Advent has Gaudete and Lent has Laetare, and both command that we Rejoice.
Thanksgiving through New Year’s is what the secular society calls “the
holidays,” and parties abound, even if they are not always quite certain what
the holidays are commemorating. But in
this parish, no time has celebrations quite like this time of year.
From Easter until about
Flag Day, this place rocks. There are parties and barbeques and carnivals
and fiestas and receptions and gatherings and just about every other form of
human celebration ever known.
Over the past two
weeks, I have rejoiced in the Resurrection of the Lord in countless ways, from
the drowsy convivium at the rectory kitchen island at midnight after the Easter
Vigil, to dinner with Fr. Nick and my classmate Fr. Mark Knestout at our favorite
steak place, to the reflective reception we have for our RCIA group once they
have entered the joy of the Sacraments.
We also opened the
season for what I call Munchkinball, our CYO’s baseball for the smaller folks
on the back field on springtime Friday evenings. I don’t have the arm to throw out the first
pitch, but I do get to offer the invocation, and can assure you that the
excitement and delight of that evening rival Opening Day at any major league
park.
Of course next week
is Mother’s Day, that which cannot be skipped, moved, diluted, or elided with
any other feast or party. Later, there
is Memorial Day, which occasions all sorts of outdoor festivity, usually
centered on fire. Could this be a
residual cultural reference to the New Fire of the Great Vigil of Easter? Perhaps I should consider that. But I digress.
It is also Ordination
Season. Most priests ordained in the
last forty or even fifty years mark our anniversaries in this time – including
all three of us in the rectory (six, sixteen, and forty, respectively). Observances have been known to occur.
Then comes
Graduation. Kindergarten, high school,
college, and assorted graduate programs – all of them have their commencements
in these days, and the parties that go with them are remarkable. For Catholic
parochial school kids, even finishing eighth grade merits pomp and circumstance;
and some of them – including ours – have a whole octave of festivities
celebrating their wonderfulness and achievements.
There are
end-of-school parties and last-chance gatherings before everyone scatters for
the summer. The easy evenings of summer
are welcomed warmly and in good company.
But my personal,
top-of-the-line, all-out, no-exceptions favorite is this weekend. First Holy Communion is a marvelous moment
that I enjoy to the very core of my being, and the Pastor’s privilege of giving
these children (71 of them this year!) their first taste of heaven is one I
count most precious. The rest of the day
is filled with parties and receptions in which the joy and friendship is commensurate
with the gift being celebrated.
Then, the next
morning, I get to give the same children, this time in the company of their
families, their second Holy
Communion, perhaps less dramatic but more indicative of the path they will
follow to more lasting joy. We cap the
whole experience with our May Procession and Crowning, with flowers, songs, and
love for her who gave her body so that Christ would have a body to give us as
food, and thus was the very First to receive Holy Communion.
Altogether,
this weekend is a divine celebration indeed; that’s what I consider a party!
Monsignor Smith
