After a solemn and almost grim Good Friday, we had the Paschal Fire, the Exultet and the Vigil Mass of Easter. It was a magnificent two and half hour long experience, and was done prayerfully and with great concentration by all concerned. (We even had the privilege of a visit from the Guild of Choristers of St Mary - Haddington Road which is nowadays a rare but wonderful thing.) It was an enormously edifying end to the Triduum, and Fr's Larkin, Deighan and Nevin were on top form.
The only strange thing was afterward as I stood outside with my wife, chatting to friends and acquaintances, a man driving out, wound down the window of his car and asked "Are you Opus Dei?". Says I "What???". Him: "Are you a member of Opus Dei?" Me: "No, sorry to disappoint." Him: (In an incredulous tone) "Well, you could have fooled me!" From me came only the sound of loud laughter.
Now flattery will get you everywhere but as a fairly ordinary, muddle-through kind of Catholic I've always wanted to be half as holy or half as charitable as some of the Opus Dei men and women I've known. So whoever you were, you succeeded in being very rude indeed but you gave me a good laugh and a warm glow that I might be mistaken for a really serious Catholic after all! Thank you and Happy Easter!
Christus Surrexit Nobis, Alleluia!
2 comments:
Happy Easter to you!
I'm sure St Josemaria Escriva would have laughed hard along with you!
Stramentarius (the anonymous backpage commenter at the Brandsma Review) quoted this entry at length in the most recent issue, much to the amusement of Lowdenclear and my mother too. As to the braces and fob-watch, I plead guilty as charged m'lud. As I've discovered, though, the great joy of being married is that I only have to please one person. As long as my wife is happy to be seen in public with me, I'm doing all right. (One person besides Our Lord, that is ...)
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