Easter Blessings

The final day of the Easter Triduum was filled with Easter blessings.

Towards the end of my shift yesterday, I was greeting people as they were leaving the church. Lo and behold, I called out "Bye! Happy Easter!" to someone who said it back to me -- the premier of the province. I have always had a tiny crush on him and there he was, taller than I expected and with his family in tow, wishing me a happy Easter. That made my day, pretty much.

There was another blessing I became aware of over lunch with the seminarian. He informed me that while the boss was collecting "sand" (i.e. rocks and dirt) with which to put out the holy fire the previous evening, he and our little pyromaniac altar server, who was wearing his alb, were crawling around under a bush scooping up dirt. The seminarian just stood back and watched this scene with some anxiety -- a priest in his collar and an altar boy frolicking around under a jiggling bush. "Thank goodness," he pointed out, "no one had a camera, or that would have made the front page of the newspaper."

The final blessing was to spend Easter evening with my wonderful family, a lovely dinner and a bunny cake.