March 31, 2021 I will never forget Holy Week of 2020. I will never forget standing in an empty church with my iPhone mounted on a tripod my husband engineered for that purpose and recording Holy Week services and the Easter Vigil for our parish’s livestream. I will never forget how unnatural it felt for the church to be empty, especially during the Easter Vigil. The space that is usually filled with people and sounds was strikingly empty and uncomfortably silent. It made even Easter – usually such a joyful celebration – feel sad. I know I was incredibly blessed to be at Mass. I was one of only two people in my parish (we had a two-person camera crew; one shooting video for a Facebook livestream, and one recording for YouTube) who were able to be in the building worshipping with our pastor, Father Raymond J. Moreau. I was able to receive the Eucharist. I was incredibly blessed and incredibly bummed out at the same time. Fast forward a year to this Holy Week. The pandemic continues, but we can gather in worship, even if in limited numbers. I find myself more excited for Easter than I remember being in previous years. In addition to celebrating the fact that our Savior became man, suffered and died for us before rising to new life and conquering death, it feels like a sort of Easter for our churches, too. It feels like, compared to last year, our churches have gone from dead to again having life. I will never again take for granted how beautiful it is to worship with others. Our church buildings are obviously important. I love my home church. But the building is not the real church, we are. I look forward to being with you, the Church, as we enter into Christ’s passion, his death and his eventual resurrection. We at the North Country Catholic wish you all a blessed Holy Week and a happy Easter, and we look forward to worshipping with you. We hope you experience the blessings of the risen Christ. That makes a real difference. |
|||||
|
|||||||||
