Easter Tridium

Alter Servers leading the crowd on the procession through the streets of Manchester

Easter at Ste. Marie is a big deal. Every year we follow the same schedule of events, beginning with the Holy Thursday mass, which ends with a procession through the west side of Manchester from Ste. Marie to Sacred Heart. I think of it as a Catholic version of Take Back the Night. Bill and I sit in a truck with speakers and a sound system on the back and sing songs, while the entire church follows us, carrying candles and singing along. The alter boys lead the way with a crucifix and incense. The celebrant walks in the middle of the crowd, carrying the Eucharist. The procession is so large, it requires 3 police cars and 2 mounted police officers to organize traffic around us.

The neighborhoods we process through aren't the best in Manchester, and every year as we go through them, I look at every house and pray for the people inside, praying that as Christ passes by, He might make their lives more holy and that through Him they might be healed of the anger or sorrow or addiction which seems so prevelant on this side of town. There was one anonymous man who screamed "Shut UP!" repeatedly as we passed by, but most people came to their windows or stoops to watch quietly. A few years ago, a woman driving by in a car called out "Bless you, Father Marc," so loudly that she could be heard above everything else. Being in the truck, I'm also keenly aware of how visible I am. Someone I know from work might drive by to see this (to the secular eye) bizarre parade and see me at its head and decide that I'm "one of those" people, a fanatic. So I every year forces me to examine ways in which I am ashamed or embarassed to be a Catholic and reconcile myself to God for these things.

On Good Friday, Bill and I are in the truck again as we lead another procession through Mt. Calvery. The youth group kids present the Living Stations at various points along the way, and the priests pray with the crowd at every stop. This year was the first year in a while in which Easter is late enough for the snow to be gone from the cemetary and it isn't raining. I actually got a little bit of a sunburn, my first of the year.

Tonight is the Vigil, a three hour event with many readings, blessings, the baptism and confirmation of the RCIA candidates, and the celebration of Christ's rising. It starts at 8pm, and Matt and I were planning on going out to dinner with friends afterward. Hope to see you there!