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Going a little stir crazy after a week or three at home? Feeling the need to get a little sunshine and fresh air, and to stretch your legs? Looking for something that can take the place of television and video games for children who complete their e-learning in record time?
Go visit a cemetery. No, really.
In the traditional Lectionary, there is no three-year A-B-C cycle, and those who attend the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or any of the Eastern Rites hear the same readings in the same order every Lent, just as their forebears did from the fourth century on. That builds among the faithful a comforting familiarity with those readings, and I came, in our 20-plus years at an Extraordinary Form oratory, to look forward to particular selections, which always seemed to arrive at just the point in Lent when I needed them most.
At the Easter Vigil, after weeks of Lenten Masses without the Gloria, the priest intones the opening words: “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Then, as the choir and the rest of the congregation join in, every bell in the church is rung, and, if the church has a bell tower, those bells are tolled, too. The return of the Gloria is a glorious thing (no pun intended), and the ringing of the bells invites all who can hear them, both inside and outside the Church (in both senses of both words), to join in the joy of Christ’s resurrection.
About two weeks ago, I wrote that “In times like these — but not only in times like these — we need more bells in our lives,” to remind us both of our mortality (“It tolls for thee”) but also of our hope in the Resurrection.
I have visited St. Peter’s Square at night, when it has been nearly empty. So the sight of the square during the Holy Father’s extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing today did not shake my soul.
The sight of St. Peter’s Basilica, empty except for the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, did.
In the Eastern Church, Catholic and Orthodox, the day after a major feast day is itself a special one. Known as the “leave-taking” of the feast, this day celebrates one or more of the saints who were involved in the event that the feast celebrates.
Thus March 26, the Leave-Taking of the Annunciation, is dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, the messenger who announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that God had chosen her to bear his son.