Almost done!!!!!

Well, I am almost done with my Hepatitis C treatment (for the third time)!  Since I last posted, I was admitted to the hospital with blood clots in my lungs and legs.  This was supposedly caused by the Procrit I was prescribed for low blood counts.  So now, in addition to all my other medications, I am taking Coumadin.  The bright spot is that it seems to be working.  The second bright spot is I only have to go through the middle of September before my treatment is finished!!!!!  God is good.

Halfway home!!!!

Well, this Sunday will mark the beginning of Week 7 of my treatment time on the Telapravir.  I was all prepared to say that this time around was different, easier and the fact that I HAVE to have 20 grams of fat every time I take this medication was a, oh, I'm just going to say it, piece of cake.  Well, it is different this time around, but it bites BIG TIME.  The only way I can describe how I'm feeling is to ask you to imagine the skeleton you've seen in a doctor's office.  They are connected by wire and usually suspended from a hook.  Now, imagine if someone cut the wire.  What would happen?  That is exactly how I feel.  Pretty crappy, if you ask me.  I developed some skin irritation that was not at all what I had expected.  One day I woke up and I had all these little bumps all over my torso.  That was the skin irritation they were talking about!  It didn't really itch; it was just there.  Now, the skin irritation is turning into an itch and it drives me crazy.

Any energy I have is taken up with getting dressed and trying to do anything at all.  I find that I am sleeping anywhere from 12-15 hours a day!

As far as the high-fat foods go, let me just tell you it gets old fast!  So I am trying to be creative while at the same time trying to be somewhat health-conscious of what I'm eating.  Yeah, I know, a conundrum if there ever was one, no?

So the only bright spot right now is that I am technically half was through the Telapravir treatment.  When that is done, I will still have 32 weeks of treatment remaining with the Pegasys and Ribasphere.  Oh, joy.  I will probably also end up taking Procrit because my blood counts will have dropped.

Week 1 down, only 11 more to go!

So, this is my third round of treatment for hepatitis C, and now, in addition to the normal 2-drug combo therapy of Pegasys and Ribasphere, there is the new, added thrill of the telapravir, or Incivek.  This drug is a "first-generation" drug and is the newest anti-hepatitis drug approved by the FDA.  It is supposed to be specifically for individuals like me who have been treated before and relapsed.  Some interesting things with this drug:  1) although the entire treatment regimen is 44 weeks, I will only be taking the Incivek for 12 weeks.  2) This drug is taken every 8 hours with high-fat (20 grams or more) foods (oh, darn!).  3) There is a high incidence of skin irritation on this drug.

So, I started this go-round on Sunday with the Pegasys, and as sure as God made little green apples, I did not sleep a wink Sunday night.  Go figure.  This has always been a problem for me on these drugs, so this is nothing new.  I came home Monday evening and realized that I was COLD - you know the kind - through and through, to the bone kind of cold, and achy - "flu-like symptoms".  Yup, got 'em, so thank God for the electric mattress pad!  Then on Wednesday, I realized I'm getting the "skin sensitivity" they mentioned, so I guess right now I'm three for three.  Not bad if I was playing baseball.

I keep telling myself only 12 weeks, only 12 weeks, only 12 weeks!  

Prayer

As we begin tonight, I want to share a few things with you.  First, I do not have all the answers about prayer.  What I am going to share with you I have learned over many, many years, after reading and, wait for it, praying.  Is my prayer life perfect?  Absolutely not.  Do I struggle with prayer?  More often than I’d like to admit to myself, let alone anyone else.  Do I have a set routine in prayer?  Let’s just say that most days I do, but sometimes life itself gets in the way, and I struggle sometimes even to say a Hail Mary, or an Our Father, but I try to get back to a regular schedule the very next day.  Do I believe in the power of prayer?  You bet I do.  I’ve had a few miracles in my life that have shown me just how powerful prayer can be.  Second, a priest who gave a retreat here at the parish a few years ago offered this:  “Pray the way you can, not the way you can’t.”  In other words, don’t think that if you are not saying all of the prayers that I or anyone else may be saying, your prayer life is not sufficient.  That is simply not the truth.  For some, devoting any more than 5 or 10 minutes to quiet time is almost impossible.  Simply take those minutes and put yourself in God’s presence.  Here, I would offer that you just keep praying, whether it is composed prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, other devotions), reading Scripture, or spontaneous prayer.  Even if you can do no more than one Hail Mary, you are doing something.  And, a true prayer life naturally draws you in more and more.  If, 5 years from now, you are saying the exact same prayers in the exact same way, the relationship with God is not growing.  God never moves – it is we who go back and forth.

