Fish Fry's and Stations of the Cross, now Palm Sunday and pause to look back; and, look forward

 Last night in my local part of the Catholic world, the quaint town of Abita Springs, the hard working Knights of Columbus at St. Jane de Chantal Church put the wraps on a successful fish fry season.  Six consecutive Friday nights in Lent, and an extra week thrown in for good measure; almost just like old times since we only could offer take-out meals.  But man what a difference a year makes.  In 2020 I believe we managed to do one or two weeks maybe before the shutdown order came.  Of course we lost an opportunity to fund raise for many worthy causes but we lost that community feeling we had fostered for many years as many would gather to eat together in the hall.  But that was last year.  This year, precautions in place, we went forward with the take-out only version for 2021.  Thinking of the old :if you build it they will come" the response from the community was outstanding.  Over the course of seven total weeks of frying catfish and shrimp and french fries we served approximately 3,500 meals.  In a strong way, this was a big return to "back to normal" and I want to than all the volunteer KC cooks and servers.  As we ended last night we all agreed that we have something to already look forward to in 2022.

Last night also was the sixth straight Friday for the praying of the Stations of the Cross, an important Lenten devotion.  Again, last year, I remember this too being discontinued as we wrestled with our confusion in response to Coronavirus.  This year, nice turnout greeted the weekly prayer while everyone practiced social distancing and masks were evident throughout the church.  So as I left church last night after the Stations it dawned on me that we had navigated Lent, church attendance was rebounding and we now look forward to Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter.

By now, in 2020, we knew that all things Triduum and Easter would be celebrated without the people in the pews.  We were just learning the ins and outs of live streaming, establishing streaming platforms like Vemeo and YouTube.  Processing out of the sacristy for these high holy days to an empty church was eerie, yet we shouldered on so our parishioners could at least "dial in".  And now we are at the same timeframe for 2021 and, like Lent, we know we will be going forward close to normal.  The palms are cut and cleaned and ready to be blessed and our Palm Sunday liturgy is ready to go, with all the folks that can safely come back to Mass.  And the Triduum is planned and we will worship in true community the great days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.  We can hardly wait and we know, we realize, that for many, these will be very joyful days, not just because we are pointing to the Resurrection, but because many are coming back, we will be seated and worshipping in community, a parish family.

I hope too for all of you that plans to rejoice and worship in person are nearing completion as we begin Holy Week 2021, and getting back to "normal".