An Easter worth waiting for

Mass on Easter Sunday is always one of the highlights of the year. And this year ... this year ....

I never remember the altar looking more beautiful!

What is it about the flowers? Studying them from the choir loft I wondered if it was the orange flowers in among the yellow.

Here was our opening procession. We got to sing the Vidi Aquam which is something I always look forward to. "I saw water flowing out of the temple, from the right side ..." God knows what that all means, you know? But I do not need to know exactly. It is about water and baptism and new life, is all you can think. It is from Ezekiel.

These are not my pictures. They are from Facebook. I was in such an Easter daze I forgot my camera. It is strange to forget your camera! It is like being back in Biblical times.

Not only that but I cried so much in the Gloria that I could hardly sing. I was not the only one. Half the choir was in tears. And all the bells were ringing.

It had been just such an intense Holy Week. I did the Seven Churches on Holy Thursday. I did have my camera then and I did take a few pictures. I will have to post them.

Then on Good Friday I went to Stations of the Cross and the first Good Friday service I can remember going to. For all these years I was working on Good Friday. I could not get my act together to have the day off. There was always something. This year I went. The service, or the Good Friday Office as it was called in the missal, began with the priest lying face down on the floor and it went from there. It was unbelievably stark.

Ergo, on Easter, it was like coming out of a tunnel. Into the light! That is why you have to max yourself out in the days beforehand. You feel it!

Alleluia!

Like a Bos

You know how people ask you, "And what did you get out of Mass today?"

Today I have an answer!

Sleepy as I was, and preoccupied with the coffee hour as I was, nevertheless this Mass taught me something I will never forget.

In the Gospel today there is something about a cow. And the Latin word for cow is "bos."

I gazed at that word charmed.

Bos!

That explains "bovine."

And even better, it explains "Bossy."

That is why people have historically named their cows Bossy!

Remember the bossy Lutherans and the bossy estate sale people? "Bos" does not explain them. Nothing can explain them! But cows named Bossy, the Latin word has to be the reason.

It has to be!!

Naturally I could not wait to share this observation -- or should we say rumination -- with a couple of my fellow choristers up in the organ loft. A few minutes later I felt terrible. Here I am diverting their attention from the Gospel. What is it in me that makes me want to disturb people's devotions?

But still, Bos.

They will remember it.

They will thank me!

The Latin lettering challenge

My New Year's Eve resolutions include getting better with lettering. And while I was at church on Sunday, thinking about Latin, I had the idea to put together a Latin lettering challenge.

Everyone else initiates these challenges. Why not me?

Well, one reason why not is I am not techie enough to print out the challenge neatly on a computer the way everyone else does. My printer is kaput. However where there is a will there is a way and so I printed it myself. That is it up above.

You have to start somewhere! It was Dec. 31 and I did not want to wait.

I squared my shoulders and put it up on Instagram. It was liked by 10 people! That is a relief. It is not a lot of likes but enough so that it has something, you know? So people do not look at my little grassroots challenge and say, "Look at that loser, nobody likes what she put up there."

Then I set to work actually doing my challenge.

That was easier said than done!

But I am thinking, if you are the host of a challenge, you have to put something up there so something is there, even if no one else is doing it. Which, if no one else is joining me on my Latin challenge, I can totally understand that.

The first phrase was purposely short but a challenge nonetheless. It being the Seventh Day of Christmas I had gone with "In Excelsis Deo." I am trying to work on my flourishing and tying letters together and arranging them artfully. On the other hand I did not have all day to fuss. I had many other things that had to be done.

Signs of a struggle ....

But the beauty of these challenges is that you have to get something done. It does not have to be perfect. You do your best.

This is good therapy for me because I tend to hesitate too much on certain things. I ask Howard what he thinks. I ask all my friends what they think. I waffle.

