire...even despite all that, this most august Mass somehow retained its majesty and power to inspire awe.

I wondered about the sense of euphoria, of exaltation, that was in the air as people gathered at the back of the church afterwards, made jokes about going straight home, and even hugged one another. Where was the emotion coming from? Was it imagination, atmosphere, childhood memory?

Or was there a stirring in the depths of the soul that realized something very real-- something more real than anything in the world outside-- had just taken place?

A happy and holy Easter to all my readers!

Nice Holy Week Meditation from Peter Hitchens

"Something about the weather and the sky at this time of year, combined with my good fortune in having many times visited Jerusalem...makes each spring twilight very poignant. It is easy to imagine the surreptitious gathering, the expedition to the Garden of Gethsemane (gardens are everywhere in the Bible, and a tiny trace of Gethsemane still, astonishingly, survives), while the arresting party assembles, Judas nerves himself for his treacherous kiss, and then the chilly early morning where Peter warms himself by the fire and betrays his master, and the agitators prepare the mob for the show trial, and the orchestrated calls for the release of Barabbas, which will follow soon afterwards.

Read the whole post on his blog (it's very short).

Peter Hitchens might well be my favourite living writer. He writes so profoundly about so many topics, but it is obvious that his entire worldview centres upon his Anglican faith, fragile and tentative as he admits that faith to be.