Easter Dear Diary Insides

As I wait for the water to boil for the chicken and broccoli Alfredo pasta, and listen to Dan and Jim announcing play after play about the rising of the Astro home run balls off of Tiger pitching one short week before opening day, I type.

I type remembering my encounter with the Risen Christ last night at the Easter Vigil - how we began inside in darkness and quiet, then gathered outside around the fire, from which the Easter candle is lit. We proceeded back inside with no light but that candle, and then each lit their candles from that one. We then sang the Easter Proclamation hymn Exsultet ,which reminds us of many of the events of salvation history. We listened to nine readings from God's Word, including responsorial renderings of Exodus 14 and Isaiah 55.

We then prayed over three folks being baptized, singing the Litany of the Saints (one of my favorites), and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins, like Jesus directed us to. Those three and three others entering into the Church were then marked for Christ with the blessed chrism oil. We then celebrated the Eucharist by eating Christ's body and drinking His blood, again as He instructed us to.
We ended the night with the triumphant hymn Jesus Christ is Ris'n Today.

And, almost as if our dear heavenly Father thought I needed to cry once again on that night, the choir did the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah... I sang with them :-)

Loving Father, please let our family and loved ones come to experience You and Your glory through the beauty and richness of the Catholic Faith; open their hearts, so that they might know this fullness of joy. In Your mercy, LORD hear our prayer.

I type with a joyful heart because we have passed through another winter here in southeast Lower Michigan, and we have lost no fingers or toes. Neither our pipes nor our vehicles froze up solid, and the spring birds have several local suet options and are happy. Our returning hummers have been sighted as far north as North Carolina; the robins, I think, never left.

I type with thanksgiving for the healing that has taken place in our marriage.

I type in agreement with the local sports broadcaster Dennis Fithian on 97.1: 'April is a great month to be alive and to be a sports fan in The D'

I type well fed and thankful for Chungah and her chicken alfredo recipe: http://damndelicious.net/2015/01/03/chicken-broccoli-alfredo/


I type with a smile as I watch my neighbor's son run, run, run and laugh with his kite high in the air.

I type with a touch of sadness for not knowing who the most recent Easter greeting text came from...