Before we get into Rosaries and other prayers, there are a couple of things that I think we need to speak about.  One is the Saints, and again, I’m just going to brush the surface because Deacon Dan is going to connect all the dots next week.  On the ceiling of our church, you will find portrayed men and women from all ages.  These are only a small portion of the saints that have been recognized by the Catholic Church.  Again, we do NOT pray to them, but ask them to intercede for us to God.  The pictures act much as our own old family pictures do in reminding us of those who have gone before.  There are patron saints of policemen (St. Michael), firemen (St. Florian), ecology (St. Francis of Assisi) and almost any other category that you can think of. 

Another item are Stations of the Cross.  These are depictions of 14 instances reflecting the passion and death of Jesus.  This devotion can be said by an individual, or during Lent, are said in common during services in church.

Fr. Klein shared with us about prayer last week.  In talking about prayer and how we can develop an attitude of prayer, let’s look at how we develop a relationship with a friend or loved one.  At the beginning, this other person is a stranger; we don’t know their likes and dislikes, and the only way to learn those things is in talking with them.  We ask questions, we watch them, but most of all, we spend time with them, we listen to them.  This is the way in which our prayer life should develop.

We have given you the Handbook for Today’s Catholic, and Section Three on prayer begins on page 85.  There is an excellent selection of prayers in that 21-page section, and I would encourage you to learn as many of them as you can.  Of course, the more you say them, the more they became a part of you.  Let’s talk about some specific forms of “Catholic prayer.”

One of the simplest prayers is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  I say this sometimes at night to slow me down.  This works well combined with a simple breathing technique:  Inhale:  “Lord Jesus Christ.”  Exhale:  “Son of David.”  Inhale:  “Have mercy on me”, Exhale:  “a sinner.”  You can develop your own pace, but let’s take a moment and try it.  This is a good prayer to use if things are extremely hectic and you need to slow yourself down. 

We began class tonight by saying the Litany of Humility.  On Holy Saturday, at the Easter Vigil, the Litany of the Saints will be sung before Baptism.  These are only two of many, many litanies in use by the Church.  A litany is nothing more than a petition or phrase and a response.  Even in Scripture, a form of litany is present in several places.  One of my favorites, and probably the most popular because of its use in the Liturgy of the Hours is that found in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament (Ch. 3:57-88).  It is known as the Song of the Three Young Men. 

Now, still in your Bibles, please turn to Philippians.  (Read 1:3-6)  I’ve taken to listing in the front of my Bibles (yes, bibles!) my favorite passages as I find them and this has been one of mine for many, many years.  A quick look at a lot of St. Paul’s other letters or Epistles as we call them, reveal that he continually prayed for those he wrote to, and prayed with an attitude of joy.  Joy is not putting a smile on your face when you don’t feel like smiling.  Joy is an attitude of peace and serenity even in the midst of trials.  So, we, your team, as well as the entire parish, have been praying for you and will continue to pray for you all the way through the end of the Easter season next spring.

There are two types of prayer:  public prayer and private prayer.  Public prayer means the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.  Private prayer is everything else, even when said in a group.  Since we’re going to be talking about the Mass in a few weeks, I’m not going to spend an enormous amount of time on it.  Just a few personal observations.  The greatest prayer of the Church is the Mass; it is the source and summit of all that we do and are as Catholics.  It is easy to forget God in the good times, but we turn to Him at the first sign of trouble.  And yet, our prayer life should be one of praise and thanksgiving to God always.  The Church recalls this at every Mass when the priest reads a prayer called the Preface as he says “Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.”  And in one Preface, it then says “You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.  Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness, but makes us grow in your grace . . .” 