At work at The Buffalo News I fortunately have deadlines. Because then things get done whether you are ready or not. And about this Latin challenge, you know what, maybe nobody else will do it. But I am happy that I had the idea and then just went forward with it, without consulting anyone, and just got it done and up there, within an hour.

Veni, vidi, vici!

Now for Day Two. It is "Dona nobis pacem."

Wish me luck!

Sweet Sunday

It is suddenly Advent! The season sneaks up on you.

And this year it was even more so with the election and everything. I was so out of it that I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to see those purple vestments this morning at church, and the Advent wreath.

And the Advent readings!

Some of the best lines in all of Scripture are read on the first Sunday of Advent.

Excita, quaesumus, Domine, potentiam tuam ... That means "Stir up thy power, O Lord." That is why this Sunday is Stir Up Sunday, the day when you are supposed to stir up your fruitcakes and puddings so they will be ready in time for Christmas.

Ad te levavi animam meam,.. "To Thee have I lifted up my soul." This is all so great.The Gospel is Jesus saying, "There will be signs in the sun and the moon, and the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea, and of the waves..." And you are standing there thinking, as every generation since then has thought: This is it. We are in this time.

At the end of Mass we got to sing "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel." The greatest hymn.



 And in the Epistle, from St. Paul: "The night is passed and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light." That is thrilling and really does make me want to be less of a schlep.

And later St. Paul includes a word that I love.

It is chambering!

As in: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkkenness, not in chambering and impurities..."

A great word, chambering. One that we should bring back if you ask me. And the Latin is even better.

It is cubilibus!

St. Paul said nothing specifically about overeating and so after Mass I unveiled with pride this gigantic rich coffee cake I had made. I have a picture but it will have to wait because I cannot get it out of my phone. This is one I made a few weeks ago and it was bigger than this one, just to give you an idea.

St. Paul said nothing about pride either so I am in the clear.

The morning was not perfect. For one thing it was my turn to bring food to the priests we are lucky enough to have in residence at St. Anthony's. That resulted in several "I Love Lucy" situations. And there was yet another when I spilled my coffee -- What was with me? I never spill my coffee! Well, that will have to be a separate story for another day.

For now I am off to cast off the works of darkness. And put on the armor of light.

And, oh yes, stir up those fruitcakes.

And we're off!

My New Year got off to a late start because of, um, excesses yesterday. I was late to Mass this morning. It being the Solemnity of Mary and the Octave of Christmas, it is a holy day. I made it but not until the Gloria. Glory be!

But I was not alone. At Offertory time we had to sing "Puer Natus in Bethlehem" and we hit one verse and everyone got lost. Some thought we should sing the third verse, others did not. End result: quavery voices and because I do not quit, there is my voice going over the church. I sounded like a 10 year old boy.

Then we get to the end and we are all looking at each other.

I said to the gal next to me: "I see I am not the only one who had a late night last night."

It is hilarious when we goof something up but I feel bad too. I always worry that someone maybe is coming to mass who might normally never be there and that person's faith could be hurt because I MADE A MISTAKE. Because by my stupidity I shattered that fragile sense of the supernatural.

Later at Communion I goofed a line in "Resonet in Laudibus."



I goofed it twice. Twice!! Even though it was nowhere near as complicated as the performance I just posted. Because there is this song by Brahms that uses it and Brahms has the melody a little bit differently. And I have listened to that song thousands of times, literally. Now this melody is wired into my head wrong. I screwed this up last year too, if I remember correctly.

After Mass my friend Dominic asked me for a ride home because we live near each other and his car is in the shop. He had taken the bus to mass. Ha, ha! By the time I got him home I bet he wished he had taken the bus home, too! All the time I had been singing and goofing things up, snow had been falling. My car is terrible in the snow and there I am sliding all over the road. Not to mention I was half asleep.

Oh well. Speaking of Dominic, he has taught me to keep things in perspective. Another time we had all goofed a response and when it was through we all looked at each other rolling our eyes and making faces. Dominic shrugged and smiled.

