This year is very different from any in my memory. For most of the last twenty years I have celebrated the Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper at Mount Irenaeus along with several dozen or more people who came for dinner and stayed for the liturgy. However different tonight’s liturgy was, it is still one of my favorites of the church year. Fr. Peter Schneible, OFM and Dr. Paula Scraba, OFS provided us with the best remote liturgy we could expect during this unusual time of quarantine. I appreciated how the liturgy ended with Tantum Ergo Sacramentum which announces the period of veneration of the Eucharist that follows the Eucharistic celebration on this special night of the church year. Thank you to University Ministries at St. Bonaventure for providing a live stream of the liturgy tonight. You can watch the entire liturgy on their YouTube channel.
Presence
Holy Thursday is one of my favorite days and nights in the church year. It always has been. It’s kind of celebration at the end of Lent. In the last eight years it’s become tradition for me to be at Mt. Irenaeus for supper with friends and then the Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper in the chapel. Because of my schedule this week I didn’t think I was going to make it but it all worked out. I had to drive 150 miles round trip to meet with representatives of Dell Computer and then climb into my own car to drive the thirty or so miles to the Mountain. Continue reading “Presence”