The Church has many masses in a year, the regular Sunday mass, special occasions like church festivals, days of significants, Christmas or Easter. Among all the masses, the Easter Vigil is the longest mass of the year. Jesus was crucified and buried, his fellowers is waiting patient for his raise of death. Unlike normal mass that has only 3 readings, the Vigil has 8 readings and a Gospel. In additional, new adult Catholics are also baptised in the Vigil after studying the catechism since last September. The mass is 3 hours long and it’s starts at 10p.m. I think it’s a small miracle that I did not fall asleep.
Pat is the sponsor for her friend’s baptism. Since I am married with Pat, I am also a co-sponsor. Ada is our first god-daughter, although she is only a few years younger than us. It is a joy to see some one baptism and joined the family of the Church. When Ada shows up in Pat choir a few years back then, I image she would eventually drift away to join the more youth protestant church. Somehow to me, she doesn’t look like the type of people would become a Catholic. The profile does not fit but I guess there are always exceptions.
I felt very peaceful in the Easter Vigil. 3 hours passed surprisingly fast without even feeling bored. The first 3 readings was in darkness, the ceiling lights are turned off and we can only rely on the candle in our hands. Watching the candle fire dance in my hand and listening to the Latin chants gives me a mystical experience. My mind is drawn to the fire along with all my worries and let the worries burn in the flame. I didn’t pay much attention to the reading nor the homily, athough some words slip into my ear from time to time. My mind was wandering, thinkings pop up and go. All my worries, angers, expectations and contemplations flashed across my mind, until all my thoughts are exhausted. When the priest is preparing the eucharist, my mind was almost empty and sort of in a state of mediatation. I felt the Easter Vigil had gave me strength to live through the suffering in life.
She asked me the same question — how come her Protestant friends didn’t come to celebrate her baptism? (only her parents came)
I answered, “It’s a very complicated topic. It’s rooted in the culture of Protestant that they don’t like Catholics.”
She is a very good student, attending classes every week to ask many ritualistic questions. She has consistently joined the summer camp and St. Mary’s choir for more than a year, which shows that she desires her communion with the Church. She always mentions that she wants to get married in a Church! =)
Please continue to pray for her because it takes constant prayer to release the gifts of Holy Spirit out from her and understand about the mystery of Christ in her life as Theresa Faustina.
Amen.
It is because her protestant friends are lame. The problem of protestant is they are not catholic. Here the catholic is not the Catholic with capital C, but catholic in the sense of being universal. The protestants don’t even like people switching from one protestant church to another, how would they accept switching from protestant to Catholic?