Abbey-Roads2

And they took Him away…

I am going to try and be more solemn in my blogging the next two weeks, honoring the sacred passion and death of Our Lord.  Two bloggers had beautiful posts about matters that I accepted as the Lord speaking to my heart.  One on jealousy and envy was remarkable.  The other on the idea that we are all like the men crucified with Christ, especially touched my heart.  (I think these women actually wrote the posts for me.)

Nevertheless, it is so difficult for me to be serious all of the time - life is way too funny - like I always say, my life is just one big sitcom - except for the occasional ‘very special’ episodes of “Blossom” - wasn’t that the name of the sitcom?  So something silly may slip in. 

In the monastery, and at other times in my life, I entered into the solemnities of Passiontide so intensely I probably could have been hospitalized for clinical depression - thus I learned that we must have joy of heart, even in the most dire moments.  Unless our contemplation allows us to experience something of the sorrow the Man of Sorrows experienced…although no one can plumb the depths of His sorrow - a mere taste is almost annihilating to the soul.

It is such a solemn time in the Church’s liturgy.  As one who has experienced the suffering and death of a loved one knows well, one wants the entire world to stop in recognition of our loved one’s death.  Even more so the passion and death of Our Lord.  That is what the Church does in this holy season - it stops at the foot of the Cross.

Passiontide is a time of great grace - if somehow we have failed in our observance of Lent, now is the time to recover what has been lost.  Being with the Lord in His suffering and death is better than fasting on bread and water for 40 years, much less 40 days.  To follow Him and keep Him company for these two weeks will atone for a multitude of sins.  Accompany Our Sorrowful Mother as she follows her Son - she was always present to Him in every aspect of His suffering. 

“O great passion, O deep wounds!  O blood shed in abundance!  O meekness!  O God of meekness!  O cruel death, have mercy upon me and the whole world!” 

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So I’m minding my own business, blogging as usual, and suddenly I get a comment from my sister Beth.  (We are estranged only because I’m an old recluse.  She has gone through a sort of “purgation of the memory” as far as our childhood reminiscences go, while I have retreated from the family in an effort to “forget” these things.  Although I think about them, continually trying to make sense of it all.)

Beth has about 50 kids - not really - she only has 7; Benj, Chris, Dina, Mark, Rob, Kelly, and Todd (Todd looks like Kevin Costner).  Four of the kids are married with children, while three of the boys remain bachelors - without children - see, they are all good kids.  The entire family is a very good family.  The kids are each other’s best friends.  Though they get angry with me, they like me, “they really, really like me”. 

Beth can’t remember…

Beth wrote a comment, “I never thought of Nana as a classy lady, just a grandma.”  Oh! My! Gosh! Beth!  Nana used to dress like the picture up above - certainly she wasn’t Grace Kelly - her shape was a bit more voluptuous, more like Doris Upson in “Auntie Mame” - she would hit you with her handbag if she heard this coming from her favorite grand-daughter.

The photo above is Dior’s New Look, which inaugurated in the late 1940’s but was most popular in the States in the mid 1950’s.  The dress we see above would probably have a low cut back - which Mom said showed how fat Nana was.  (Now you know Mom could be bitchy…)  Nana wore a silver dress much like this one shown, with black gloves, when she got off the plane on a trip from San Francisco.  I thought she was like a movie star.  (Gosh!  I sound like “Ugly Betty’s” nephew - although I’m sure you don’t watch that.)

Okay my dear sister, one Nana memory for you on this post.

It was a stormy summer night in St. Paul, Nana was visiting with her new husband and we were all at Mom and Dad’s house.  Tornado warnings had been issued when Dad said, “Honey, we are out of ice, Nana needs more ice for her drink.”  Skip and Judy and Linda and I got in the car to go get ice.  On the radio we heard of a possible tornado touchdown near Lake Phalen, not all that far from us.  The rain was horizontal, lightning continually flashing - it was like a hurricane.  We pulled into a service station asking for ice.

