Easter Song

Happy Easter!  As I was lying in bed last night, after a full day of preparations and mass and company and so many gleeful children running around until past their bedtimes, I was thinking about the day, wondering if every guest felt welcomed, and if maybe the lamb wasn't a bit underdone (it was.  My meat thermometer tricked me!), and if only I could have kept the twins in their pretty Easter dresses for a little bit longer (they changed into their ragtag favorites about five minutes after getting home from mass).  You know, just the typical awareness of all of the imperfections of this boisterous family life we have embraced.  And I caught myself a minute into this train of thought, and laughed at my own ridiculousness, because isn't the ultimate lesson of the Lenten season that God can do something beautiful from our most humble efforts?  Wow, there is such comfort in that, especially when even our best efforts are kind of messy.

We were blessed with an incredibly present Triduum, where we not only went to church, but were able to go without some of the littler kiddos, meaning that we could participate and focus in a way that is truly special.  And I think that for all of us, but especially Ben, in this first Easter season after having lost his brother, there is healing in liturgy of the Triduum.  Because in taking us through the last days and death of Jesus, all the way to the miracle of his Resurrection, it is also taking us through what God has promised for us.  I am thankful for all of it, and thankful that the Church freely gives us this beauty and meaning.  I had my feet washed on Holy Thursday for the first time in my life (along with my sweet eldest daughter Zosia).  Hugo punctuated the utter silence on Good Friday after the readers  loudly exclaimed "Crucify him!  Crucify him!" by helpfully announcing "That was loud!"  And the twins somehow came to believe that a little girl wearing bunny ears in mass on Easter morning was the Easter bunny, and they tried to hug her.  And Josephine slept through just about every minute of it.  And then we hung out with friends and the full compliment of my West Coast family on Easter.  It was all pretty great.

I hope you had a beautiful Easter, too, and will feel the joy of the Easter season throughout the entire year.  This song was my brother in law's favorite, and he used to blast it through his house on Easter morning.  He's risen, halleluja.