Alleluia...

My dear old Gramma used to say that on Good Friday it would be dark and gloomy and maybe rain from the hours of 12:00 to 3:00, while our good Lord was suffering on the cross. And this year she was right again.

As kids we observed Lent in all it's formats and never ate meat on Fridays. Lots of creamed tuna on toast with peas, if I recall. We thought long and hard before choosing a sacrifice for the season that would be easy enough to actually do and hard enough to still count. We didn't always make it, but at least we understood the meaning of sacrifice. Good Friday then was a day of reverence and we spent it indoors doing a quiet activity or watching mass on the t.v. Mom would usually be ironing. At promptly 3:00 plus 2 seconds, we were sprung from our vigil and coincidentally, the sun usually broke thru as we busted out the door to play. Another sign that the sacrifice of respect could be over.

Then after the Easter morning hoopla of baskets and eggs, we were spit shined up and hauled off to Mass. For some of those years, women still had to cover their heads, and I loved the spring hats that were on display. In northern Michigan we always pushed the limits considering that the temps were usually quite chilly and possibly snowy. But my Mother always treated Easter as the biggest holiday of all. Even bigger than Christmas-which is, in fact, the Catholic way. We waited impatiently for the hour to pass to go home and get our hands on those chocolate bunnies that were waiting.

I guess looking back, lent and Easter were probably our first lessons in sacrifice and selflessness. Altho I do not officially practice the season in that way, I love the things it taught. These days hold very little sacrifice for me, and being selfless is even harder. Having a wonderful dinner with friends made the day perfect and well, the rest of it I'll just have to work on. I promise.. xo to all of you on this glorious day.