To be honest, there are times when it seems very difficult for me to get to Mass, so sometimes, my simply being at Mass is the only prayer I can say at that time.  There are a number of sources that provide both the daily and Sunday readings used at Mass, and I find these very helpful.  I try to read the readings for the next day as part of my evening prayer and I have found on more than one occasion that something in a reading at Mass takes on more meaning because I have already read it.  The other thing I would encourage you to do is to try to get to Mass one additional day during the week.  It is good sometimes just to slow down and be in the Lord’s presence.   

The other public prayer of the Church is the Liturgy of the Hours.  These prayers, consisting of psalms, hymns, readings from Scripture, and writings of the Church Fathers and saints, is a favorite of mine.  It is based on a four-week cycle and also follows the church year.  Many people say Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer adapted from the Liturgy of the Hours as their own prayers, and many versions of those prayers can be had.

Private prayers over time become a good portion of the prayers we say.  Of these, the most popular are the Rosary of the Blessed Mother and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

I would encourage you to become familiar with the Blessed Mother, as she truly is our Mother, given to us by Jesus himself as He hung dying on the cross.  Please remember, that in praying the Rosary, we are not praying TO the Blessed Mother, as much as we are asking her to intercede for us with Her Son.  What son can refuse his mother anything?  Some of the greatest religious art that has come down to us are the paintings and icons involving Mary and Jesus.  In these painting and icons, Mary is always shown looking at Jesus, indicating that it is her Son that is the main focus of the artwork, just as He is the main focus of our prayer.  When you were little and you wanted something special, how many times did you go straight to your dad?  Probably not many, because most children learn early on that if they want something and they ask Mom, they’ll usually get what they want.  I think one of the most powerful expressions of this idea is contained in the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana, which was Jesus’ first public miracle.  If you go to a party and the hosts run out of food and drink, that has to be one of the most horrible things that can happen.  This is exactly what happened long ago at that wedding in Cana.  We are told that Jesus, his Mother Mary, and his disciples were there, and it was Mary who noticed that the wine had run out.  She tells Jesus, “They have no wine,” but Jesus says to her, “Woman, why turn to me?  My hour has not yet come.”  (Jn. 2:1-6).  But Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”  Her mother’s heart knew that Jesus would not turn down her request, and her faith in Him prompted her to act.  Mary walked with Jesus from his birth at Bethlehem to his death on the cross on Calvary and after his Resurrection.  She never left Him, and she does not leave us.  We can turn to her and ask her intercession at any time.

So, let’s look at the Rosary.  Although it is commonly thought that St. Dominic began the Rosary, this is not entirely true.  The prayers of the Rosary began as a recitation of the 150 Psalms of the Old Testament.  It was felt, however, over time, that lay brothers associated with most monastic orders should have some similar type of prayer.  These brothers were different from the monks, the chief difference being that they were, for the most part, illiterate, and therefore they couldn’t read the Psalms.  They needed an easily-remembered prayer, and initially it was the Our Father that was used and a rosary was used to count, sometimes 50, sometimes 100, Our Fathers.  Over time, the form commonly used today developed.  The word “Mystery” that we speak of in connection with the Rosary is not something incomprehensible or scary, but rather a truth of our Faith.  So, let’s pick up our Rosaries, and using the sheet marked “How to Pray the Rosary,” we’ll say one decade of the Joyful Mysteries.  After each decade the Fátima Prayer may also be said (Pope Pius XII):  “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy.”

Another private prayer that began just before World War II is the Divine Mercy Chaplet, based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy.  Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.  In addition, there is a painting that is known simply as The Divine Mercy, a picture of Jesus with His right hand raised in blessing and his left hand revealing two rays, one red, one white, coming from his heart, and at the bottom of the image are the words “Jesus, I trust in you.”  The message of both the image and the chaplet is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught through scripture and tradition:  that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness.  But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone - especially the greatest sinners.  The message of mercy is that God loves us - all of us - no matter how great our sins.  He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others.  Thus, all will come to share His joy.  This Chaplet is said using a Rosary, so, we’ll say just one portion of the Chaplet now.

