March 30, 2008 For the past six years, every Easter afternoon I have driven to Saint Paul to have dinner with some priest friends. It’s a tradition! Three of them are campus ministers at Viterbo, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point. Another is Father Mike Joncas, composer of “On Eagles’ Wings” and many other musical creations. Several lay friends join us too. We have a fine dinner, and the conversation is stimulating. One part of the conversation has a specific structure to it. The structure was the brain-child of Father George Szews, UW-Eau Claire. Each of us in turn is asked to answer two questions. “What is the worst thing that happened at the Holy Week Triduum this year?” “What is the best thing that happened at the Triduum this year?”
As parishioners know, the liturgies of Holy Week are complicated to say the least. Sometimes the “disasters” have a human cause! Sometimes, it is the fate of nature itself; for example, this year a lot of the “worst prizes” were awarded to dripping candle wax! One by one, we go around the table answering the questions. When it was my turn to answer the “worst” question I told them I had three! First, on Good Friday Chuck and Mary Steinhoff and I were unpacking the Easter Candle for Saturday’s use. When we got beyond the packing material I discovered the candle was broken in half! Here, the greatest symbol of the Church Year lying in two pieces. Only then did I notice the sign on the outside of the package (which had arrived two weeks earlier) which read “Open package upon receipt to be sure contents are intact!” Well, these were not intact, but you can be sure I’ll open it earlier next year. The situation was remedied when Chuck and Mary picked up a new candle in La Crosse that same afternoon. So, the candle we used for the Vigil was intact!
The second disaster occurred when blessing the fire in the Atrium on Holy Saturday. In the darkness I need to see the prayers of the missal. The small fire doesn’t give off much light so a flashlight is held by a server. Well, disaster #2: the flashlight did not work! (The powers of darkness were winning – but not for long!) Holding the missal at an odd angle, I was able barely to read the prayers. The Easter candle was lighted.
Those who were present at the Vigil know the third disaster. They don’t know why, though. I’ve been taking some medications for a sore shoulder muscle. The problem is, it gives me a dry mouth. So, when I began to sing the beautiful “Exultet” my mouth dried up. Clearly, my throat did too…I cackled! So, less than halfway through this beautiful song, I reverted to speaking it. I did it out of respect for those present!
A friend once reminded me, “At liturgy, we are not the Kingdom; rather, we point to the Kingdom!” Thank goodness!
Others present at the Easter dinner shared their disasters and the best things that happened this year! Then, it was my turn to share the “best.” “It’s easy,” I said. “There were two: one of them was singing the Gloria from the Joncas Psallite Mass; sitting to my left at dinner, Father Joncas was pleased. The best one of all was welcoming six new members into our Church and sharing the Eucharist with them.