Glimpses of a Liturgical Nomad

For the first time in several years, I celebrated the various liturgies of the Easter Triduum in a number of different places. Far from being a disjointed experience of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, my travels as a liturgical nomad brought unexpected integration and harmony after a Lenten season that was rarely marked my such graces. Whether washing the feet of a fellow worshipper at Holy Cross on Thursday evening, kneeling with barefoot monks amidst a soulfully intoned proclamation of the Passion on Good Friday, or singing enthusiastically at the bilingual Easter Vigil as the Easter bonfire illuminated the towering vaults of the cathedral in downtown Worcester, I encountered the mystery, the power, and the deep reality of these communal recollections of Jesus' journey from life through death to new life.

Tomorrow, along with my colleagues and students, I return to the classroom. Six weeks remain until the school year closes, and the Nativity community celebrates the graduation of the fourteen 8th graders in the class named for Jesuit martyr Miguel Pro. I go back with some slight trepidation– a natural result of all my struggles there over the past several months– but also with some renewed confidence and hope that, finally, I can see in my scattered and uncertain efforts the same kind of progress, unity, and fruitfulness that I experienced in several very different liturgies over the past several days. The same holds true as I meditate upon my place in the school community; whereas I have often felt distant and isolated, perhaps that is merely an illusion. For in going to some of these services on my own, and despite not personally knowing my fellow worshippers, I felt that we were nonetheless joined in familiarity and faith, forming solidarity from a group of strangers, and creating inclusiveness among a gathering of individuals. I hope and pray that these lessons may be well learned– and perhaps even taught anew– in the Easter season.