If you go into any Catholic goods store, such as Gannon’s down the street, or Henninger’s over by Tiedeman and Brookpark, you will notice a rather large selection of prayer books.  Just as Father Klein said last week, most people, at one time or another, use a prayer book.  I still have the prayer book and the Rosary I received from my parents for my First Holy Communion in 1958.  I even have my aunt’s prayer book from her wedding in 1926, although I can’t read a word of it because it’s in Polish!  When my Mother died, I got her prayer book and my husband also got his parents’ prayer books.  Prayer books, and rosaries are known as sacramentals; the item itself does not impart the grace or blessing, but it is the prayers said that give us grace.

A book I recently picked up is entitled “28 Different Ways to Pray.”  Even I was surprised at all the different ways to pray.  So, what I want to offer you is this:  As that learned priest said, “Pray the way you can, not the way you can’t.”  If the only thing you can manage to say is one Hail Mary then start with that.  Before long, you will find yourself adding another and another and another, well, you get the idea.  You can use the acronym PRAY.COM to help you.  P is to Praise God.  R stands for repent of unconfessed sins.  A is for ask – God already knows our needs, but we still need to ask.  Y in one version stands for yours – your life, your family, friends, neighbors, to intercede for them.  This is where you remember all those who have asked for your prayers.  A friend of mine says to him the Y means yield – give yourself up to the will of God, something very, very difficult for all of us to do.  The dot is a time to listen – just stay quiet.  God often speaks to us in silence.  Lastly the COM stands for communication.  Again, pray always, make conversation with God part of your daily life and not something done only in time of need.  Remember, we can pray when we listen to music or downloads on our iPods.  I have a CD of the Divine Mercy that stays in my car’s CD player and it is always the first thing that I listen to when I get in my car.  Every morning, the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet are on my iPod and I listen to that.  Religious art can also be a prayer. 

You’ve been given Bibles, and I would encourage you to read them.  However, two don’ts:  Don’t set a goal of reading the Bible from beginning to end.  You’ll stop somewhere in the Book of Numbers (trust me, I’ve been there).  Two, Don’t fall into the habit of just opening your Bible, and pointing your finger down on a page.  It just doesn’t work that way.  There are a lot of good sources out there on how to read the Bible, and one of my favorite sources is Presentation Ministries out of Cincinnati, Ohio.  This ministry was founded by a priest, Fr. Al Lauer, and on their web site you can find a lot of helps for delving into the Bible.  The three I like the best are “How to Read the Old Testament”, “How to Read the New Testament” and “Through the Bible in One Year.”  Of course, I just said before, don’t think you’re going to read the Bible from beginning to end in one year, yet here I am advocating something called “Through the Bible in One Year?”  Yeah, I am, because this pamphlet, which again, can be found on the Presentation Ministries web site, has three readings for each day, the last of which is from one of the Gospels.  Actually, you get through the Gospels twice each year.  The first readings are from the books of the Old Testament or the letters, Acts and Revelation of the New Testament, and the 2^nd reading is taken from the Psalms or the book of Proverbs.  Also, these schedules start on December 1, because the Church’s year always starts on the First Sunday of Advent, which is always at the beginning of December.  Earlier I mentioned that I have multiple Bibles.  My favorite of all is the Jerusalem Bible, which is both the large one I am reading out of tonight, and the small burgundy copy I bring to class each week.  I also have the large, “Family Bibles” that many, many households have, and several other versions of the Bible.  I find that sometimes the wording I am looking for is in another version of the Bible than that from which I am reading at any particular moment.  By the way, those large family bibles are treasures to hold on to – many, many facets of family histories were recorded in those old Bibles, and if you’re lucky enough to have one that belonged to a grandmother or great-grandfather, treasure it for what is written in it as well as the Word of God that is contained in it.  The Bible we gave you here in class contains the version of the readings that are used in the Liturgy.  However, if you find another Catholic version of the Bible that you like better, by all means, get it, because you’ll probably be more inclined to read something you like.

