On Holy Saturday morning the altar and the sanctuary were still bare from Morning Prayer and the Blessing of the Easter Food, but the joy of Easter was certainly felt, as more than a dozen volunteers gathered to beautify the church, so that parishioners could more fully enjoy our newly renovated church building as the parish celebrated the great solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection.
Bustling about with potted lilies, hydrangeas, and azaleas, the volunteers bedecked the altar and the sanctuary with cascades of spring colors. They then turned their attention to the baptismal font, the Pascal candle, and the shrines throughout the church to express the Easter joy of all the faithful on earth and all the saints in heaven at the triumph of Christ over sin and death.
As a new Easter banner “The Resurrection and the Life” was hung at the front of the church, the altar was dressed, and the Easter frontal was steamed to take out the wrinkles of nearly a year in storage. Great thought, care, and effort went into placing everything “just right”.
The banner and flowers were the gifts of the many parishioners who contributed to the Easter flower collection so that the entire parish could share in the beauty and joy of this most solemn feast.
The church will celebrate Easter for forty-nine days, a week of weeks, until the great solemnity of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit. During these seven weeks, as spring brings new growth and warmer, sunnier days, may we reflect on the great mystery we celebrate. May the joy of Easter be with us all.
All the Best,
The St. Anselm Publicity Committee