In his Nigerian accent he whispered: "It is over."

A good thing to remember when you make a mistake. And to remember as we enjoy the fresh start of a new year.

You can always begin again!

My extraordinary life

I almost hate to admit this but when I went to church yesterday it was still Christmas.

All the decorations were still up! And we sang "The First Noel." On Jan. 11! How great is that? We also sang "Puer Natus Est." It is becoming one of my favorite chants.

And "Corde Natus Ex Parentis," at Communion. What a beautiful melody that is. It is a very old Christmas melody going back to before the Middle Ages.



And at the end of Mass when you are allowed to sing in English that is when we did "The First Noel."

The church still shone with crimson and gold. The creche, pictured above, was still up. It felt as if we were getting away with something. I hear that in all the rest of the Catholic Church, the people who do not do the Tridentine Mass, it is back as of today to Ordinary Time. Green vestments, nothing to see here, move along.

Our Mass in Latin is also known as the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Dignum et justum est! That means "It is right and just." Because we have no Ordinary Time. As one of my friends at church said, "No time is ordinary."

All of it is extraordinary. The Christmas Cycle lasts until Lent. This is where we pay the piper: Lent for us begins three weeks earlier than for our brethren in Ordinary Time. That is not fun, I must admit. It was confusing to me when I first got into going to the Latin Mass and I remember asking Leonard Pennario about it, and he explained things to me. We start Lent with Septuagesima Sunday, which I believe is two and a half weeks ahead of Ash Wednesday.

Well, it is worth it, being able to extend the magic of the season as we do. I feel sorry for all the garden-variety Catholics stuck back in Ordinary Time.

I am going to celebrate my extraordinary life.

Perhaps I will make some Bailey's.

Tolkien's take on a cat

Last night when a bunch of us went Christmas caroling, first we gathered in the gracious home of my friends George and Anne Apfel in Williamsville. And we played with the Apfels' tiger kitten and we all talked about our cats, including our Jeoffry, pictured above.

Well, everyone talked about cats except our friend Ryan, who is not a cat owner. Three cheers for Ryan, who puts up with us!

Today I found this poem. Someone had posted it as a comment to a story the Atlantic Monthly ran about why cats will always be a little bit wild.

The poem is by J.R.R. Tolkien. I never really got into "The Lord of the Rings" but I have a deep affinity for Tolkien because he loved the Tridentine Latin Mass the way I do (and the way Leonard Pennario did). When the Mass turned to English, Tolkien would always insist on giving the responses in Latin. Requiescat in pace, dear poet. Next time we sing "Adeste Fideles" it will be for you.

And now the poem:

"Cat" by J. R. R. Tolkien

The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
where woods loom in gloom --
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.

Forward into Dyngus Day

One of the many things that make Easter a great day is that you are finally out of the tunnel. Lent is over! And Lent always gets you one way or another. There is psychological stress and then that strange silence over Good Friday and even, to a lesser degree, Holy Saturday.

On Easter it is as if you finally exhale.

Our morning Mass was not very crowded, for a variety of inside-baseball reasons that will have to wait for another day. Usually we get a pretty good crowd! But on Easter I could not have cared less how many people were there. I was just joyful! 

Not only that but it was a beautiful day, not like the last few Easters, which were cold and rainy. And so before Mass I performed the ceremonial cutting of the tags on the magnificent Calvin Klein dress I scored at Goodwill, tags still attached, for $6.

I am always reluctant to cut these tags off but if not now, when?

Dominic in our Tridentine Mass choir is from Nigeria and he celebrated by wearing festive traditional Nigerian dress.

A few good men (in the Tridentine Mass choir). This candid shot gives you kind of a view of beautiful St. Anthony of Padua Church where Leonard Pennario was baptized.

Easter dinner with the family was great fun plus I cleaned up my house and the paper ran a story I got to write about the Broadway Market. 

Now it is time to get ready for a new day ...Dyngus Day! That's right: We have not yet begun to eat! 