The other two booklets I mentioned are items from Fr. Lauer in which he goes through each book of the Bible, gives one key word that summarizes the message of that book, as well as a listing of 5 main verses from each book, a Key verse, a Command verse, a Promise verse, a Difficult verse and a Surprise verse.  I have noted these in each of my bibles, both by listing them on the beginning page of a book and by underlining and marking the verse.  These verses have come to mean a great deal to me.

The point of praying is not only that we say the words, but that over time, we become the words.  Saint Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”  He meant that we should be living our lives in such a way that people have no need of asking us what religion we are or what church we belong to.  My husband did that, and each day I find another facet of his life that even I didn’t know about. 

I first met my husband in 1984 when I reported my ex-fiancé missing (that is definitely a story for another time), but it was 10 years before we got married.  I thought my faith was strong and that I was exhibiting a Gospel lifestyle until I married Norm.  A short time after we married, we began to say the rosary together every evening.  A few years after that we started going to daily Mass, and then my husband started going to the Cleveland Clinic where he was a Eucharistic Minister, meaning that he visited with sick patients and gave them Communion.  For many years, he would come home and tell me some of the things he had shared with patients and I marveled at the words he said.  It was only after some time that I found out that he specifically prayed to the Holy Spirit before he began his rounds so that the Lord would speak the words each patient needed to hear through my husband.  He then began to tell me about a doctor he met who came into the chapel every day and when Mass was over, he would kneel on the floor while the Rosary was being said.  Norm noticed this doctor and told his fellow volunteers, kiddingly at the time, that if he ever got seriously ill, he wanted this doctor to take care of him.  Not only did this doctor say the Rosary daily, but he kept an image of the Divine Mercy in his lab coat pocket for all to see.

Well, in October, 2009, we were told that he had leukemia.  He was admitted to the hospital, and who should be on his team but this fine doctor, Dr. Ronald Sobecks.  We were immediately comforted because we knew that this man has a great devotion to the Divine Mercy.  Norm was only given a 5% chance of survival and he was confined to the hospital for 5 weeks.  When he did come home, he couldn’t wait to get back to his volunteering at the Clinic, and it wasn’t until February of 2010 that that happened.  I was with him as he visited the patients and I marveled at how he carried out his ministry.  He always kept himself in the background.  When he walked in a room, he never said, “I’m Norm from Spiritual Care.”  He always, always said, “I brought Jesus if you’d like Holy Communion.”  Sometimes if someone was unable to receive, they simply wanted to talk and the depth of my husband’s faith and prayer life was revealed to me over and over. 

At the beginning of this year, we were told that the leukemia was back and survival was only a 50% crap shoot.  He was also told he could no longer visit the sick either in the hospitals or at home or go to Church.  It was a difficult time which entailed weekly lab visits and periodic blood and plasma transfusions.  In February, we were given information about Hospice and signed up with them on a Thursday.  That Saturday, Norm started having convulsions and I was able to call hospice and the nurse came and told me he had a 104 fever and was not expected to last the week, but when she left she told my step-son that Norm probably would not last the night.  An antibiotic was prescribed, but it was felt that it would not help because it normally takes 72 hours to get into the system.  Norm got his first dose at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and he did not remember most of that day at all.  I had contacted several of my friends and asked them to storm heaven on Norm’s behalf, because we needed a miracle.  I went to bed that night, firmly believing that I would wake up a widow.  Sunday morning, I went to his bedside, and all of a sudden, he opened his eyes and said, “Hi.”  When he came out of the bedroom a little while later, he looked like nothing had happened.  When the nurse called to find out his status, I said, “he’s fine” and she dropped her phone.  She then called the doctor and he did the same thing.  It seems that they had written Norm off as of Saturday night, and the fact that he was as good as he was on Friday before this all started was a miracle – even they called it such. 