The attendant was so frightened and screamed above the thunder, “Whata ya nuts?  We’re in a tornado here!  Take what ya want!”  We picked up the ice - for free - and returned home to the party, and Nana greeted us as we walked in, soaking wet from the storm, “Just in time kids!” -  shaking her empty glass.  Not one of them realized we had risked death to get her ice. 

Nana had to leave shortly after that so she could get up and go to Mass with uncle Art and aunt Mary Jane the next morning.  (They worried about the ‘open bar’ at the Nelson’s and picked her up after the tornado.)

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In the traditional calendar, tomorrow is actually Passion Sunday, although since the liturgical reform of Vatican II Palm Sunday is now referred to as Passion Sunday.

When I was little, the statues in church would be veiled in purple on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, only to be uncovered during the Gloria of the Easter Vigil, or was it earlier in the liturgy of that night?  EWTN has a discussion on the custom here. 

The origins of the custom date back centuries and may have originated in Germany.  The school sisters told us that it was done because Our Lord went into hiding after the Jews attempted to stone him, while he made his way to Jerusalem in secret.  Liturgists maintain that the statues are covered to focus the faithful’s devotion more explicitly upon the Passion of Jesus, and there are other explanations offered as well.

I love the custom since it does indeed focus our attention completely on the sober solemnity of Passiontide.  There is a mystery surrounding the hiddeness of the saints and Christ during this time.  There is a sense of solitude and interior lamentation, leading one to a deeper compunction of heart.

From Dom Gueranger on the veiling of the crucifix and statues:

The presentiment of that awful hour leads the afflicted mother to veil the image of her Jesus: the gross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear. The interpreters of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself, of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in the Gospel of Passion Sunday. The Church begins this solemn rite with the Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday. Thus it is that, in those years when the feast of our Lady’s Annunciation falls in Passion-week, the statue of Mary, the Mother of God, remains veiled, even on that very day when the Archangel greets her as being full of grace, and blessed among women. - The Mystery of Passiontide and Holy Week.  Thanks to Fish Eaters.
 

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Jan and Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting.

Last night John Stossel had a special entitled, “Enough Is Enough” - I know what that feels like.  He featured televangelists who make lots of money - “there is great gain in religion” -Paul’s letter to Timothy.  Mr. and Mrs. Crouch were the highlight of the piece for me, especially when Jan stated emphatically, “This is not about money”.   Yes it is honey. 

If you didn’t see the broadcast, ABC News has a print piece on the story:

March 23, 2007 — Anyone watching televangelists on television will hear plenty of pitches for money. Jan and Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting say they need big bucks to keep their network on the air and to help the poor around the world.  - continue at ABC News 

So often it is about the money.  (Paul Crouch may even have a new gospel, since he questioned if Jesus really was poor.) 

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Wow - are they ever strict in the Phillipines.  The priests and nuns are not allowed to gamble - a priest was even defrocked because he was caught in a casino gambling.  Recently three nuns were caught at the slot machines and they may be headed for trouble.  (At least they were in habits.)

Manila - Conservative Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines were not amused when three nuns were photographed playing slot machines and blackjack at a gaming fair in Manila.

The church, which frowns on all forms of gambling, launched an inquiry and says the nuns could face sanctions from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines if found to have sinned.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz told local radio Tuesday that he has ordered an investigation and will take “steps on the sisters’ actions.”

Cruz said the church “strictly prohibits men of the cloth… including nuns … from gambling.”

Cruz said the church recently defrocked a parish priest who was caught gambling in a provincial casino. - Gambling Nuns

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If such a crackdown occurred in this Archdiocese, not a few of the priests who are my age would be defrocked…they could all be rounded up at the horse races on their days off.  (However, if the Asians in this country are any indication, gambling must be a big problem in the Phillipines and Southeast Asia.) 

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