The big question is, sort of like yesterday: What to wear?  No Calvin Klein dress today! Whatever I choose it had better be washable.

I cannot imagine it will be as wild as that other Dyngus Day.

But you never know!

Sunday surprise

Yikes, today -- besides being Mozart's birthday -- is Septuagesima Sunday. That means we are in the pre-Lenten season! Which, Mozart would have known that. But me, I did not.

Above is a picture of me leaving St. Anthony of Padua Church weighed down by the awareness that Lent is upon us. Last year, Septuagesima Sunday also sneaked up on me.

I remember I first heard of Septuagesima Sunday when I was in California with Pennario. I was going to my first Tridentine Masses and a lot was new to me. Septuagesima means you are counting down until Easter. It means that there are 70 days, more or less, until Easter. Leonard helped explain that to me.

I guess this is God telling me to take down my Christmas tree.

On the bright side ... I am sure the word Lent is related to Lenz, which is archaic German for spring. So as of now we can think spring, should we so desire. I do not always desire. Just yesterday I was thinking I love the flavors of winter: cinnamon and cloves and cranberries. Plus I have pumpkins still to eat.

Were I to want spring, though, I would be cheered by signs I have been noticing. The daffodils have been up for weeks! In a holding pattern, but up.

Just this morning I found myself listening for the call of the chickadee, just in case. I did not hear the chickadee. But I will hear it any day now.

Meanwhile I did hear the other sound of spring ... the guy from the nearby group home, carrying on.

That is a sure sign of spring!

Like it or not.

Excuses, excuses

You know how sometimes you need to get out of things? Maybe you didn't show up to work, you didn't do something you were supposed to do, you didn't make it to a party?

You know how sometimes you need an excuse?

Well.

It has been this way for thousands of years! Today there is this dandy new excuse I picked up at church.

This appears in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and he tells a parable about a man who held a great supper and invited many. He sends his servant to invite people. And you have to love how Christ tells what excuses the people come up with.

These must be the excuses people used to use in ancient Israel when they did not want to show up to something!

The world has not changed!

Jesus lists three excuses these people are giving. They are hilarious and prove that Our Lord had a sense of humor.

One guy says, I just bought a farm, and I have to go out and see it.  We still get this one today. "Uh, I just bought a house."

Another guy says, I just got married. We still get this excuse today too.

Someone else says, I have to work on my book about Leonard Pennario. Oh, wait! That was me! Well, if I were in the parable that would be me.

Back to the Bible. Ahem.

A third guy says: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I have to go and try them out.

Isn't that classic?

I totally lost track of what Christ was saying, I was so charmed by this excuse!

In Latin it is: "Juga boum emi quinque, et eo probare illa; rogo te, habe me excusatum."

That is a useful phrase, "Habe me excusatum." Please excuse me. "Rogo te" is, I pray thee.

If a time machine ever takes you back to ancient Rome now you know how to get out of unwanted social events. Maybe someone asks you to a banquet or to the chariot races and you just want to stay home. Now, you can!

It is fun to look at pictures of oxen. Up above is a great picture I found on Google Images.

Here is a yoke of oxen.

Here is a darling picture of what are, by all accounts, darling animals:

This gentleman on this Web site writes:

Oxen are quiet and unassuming animals that give back far more than they take. They are willing to work long hours with a comparatively small amount of feed and care. Their humility and gentle perseverance are a constant source of example for us all. And Jesus used these quiet creatures to whisper words of encouragement into our hectic lives. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11: 28-30. So come along with us as we look at the ox as a simple, natural, and enjoyable alternative to farming in this fast-paced and high-priced world.


How charming is that? I could totally see wanting to blow off a dinner and go try out my new oxen instead.

Except that the man in the parable is angry. That is God, who has invited all of us, and he is angry that he is getting all these excuses. That excuse about the oxen, it did not go over big.

But it went over big with me!

I like that window into the past.