6th Sunday of the Great Fast - Palm Sunday

Hello all, and a very blessed Holy Week to each of you! I'm getting this post out a bit earlier than usual this week so that I can focus on Triduum liturgies and preparing for our Easter weekend, which involves a visit from a good friend from out of town. So lovely! This past Sunday was our very first Palm Sunday in the Byzantine rite, and I was ever so excited to discover the similarities and differences between the two! At this point in the liturgical year (remembering that this begins September 1st in the Eastern Church) we have only rarely ventured to Mass outside of Divine Liturgy at our new Byzantine rite parish. So I'm very excited to relay all of the deets to you!

But speaking of our Byzantine rite parish, a quick diversion to say that we helped out at the Easter Bazaar this past weekend! It was so wonderful to get to know some of the parishoners of the Ukrainian language liturgy, and really feel a part of parish life. I manned the sausage and kraut table. 😎The event was quite successful, and yielded much needed funds for the parish's operational needs! The lack of events due to the pandemic really hurt this small parish, and I'm praying that these fundraising efforts continue to bear fruit and help the parish to begin to thrive and survive well into the future.

Then the next day, we headed back for our very first Palm Sunday in the Byzantine rite. We had our home icon hung out in our kitchen since the vigil the night before! We were all excited to experience Divine Liturgy on this special day.

So, Catholic Librarian Nerd piping in with the details: the readings of the day were from Philippians with the do not be anxious discourse, and the Gospel of John story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. There was no reading of the full Passion narrative the way that there is in the Latin rite, that was one major difference. But these readings were perfectly aligned with the theme of the day.

At the conclusion of liturgy, I was *dying* to know what the palm tradition would be, and it was willows! 😍

Father read a special blessing and showered them with holy water, which of course we're quite familiar with, and we were encouraged to take a few on our way out. I couldn't hurry to the front to scoop ours up fast enough. 😂

It was a beautiful liturgy, and we are now incredibly excited for Holy Week!

We will be attending Divine Liturgy on Easter morning at our Byzantine rite parish and I can't wait to report in on that! I'll likely be attending other triduum liturgies in our Latin rite parish, which will be determined as Holy Week unfolds. How is your Holy Week progressing, friends? 

*heart*

"OW! ANNE!! Be careful with your palm!!" Adventures with my young at Palm Sunday Mass...

AAANNNDDD so began our Palm Sunday Mass experience in a way that I can only characterize as *completely expected.* ;-) But let's rewind back to the very early morning...

I have been looking forward to Holy Week for months and months. And Palm Sunday, being the first liturgy, has a special place in my heart. :) I woke up with an actual excited feeling in my stomach that Holy Week was beginning. I got out my phone and used the Divine Office app to pray Morning Prayer. It was all so glorious I could hardly stand it. Breakfast went well, and then we did our usual morning chores and then getting ready for Mass routine. I wore red, just so that I could match the liturgical color of the day. :0 Then...

Super cute, dramatic offender #1, pictured here in the forefront...

 The children started fighting, which 100% of the time translates to Henry being bored and thus filling his time doing things he knows will annoy Anne, and Anne screaming at him. I was doing my best to retain my serenity and refereed them as best I could *halo*, but right before we left some act of annoyance transpired which left Anne is a huge sulk. Anne, at nearly 4 years old, has the *dramatic pout* expression and countenance down to a science. She resisted putting on her shoes and coat, and went limp when I intervened. Joy.

I got her stuffed into her car seat, Henry smirking all the way because he knew that his efforts at Extreme Sister Annoyance had borne fruit. My serene outlook was already in danger, but it all flew out the window when a disturbance in the back seat, followed by me looking in the rear view mirror, resulted in me catching Henry pulling Anne's hair, followed by Anne walloping Henry with her Olaf purse.

"I thought I told you two TO IGNORE EACH OTHER!"

*cacophony of objections from the back seat*

"She hit me again!!"

"ANNE! Stop that! DON'T EVEN LOOK AT EACH OTHER."

:0

Ugh. We weren't off to a good start, but I will say that things improved greatly. We arrived to find our church decked out in all it's Palm Sunday glory:

We immediately fetched palms, which Anne commandeered forthwith and nearly took my eye out.

"Honey, you cannot wave the palms around, you could hurt somebody."

"But I love the palms, Mommy."

"I know, and you can hold them, but you have to keep them down."

*pointedly ignores me*

It was a challenge. :0 Anne got back from Children's Liturgy of the Word to announce:

"Mommy. There was a little boy back there, and he hit me with his palm RIGHT IN THE FACE."

"I'm sure it was an accident, Honey. That's why you can't wave them around."

