Easter week

It was a wonderful and busy Triduum! We had a wonderful Easter celebration... I was able to sing with the cathedral choir for Holy Thursday (cantor), Good Friday (at which we sang the Vittoria version of the Reproaches), the Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday (cantor) and Easter Sunday Mass at 11 a.m. (cantor).

Aside from a little mishap on Holy Saturday (I had forgotten to bring a light to sing by and found myself running around in the dark trying to find a light to use... to no avail... my contingency plan was to go and sing from the same place as the readers use... this plan was thwarted when the reader decided to stay up there during the psalm... finally Father Peter found me a light and I was able to jump in and join the choir in time for the first verse -- a little out of breath), all was well. I love the Vigil Mass. Sitting at the front, I was able to see the Baptism of two little boys and their Dad. What a great moment! After Mass, while I was talking to the younger of the two boys about Easter... he did tell me that the Easter bunny would be coming to his house sometime while he was sleeping. When asked, he did tell me that I wouldn't be getting any baskets or eggs because 'it is mostly for kids'.

Our pastor did an absolutely excellent job of singing the Exultet. I loved it! It is quite dramatic with the church dark except for the lighted Easter candle. The cathedral choir did a wonderful job of singing the Ave Verum (Mozart).

The church was full on Easter morning as well... our pastor's homily was especially good. He talked about the differences in faith exemplified in the Gospel by the way Mary Magdalene, St. Peter and St. John reacted upon finding the empty tomb... unbelief and suspicion, sincere doubt and immediate belief... he then spoke to those present about the differences in the way each individual's personal faith journey may vary from others'. Especially at Easter, there are often people at Mass who may not be very regular attendees during the rest of the year... I hope it touched a few hearts.

We sang the Easter sequence (in English)... next week for the Latin version! I'll be posting more updates on our plans for the Latin Mass at the cathedral next week later on...