by Fred Moleck
The Not So Great Fifty Days
Triduum and Easter Sunday had me with my favorite religious community and liturgical peer group at Daylesford Abbey in eastern Pennsylvania.You might have read about my experiences there and how I’m always been the better for it.
When I returned back to this part of Christendom, I played a funeral in one church, a Sunday Mass in another, and attended a couple of daily Masses in the cathedral.
What was missing was no visible evidence that the Great Fifty Days were in full swing.
All three places made me realize that the Great Fifty Days of Easter were more like the remnant of the Not-So-Great Fifty Days.
Oh, the vestments were white. The Alleluia acclamation at all three places was the “O Filii et Filiae–Alleluia,” a sure reminder of Easter. The paschal candle was lit, if you could find it.
But what startled me was that the impressive foliage of Easter Sunday morning in these three churches was missing. No trumpeting lilies, no joyful azaleas, no banked ferns. The garden was barren.
I took counsel with two friends who knew the churches. They were surprised that I was surprised.
Apparently, this lack of festive trappings is not an unusual practice in this part of the country.
Any flower that looks dead or even brownish in the time after Easter Sunday gets tossed, but rarely replaced.
The same two counsels assured me that there will be some flowers near the altar in these three churches during the remaining twenty-five days, but it wouldn’t come near the visual impact of Easter Sunday.
So, I snooped around on this past Sunday and saw that it was life back to normal: potted ferns, some gladioli, and a few daisies in four of the local churches—not all Roman Catholic—were situated around the altar.
Nothing enshrined the paschal candle. Nothing marked the baptismal font. Nothing was in the vestibule (a.k.a. narthex or gathering place) to mark the Easter celebration.
Oh, there was, however, at one of the churches a continuation of Easter—one of the church organizations was selling Easter candy at fifty percent off.
The great renewal of paschal mystery theology and liturgical celebration so vibrant after the council reforms has petered out in many churches in my corner of the Kingdom.
HOWEVER . . .
I looked through the worship leaflets—a.k.a. hymn schedules—and discovered an abundance of hymns with alleluias, choir pieces with Easter texts, and one setting of Victimae paschali laudes as an organ prelude.
It takes a musician(s) to keep the Fifty Days Great. God bless us all.
“My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Alleluia. All is not lost.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@comcast.net