We spent the last five months of his life trying to make each moment a prayer.  We had always said grace before meals, and we continued to do so.  We sat together and said the rosary every day, even when we were down at the Clinic for his transfusions.  Norm would share with me some of the things he was reading and what he was feeling.  In June, Norm decided not to have any further transfusions.  Whenever the hospice minister would come for a visit to bring Norm Holy Communion, Jim would always ask Norm who he wanted to pray for, and without fail, Norm always said “the poor souls” (those in purgatory who have no one to pray for them).  He never asked for prayers for himself.  He taught me how suffering can be a gift to the Church, how our suffering can be united to Christ and can be for the good.  My husband was in the habit of saying the Rosary every night when he went to bed.  The last two words he spoke were “my Rosary.”

A parishioner recently wrote that Norm visited for some time after she returned home from major surgeries wrote to me to tell me what a blessing Norm was for her.  She wrote, “I was so unhappy with what had happened to me and sometimes I cried.  But he (my husband) talked to me and encouraged me to trust and believe that God loved me and I would be better.

She continued, “I have never known anyone else who believed so strongly about the power of prayer.  I know he was the person who helped me to heal.  I could never thank him enough.”

            So, our prayer life should become not just something we say, but should be our very lives and actions, as a good, genuine prayer life calls us to act.  Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “We cannot do great things, only little things with great love.”

            Lastly, I want to share with you a prayer that I found in my husband’s prayer book after his death.  It was written by his father, as you can see, in 1965.  My father-in-law had no formal religious training other than in his early childhood, yet this prayer, to me is as profound as any I have ever read.  The only things I can tell you about him is he was the father of 9, and at the point this prayer was written, my in-laws had just celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary.  Let’s say it together:

I thank Thee, dear God, for having made me as I am.

I thank Thee for all the labor and toil Thou hast given me to Thy greater honor and glory.

I thank Thee for all the sadness, suffering and sorrows Thou hast bestowed upon me, because always You have rewarded them with joy and gladness.

You have given me a life so full that during it all, I have not had time to stop and consider the extent of Your wonderful gift – my life.

Dear God, accept my poor attempt at gratitude and give me the grace to honor Thee with all the love of a poor human.

-         Namar A. Fritz, Sr.

-         February 25, 1965

RCIA and the Easter Triduum - Nuts and Bolts

         How to explain the brief sacred season of the Triduum to those coming into the Church on Holy Saturday.  They absolutely know WHAT's going to happen, but they're probably not at all sure HOW it's going to happen..  That's how this talk came about.  Has been used since 2007 not only with adults but teens as well.
         It’s almost eight months since we met for the first time and together began a journey.  On Holy Saturday, our journey reaches its high point.  This journey, for you, our elect, has been, and will continue to be, a life-altering event.  For your sponsors, it is a privilege, as they have walked with you, and for the team, it has been an honor to be a part of this step in your lives.

I personally want to thank you for allowing all of us into your lives at this time.

            And so, on Holy Saturday, you will come to church, and at a certain point in the Liturgy, will either be baptized or received into the Catholic faith, be confirmed, and a little later, approach the altar to receive the greatest gift humanity has ever been given, Jesus Himself in the Eucharist.

            What I want to talk about today is the celebration of the vigil itself.  We will go through the actual “how we get there from here” practice tomorrow.

            Again, I want to especially encourage you to participate in the liturgies of Holy Thursday, and Good Friday.  These days, together with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, comprise what the Church calls the Easter Triduum.  This short, but very, very powerful season in the church’s liturgical year, lasts only from sunset on Holy Thursday until sunset on Easter Sunday, but it is the most intense time in the church’s calendar.  Each day builds on what has gone before and the intensity and fullness of Holy Saturday, while of course standing alone, can best be appreciated after having participated in the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies.

            As I said at the beginning, we have been on a journey -- all our lives, of course, but most especially with one another since September.  One phase of that journey will come to fruition on Holy Saturday.

