Fumbling Toward Grace
Hello Friends!
Thank you for the well-wishes for my trip to Baltimore. I had such a wonderful time with Kristin, and I’m hoping to devote a whole post to the amazing things that the Church she works for is doing to bring back lapsed Catholics and glorify God!
Meanwhile, it’s Holy Week! Woah, when did that happen? The Triduum starts tomorrow, so I thought I’d post some of the plans that the fumbles household has been making for the celebration:
– We have been reading the first 15 chapters of Exodus over the course of this week. Exodus 1-15 is the story of Moses and the first Passover. It’s been really beautiful to meditate on the roots of the Mass by reading the Passover story, realizing that it’s the same story that Jesus was participating in, and re-creating when he instituted the Eucharist at Holy Thursday!
-Inspired by this reading, we have decided to do a Christian Seder meal tomorrow after we attend Holy Thursday Mass. I had the idea, then got scared and thought, “how do I do this??” Thanks be to God for Google!
I found a Christian Seder ritual tailored on the Jewish Passover meal, and intended for use by families. It is prefaced with this:
“Following is a Christian version of the Jewish Passover Seder, or ritual meal, modified for use in families. It is most effective in teaching children (and parents, too) the tradition of the Mass, a representation of the Last Supper of our Lord with his apostles, where He instituted the sacrifice of the Mass and the priesthood.”
She then lays out the vital elements of a Seder meal:
(1) Lamb: The word Passover applies to the lamb of sacrifice as well as the deliverance from Egypt and feast itself.
(2) Unleavened Bread (Matzoh): is also called “bread of affliction” because it recalls the bread hastily prepared for the Hebrews flight from Egypt.
(3) Bitter Herbs (moror): these are a reminder of the bitterness of slavery an suffering in Egypt.
(4) Green Herbs: these are dipped in salt water, which represents the tears of sorrow shed by the Hebrews during captivity in Egypt.
(5) Haroseth: represents the mortar used by Hebrews to build pyramids and temples in Egypt (the food is a mix of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine).
(6) Wine: is dipped from a common bowl. There are four cups: Thanksgiving, Hagadah (telling), Blessing, and Righteousness. Each cup represents a word of salvation spoken to Moses by God.
This site has the whole ritual, a sample menu, and everything you need to do a Seder at home. In reading through the ritual, the thing that stuck out to me the most was toward the end, when the final piece of Matzoh is broken:
At the end of the meal, the father takes the last matzoh from the plate, breaks and distributes it to all. As it was the custom to end the Passover meal with eating this final piece of unleavened bread, it was probably at this point that Our Lord blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: “This is my body, which is given for thee.”
How cool to re-enact this meal as Jesus did, after attending the Mass celebrating the institution of the Eucharist!
On Good Friday we will attend a service at our Church, and probably watch The Passion at home. I have actually never seen it; I am a chicken. I’m mostly afraid of ending up a tear soaked train-wreck at the end. But, I think I’m ready to conquer my fear this year! If Jesus could bear to be crucified for me, the least I can do is watch an account of it on my flat screen.
Holy Saturday we will attend the Vigil, which is, in my opinion, the most amazing Mass of the year and my personal favorite. The last two Vigils we attended at Notre Dame. As beautiful and amazing as the Mass is there, we are so excited to be home and be at our parish.
On Easter, we will go to Mass at noon (our usual time), but before then, we’re going to have an Easter breakfast feast! The menu includes:
– Omlette of some kind (maybe with cheese and peppers?)
– Tropical multigrain pancakes made with bananas and pineapples (which we never buy but wanted something fun for Easter)
– Bacon (which we also never buy) from the delicious farm where we get our chicken.
Though we are in the midst of moving (boxes everywhere!) I’m attempting to bring some beauty to the table with fresh flowers (daffodils picked from the yard!) and a new springy table runner (mint green with white polka dots!)
Atticus’ parents will be joining us for Easter dinner later on Sunday. This is our very first Easter dinner at our house, so we wanted it to be special. We are going to make:
-roasted leg of lamb (which I have never made before – wish me luck!)- lamb bought from an awesome market here in town! Let me know if you need a lamb recipe, this one has only a few ingredients and looks delicious!
– fresh asparagus
– mashed sweet potatoes
-strawberries
and …. thin mints which have been in the freezer for about a month attempting to lure me with their cookie goodness.
What are you ladies planning for this Easter triduum? And on a somewhat related note: Am I the only one who dorkishly plans all of her outfits for the triduum and gets really excited to wear spring skirts to Church??
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