Holy Week used to be a big deal in my childhood. Raised in a traditional Catholic home, we observed all the activities of Holy Week. Holy Thursday, we went to Church. Good Friday we spent the afternoon at church despite the fact that Spring was blooming outside and I wanted to be on my bike. On Good Friday the priest stripped the altar and he took off all his garments and laid down prostrate in front of the cross on which Jesus hung.
On Easter Sunday we all pranced into Mass in our new Easter outfits and bonnets for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
In the afternoon we’d hunt Easter eggs, take a drive out to the farm and have Bologna sandwiches and Angel Food Cake for dinner. It truly was a day of celebration. I didn’t understand any of the spiritual teachings of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Only as an adult in my 70’s am I learning about the meaning of all those traditions and words.
It feels like the last year has been a death of a former life with the global pandemic. The old has died and now that things are opening up again, I feel fearful to venture out despite the fact that I have received both doses of the vaccine for COVID.
How about you? How are you feeling about going back out into the world again?