The Church, in its infinite wisdom, sees to it that the Holy Saturday Liturgy is quite unlike any other Mass that you will ever attend.  There’s been a lot of times in the last few years that things have been called “the mother of all [insert your favorite word]” and “the brightest and best.”  From my own experience, I can only tell you that Holy Saturday is indeed “the mother of all liturgies” that the Church will ever have, as well as being “the brightest and best” that the Church has to offer.  There are no other liturgies during the entire church year that come close in terms of all that is involved in this one liturgical celebration.

There is a lot of symbolism involved on this night.  One of the symbols of the Easter Vigil is its length.

First of all, your families and friends are, of course, most encouraged to attend.  Do be certain to tell them, however, that this Liturgy will be long, lasting about two hours, more or less.  

The Holy Saturday Liturgy itself is divided into four parts:  the service of light, the liturgy of the word, the liturgy of baptism and the liturgy of the Eucharist.  These four parts move us through a gradual unfolding of the mystery of the Easter Vigil.

In a common sense, since we have been on a journey, it is only natural that on this night, because we have finally reached our destination, we should stop and “pitch camp,” much as the Israelites did on the journey from Egypt to the promised land.

The church building itself is in darkness, waiting.

Depending on the weather, hopefully, we will all gather around as a fire will be built somewhere outside the church proper and blessed.  The Paschal candle which represents Christ, the light of the world, and which itself bears symbols of Christ, his cross and his wounds as well as the year, is also blessed on this night and lit from the new fire.  The lit Paschal candle is then carried into the dark church and we hear intoned, “Christ, our light,” to which we respond, “Thanks be to God.”  This is done three times, and each time, light is taken from the Paschal candle to light the candles we, and everyone present in the church, will be holding.  It is important to remember the symbolism here:  just as the light of the Paschal candle is never diminished even after being dispersed to light our candles, Christ is never diminished. 

Once in our pews, still standing and holding our candles, we listen to the singing of the Exultet, the Easter proclamation.

The next part of the liturgy, the liturgy of the word, then begins.

Again, just as if we are on a journey, having built our “campfire”, we sit in the dark to listen to our story.  Imagine yourselves around a campfire (I’m sure a lot of you went to camp as children, or like to go camping now, and part of that experience involves sitting around a campfire, telling stories).  We do the same thing, but tonight we are listening to our salvation history.  If you look in the Missalette for this holy week and you look at the readings for Holy Saturday, you might be surprised to find seven different Old Testament readings in addition to a reading from St. Paul and the gospel.  Sometimes, all seven Old Testament readings are done, but at other times, it can be as few as three.  We will be listening to old testament readings so try to read them before Holy Saturday.

Again, the Church wants us to listen to these readings, not read them.  Recall, if you will, the symbolism here – the Israelites’ salvation history was oral – it was not written down until much, much later.  Try to listen with a sense of wonder to these readings, as if hearing them for the first time.  After each of the readings, we will respond with a responsorial psalm, and after the psalm, there is a prayer.

When the Old Testament readings are finished, we sing the “Gloria In Excelsis Deo,” the joyful song the angels sang at Jesus’ birth, which has not be used in the liturgy since Ash Wednesday.  All the lights and all the candles in the Church will be lit, and the church bells are also rung, which has been a tradition for a long time.  Prior to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, on Holy Thursday after the Gloria was sung, the organ and all of the bells of the churches all over the world were silent until this moment on Holy Saturday.  It is as if they too proclaim the joyousness of this night.  There is then a reading from St. Paul specifically on baptism and then for the first time since Ash Wednesday, alleluia is sung.  After a psalm the gospel of the resurrection is proclaimed as the high point of the entire liturgy of the word, and then the homily is given. 

After the homily, the Liturgy of Baptism begins.  The moment you have all been waiting for is finally here!  The litany of the saints will be sung, and you just may hear your own name during the litany.  The blessing of the water which will be used for your baptism then follows.  Having been called to the baptismal font with your godparent, those of you to be baptized, will then be baptized.  The rest of you will be asked to make a profession of faith in the Catholic Church.