*mutinous look*

But we all persevered, me carefully managing Anne's palm use. This was the first weekend that the statues were veiled at our parish. In the past, we've done it halfway through Lent, and next year this will be something the Worship Committee decides on. But for now, Fr. Joe is just trying to keep up with things as best he can. I do love the symbolism of the veiled statues, makes everything look all the fresher at Easter, and we can appreciate them anew.

Henry looked aggrieved by the length of the Passion narrative, but he quickly got into it. The schedule for Holy Week was in our bulletin and I happily took note of everything during the Offertory. I wish I could go to the Chrism Mass tomorrow at our cathedral, but I have a conflict. Everything else I can attend, and plan to. *beams*

As ever, the Palm Sunday liturgy was beautiful, and it really put me in a happily contemplative place for Holy Week. We chatted with our new parish friends afterward about plans for Easter Mass, I'm just so, so pleased about our new sense of community. And the rest of the day improved as well. The children seemed contrite and stopped arguing, and Mike's NCAA Tournament bracket took a turn for the better. Hey, if he wins, I consider that a victory, given that we share the same pot of money. ;-) I also worked on some craft projects, I'll have to devote a whole post to that coming up, maybe next week? Some good, some bad. Some REALLY BAD. :0 It's all part of the adventure.

How was your Palm Sunday, dear reader?

A blessed Palm Sunday...

Happy Monday all! I'm back at work and feeling pretty good. Quick health update so we can move on to less gross matters: *delicately clears throat* :0 I'm doing well. My mouth is still very sore, much more so than last time. But it's healing, and so far so good. On the up side, my face is a lot less banged up looking than last time. I'm sporting a yellow bruise with a few broken capillaries on the left side of my jaw, but it's much smaller than last time. That helps a lot, especially when I want to go out in public. :) I have a follow up appointment on Wednesday afternoon, so we'll see where things stand then.

So that's that, and I'm real happy to be back with you! I had a nice stretch at home, but if I'm being honest (and I always am, for better or for worse on here, ha!) the kids were very challenging this weekend. There are times in your parenting journey in which you feel like your soul has been sucked out with the latest round of a kicking and screaming child on the floor, kwim? There are times when they are angels with each other, and then times whey they deliberately strategize their every movement around the discomfort and annoyance of the other.

Related tangent (stay with me here, and yes, I promise to circle back to Palm Sunday, not that I've even talked about it at all yet, but you know what I mean, dear reader ;-)): Mike and I watched "Gravity" this weekend. I don't know that I loved it (not necessarily my cup of tea) but it was certainly a good movie and very thought provoking. In one scene, one character asks another:

"What is your favorite thing about being in space?"

and she answers...

"The silence."

BOOM. Yes, yes, I agree. Despite my vocation to marriage and motherhood, I love and crave silence. Obviously, silence is not the norm when you have children in your house. I do my best with it, but sometimes things can simply seem overwhelming. I'm certain all of you parents know and appreciate what I mean. :) It doesn't mean you would change anything about your situation, it just means that we are human and struggle sometimes. And so that was Friday and Saturday, to be sure.

Sunday, I was determined to have a better day. I told myself that even if the children were as challenging as they have ever been, I would be patient with them. And it was an absolutely lovely day.

I took both kids to Mass while Mike went to his play rehearsal. Getting coats and shoes on is always a chore, and so we were running a bit behind, but I tried not to fret about it. It was a gorgeous day, and it was Palm Sunday. I was determined to make Mass enjoyable again for myself, despite being a referee for two very active children.

Henry fetched palms for us as Anne and I got settled in a pew. As expected, Anne was delighted to be given a palm, and she did hold it lovingly and wave it a bit, but not in a way that threatened anybody's eyes, so I can live with that. Both children were actually *very* well behaved and didn't try to annoy the other, for a change. There was a brother and sister pair in the pew ahead of us clandestinely poking each other with their palms behind their mother's back. Picture this as my Palm Sunday in a years time, for sure.

Henry was being very cute, following along in his missal. I was thrilled to be using the special Holy Week issue of Magnificat, and loving every minute. Anne was a very good girl, enjoying the palm blessing ritual and putting our envelope into the collection basket. It was refreshing.

Now, I'm buckling down for Holy Week and really trying to do small things to stay focused on what we are remembering this week. I read Morning Prayer today in Magnificat and felt very grateful to have access to such lovely things that can help to guide my mind to God and my faith. I also prayed my rosary this morning with more concentration than I've felt in a long time.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

I plan to blog each day this Holy Week aside from Good Friday, when I'm taking the day off to attend the 3 pm service. Let's all share the spiritual nuggets that we glean this week with each other. :)