Easter high

Despite the fact that we are unable to celebrate Easter in communities--both in the sacramental and secular ways, I still felt that "high"--a sort of rekindling. The local Easter Sunday mass ended with the Benediction: I was once encouraged by my father to join a Catholic doctrine group for women and there would be meditation, confession, mass, and Benediction in Latin. The song that starts on the link above is "O Salutaris Hostia" which I learned to appreciate. It was written by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Going back to this Holy Week and Easter....
What resonated well with me during this celebration was what the Cardinal exhorted during the vigil:

• "...when and where did this happen, and how would you know? That's a very good question, it kind of punctures the bubble of a religion or philosophy that's floating out there--beautiful to hear, wonderful to soothe, a kind of a nice gooey concoction theological meringue but which has no substance to it..."
• "The historical events of the resurrection...it is located in history...God intervenes in our history. Faith is not a matter of watching the cycles of nature go around and around and around---the kind of merry go round nature---worshiping nature? No..."
• That this event, happened in 30 AD, in April during the time of a minor Roman governor named Pontius Pilate. This is locked in history. That the resurrection was relayed through witnesses at the tomb, the disciples on the way to Emmaus, the apostles, and all those who encountered Christ after His death.
• "We do not worship nature, we do not worship ideas, we do not spin a kind of therapeutic religion that makes us feel good (okay, this one hit a nerve)...our symbol is not a happy face, our symbol is the Cross of Jesus Christ Who was nailed to that on Calvary around the year 30 AD under the rule of Pontius Pilate...that's how Pontius Pilate gets into our Creed, he's totally unimportant...but it nails it down into history..."

The main audience of this post is yours truly. It is a great reminder. Through the years, my faith would always change "temperature": burning then lukewarm even times of really cold waves then lukewarm to burning...it goes through waves, unfortunately. Not the kind of consistency that I would want. 

Further, I do not want to be the religious kind that is just for show...always focused on the rites...never on the application. Always at Church but never charitable. Perfect attendance in Holy Days of obligation, but judgmental with only terrible things coming out of one's mouth--self-righteousness in the most unbecoming form. That's why so many people move away from the faith...from the Church. It's because of those who do not represent it well through their lives. I've been in that situation where I began to question the Church because of how certain individuals didn't walk the talk...I wasn't born into a religious family---we were sort of called to it through painful circumstances. Honestly, I've met at least one atheist and many non-religious people who were probably more Christian than most "religious" people I know. I know, I sound like the person that I'm supposed to detest. Sorry.

...I like that story in scripture about the publican and tax collector--the one that ends in "whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." We don't need to press release everything we do, whether for ourselves or for our faith. This is me talking to myself and to you, whoever you are. Again, what matters is what is in our hearts when we are alone and that we are genuinely sorry (i.e. confess) for things that we have done wrong.