The Sacrament of Confirmation is held after this, and from this point forward, all of you are now called “neophytes.”

The Church deems this night, and these sacraments, so very important that after you have been baptized or made your profession of faith and been confirmed, the entire congregation is then asked to rise and renew our own baptismal promises.  

The Mass then continues with the prayers of the faithful and then we begin the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Of course, at Communion time, all of you will come forward first to receive your First Holy Communion, which will be given under both species, both the bread and the wine.

The final concluding rites finish the Easter Vigil Liturgy, and to the final dismissal, “Go in the peace of Christ,” “Alleluia” is added, and will be included for the next eight days, also called the octave of Easter.

This Holy Saturday Liturgy is indeed the best and brightest the church has to offer – the number of readings, the beauty of the music, and even the decorations of the church attest to the fact that this night is indeed different from all other nights.

I would encourage you to come back to the Easter Vigil every year.  There is always much to be learned this night, no matter how many times you have been to Holy Saturday Vigils before or will be in the future. 

Those who know me know that I absolutely love the Christmas season, but as much as I love Christmas, so that much more I look forward to Lent and the Easter season, especially this year.  This year more than any other has truly become a season of hope for me.  In January, we lost a very good priest, Fr. Riley, to cancer.  It is not his dying that gives me hope; it was his own words of belief in the Resurrection and the joy of seeing our God that gave me hope.  He said, “I have always believed and taught in the goodness of God and how wonderful eternity is.  I’m ready now to meet both and I look forward and am eager to die.”  This statement is very poignant for me, because this year has been the year that my doctors decided that it was time to treat a disease I have had for 37 years, without any overt symptoms.  It is not the disease itself that has me so haggard and tired, it is the treatment, but please don’t pity me or feel sorry for me - I am three months into the treatment regimen and that means I only have 9 more months to go!  Now, if that isn’t a reason to hope, I don’t know what is.  

So when we leave church on Holy Saturday night, we will have fulfilled our obligation for Easter Sunday, but I would encourage you to come to mass on Easter Sunday, for it too is not your ordinary Sunday mass.  Again on Easter, there is a renewal of Baptismal promises and the sprinkling with holy water.  And then there is the 8-day octave of Easter.  Since Easter is a solemnity, the Church celebrates for 8 days, but the entire Easter season lasts 50 days, until the feast of Pentecost.

When we are children, time is irrelevant.  It is an eternity from the beginning of school to Christmas vacation and even longer after Christmas break to summer vacation.  It was the same for me.  Time pretty much ran together until Holy Week came around each year.  Even as a youngster, this week was different.  As a child, I only remember going to 1 or 2 Holy Thursday Masses because I could still fit into my First Communion dress and we were part of the procession which explained to you a little while ago.  But the entire Mass, except for the homily, was in Latin.  As an 8 or 9 year old, it was a long evening.  But the one thing our family always participated in was the Good Friday Passion service.  But it was not until I was 16 years old and we had moved to our home in Parma that January that I could finally walk to church.  This was no small thing for me, because for my first 15 years of life, if I wanted to go to church, I had to be driven as our parish was too far away from our home.  As part of my Lenten practice that year, I decided I would go to daily mass at my new parish, because I could walk there.  And so, at the age of 16, for the first time, I experienced Holy Week and the Easter Triduum in all its fullness, and it was here that I felt God speaking to my heart.

During our lifetimes, we measure time by significant events:  we can all remember where we were on September 11, 2001.  We make preparations for important events like holidays or birthdays or weddings.  If you’ve planned or are planning a wedding or other major event, you plan everything down to the last detail because you want the celebration to be perfect.  This Holy Saturday night is a celebration – all that we have planned for – and it will be perfect, so, from this point forward, I would especially encourage you to remember Holy Saturday as a very special day, for in a sense it is your spiritual birthday.  So let me be the first to wish you a “Happy Birthday.” 

But in a very real sense, all of you have a huge family of brothers and sisters in Christ who have been praying for you these past months, and waiting for you to come home.  So let me be the first to say, “Welcome Home!”