Gründonnerstag

[wiseheart]

The three Sacred Days before Easter are the time I miss being in the convent most. Nowhere else is the service on these days so quiet and intimate; or goes so deep into one's soul. Well, that's no longer an option, and since I've secularized my relationship with my Maker (for reasons that lie in the very nature of the Church as well as for personal ones), I always feel strangely empty at this time.

The solution, of course, is to keep busy, so I got up at stupid o'clock today (and yes, 6am does count as stupid o'clock in my books, thank you very much!) to do the last grocery shopping before the supermarkets would close their gates. Tomorrow will be tote Hose, as the Germans say, and while they'll open on Saturday, I don't want to take part of the big battle for food before they close again for two days. Today was big enough; you'd have thought people were afraid of starving!

After the battle I came home and did... well, not much, actually. Mum's volunteered to prepare the spinach for my bastardized spanakopita which I'll finish tomorrow (because she makes it taste much better than I ever can, no matter how hard I try), and I've bought Speckkuchen at Aldi, so all I had to do was to make the salad. It was a very good lunch!

Then we watched some telly, took our respective naps, talked on the phone to our respective friends and family (in my case to Heidi), and that was basically it. At least I've started typing up the finished jigsaw chapter to "Charmed into Darkness", so that counts as writing, right?

Oh, and BTW, AO3 is down. :(

Comments

[meathiel]

Isn't it always like this when there are holidays?

[noadvertising.livejournal.com]

We weren't able to even get out of the house in the afternoon- trafic jam all around. Definitely not a quiet day on this front! So many tourists on their way! Shops crowded, no bread in the afternoon and and and...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Ridiculous, isn't it? As if the last two generations had even known hunger — at least in our countries.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That is a real shame. :(

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

If I don't talk with you before, Happy Easter!

[amedia.livejournal.com]

The three Sacred Days before Easter are the time I miss being in the convent most. Nowhere else is the service on these days so quiet and intimate; or goes so deep into one's soul.

Thank you for sharing your experience. ♥

We used to be very active in our local church, and even more so in the one we attended when we were in grad school. But our local church is now run by a borderline-schismatic reactionary whose homilies are so disturbing that we've just continued watching the Mass from the National Shrine on television at home, as we did during the pandemic. It's held in the medievalesque Crypt Church, where I occasionally attended when I was a college student, so it is nostalgic as well as beautiful. But it's not the same as when we were involved in the liturgy and the music and everything seemed to mean so much more personally; Maundy Thursday and Good Friday made me shiver--especially the latter with its eerie silence instead of a recessional hymn--and Easter was so splendidly exuberant as to lift the heart.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

Frohe Ostern!

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry these holidays are tough for you. Or rather the lack of what's past. I hope the TV program will make for some cozy relaxing time!

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

I have never understood the sudden need to buy way more food than you can possibly eat, because the shops will be shut for one day. ONE day! Get a grip, people. It's not Armageddon. How much extra food can they need for one day? I have a grocery delivery due on Saturday, not because of Easter, but because my fridge is empty. The only additional item of food on it is a small packet of mini chocolate eggs.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

{{{hugs}}}

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

For me, the most profound experience is when the altar is stripped on Thursday night and the empty tabernacle with its open doors so clearly shows that it is uninhabited. I still shudder from the memory of it... in a good way.

In convent, we had a procession in Saturday night, when it was deeply dark, carrying torches. One old sister knew the way to light them with the old method, by hand — I think it's called a flint? That had such a deep meaning, that little light in the utter darkness.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And to you, my friend! :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not that bad, you know. I had 30-some years to get used to it... the same way one gets used to a missing limb. Life goes on, and I can't complain about mine — despite all little and not-so-little problems, it's still a good life.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

But the most important item, right? *g*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. *hugs back*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thank you, wishing you a blessed time as well!

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

Lol! Absolutely. Trust me, if my stomach would take a full size egg I would have bought one. But this little packet will be thoroughly enjoyed.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Have fun with it! :)