Dyngus Day

Alleluia, Christ is truly risen! Have you been keeping up with anything the Holy Father has said during Holy Week? Well you should because, “The message which Christians bring to the world is this: Jesus, Love incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised him and made him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death.” We are so blessed to have Papa Francis you know?

I stayed in DC for Triduum this year because I love Holy Week on campus. I will tell anyone who will listen, and you, internet, are a dear friend that always listens. I love celebrating these liturgies with the people you prepare with. It is a beautiful thing to go to the Easter Vigil and see college students as Lectors, and Liturgical Ministers, and Catechumens. It is such a striking thing that gives so much hope for the future of our church. Then there is also the fact that with about 40 students on campus that become involved in the Liturgy Committee there is a lot of work to be done. There was total transformation of the chapel 3 times and between those transformations there was a lot of deep cleaning going on. There were all 40 of these people to be feed, both spiritually and physically. There is just so much to do. And taking part in that in such an involved way really brings you into the celebration. When you are removing the decorations for Good Friday, it makes you think of why in a whole new way. When you are on team flower power, it makes you wait with joyful anticipation for what we know is the Good News. When you cook a meal for the Liturgy committee, it calls you to remember the work of the church and how many people there are to be grateful for. In the preparation, you are wholly swallowed up by the Season, not by the mechanics of it but by the reason for the season. I love it. Not to mention, it is a peaceful time when most students leave campus and you can grow close to people you’ve never known and be super productive.

 

I guess that was just a really long and exaggerated way of saying Happy Easter! And Happy Easter for the next 50 days! So good that we celebrate for longer than we repent because, “We are the Easter people and alleluia is our song.”- Blessed John Paul II (I am patiently waiting 5 more days for the canonization!) So let’s start Easter off right with Dyngus Day. I am not Polish at all but I am from a very highly Polish populated area where this day was commonly referred to as Dyngus Day instead of Easter Monday. I am also told to tell you Happy Patriots Day from my soon-to-be home state. Enjoy your celebrations no matter what you call this day!