Divine Mercy Sunday
Happy Eighth Day in the Octave of Easter, a.k.a. Divine Mercy Sunday!
I've been pretty laid back all week, trying to recuperate after the big feast days. Unfortuantely, we also had a couple of funerals, too. Earlier Easter week I went out with a priest from a neighboring parish, Fr. Reggie (1). It's always nice to go out and whinge (whine, as they say here) with a fellow priest and laugh a little about the parish headaches. Good for relieving stress and sharing the burdens of our "blessings."
On Friday I was told that I needed to rework the Easter decorations as they wouldn't work with Divine Mercy! These parishioners shared that the colors for Divine Mercy were red and white and so the pastel schemes would clash! Anyway, I allowed the Holy Spirit to work and didn't tell them everything in my heart about what I thought about their plans. After sitting and listening to each other, we achieved a compromise.
To be honest, I wasn't fully happy with the Easter flower arrangements anyway. It didn't feel right, but I ran out of time. So I spent yesterday, Saturday, morning reworking the look and I think it actually looks nicer. Please remind me of this nxt yar when setting up for Easter! Here are the results (2-7). You can compare it to last week, via the blog entry: I pulled the Easter Lamb out from the altar and positioned him by the Paschal Candle (2-4), that opened up space in front of the altar for the Divine Mercy banner (5) and allowed me to rearrange some of the flowers around the angels (6). Here are the fresh flower arrangements for Divine Mercy, which are mostly white, and so can go with any color scheme (7). This (8) is the new statue of Divine Mercy which was purchased for the Feast and for our "Mercy Mondays." It has glass eyes. Isn't it nice for a statue of an iconic painting?
On Divine Mercy Sunday, we have a procession that begins at 1 pm in the afternoon (8-17). It's something that has been done for many years in which, in this order, the Blessed Sacrament, followed by the first class relic of St. Faustina, followed by the statue of Divine Mercy, followed by banners representing various groups in the parish, followed by parishioners all process around the block. It takes a good half hour of slow and steady walking, praying the rosary and singing. It's not my spirituality, but I appreciate the devotion of the people. By the end of the short walk, I am wiped. But then I have to go hear confessions for the next couple of hoursor so until 3 pm, the start of a special extra Mass. Thankfully, the organizers usually get an outside priest to preside. I'm not sure how they decide whom to bring in, just thankful not to have to do it, as I'd be so wiped. Many outsiders come and celebrate Mass with us.
Here are some Aussie "nature" shots from around the church as we are in the thick of Fall. I think this is the web of a funnel-web spider (18). Cool, no? I didn't see the spider that made it, but since it's pretty venomous I'm glad to have missed it! A sunset from yesterday (19-20). I just love all the subtle color changes in the clouds as the sun was setting. It was very painterly. This (21-22) is a beautiful tree that has been in full bloom for more than a week at our school. Yet the blooms still look glorious! I don't know what it is called, but it really stands out from the other foliage at this time of the year.
Finally, I wanted to share my dog Joey's Easter email this year (23). (For some reason he looks sad though I know they stuffed him with treats for the photo!)