Happy Easter to those that believe. It's a day we celebrate and remember the day Jesus was resurrected from the dead after being crucified on Good Friday. He died for our sins, and boy do we rack them up everyday. We had it made until Adam fell for that snake (Satan) and ate that apple.
So Theresa was gone for the last 30 hours doing a home-birth. That is not an easy task. But I went to bed last night thinking she would arrive sometime during the night. When I woke at 345 am she wasn't there. Now, after my "theory" yesterday, I thought I was done with fishing for a bit, but I had to go and see. So I went, and watched, and then fished, and winded up with more of my usual same, nada. That's okay, I was fine with that. But while out there I kept checking my watch looking at the time. It's Sunday, it's Easter, I gotta get to church. So I looked around Lambertville where I was then fishing and then in Hopewell but they had a mass had an 8 o'clock start. I looked in Ewing and found Our Lady Of Good Counsel had an 830 mass which would give me time to shower and get there with time to spare.
The church was beautiful. I looked around from my pew and soon the priests were making their way up to the alter. I was toward the back, and I'm half blind, so I couldn't make out the faces. Then the mass started and I heard that voice. Three words in and my body shuttered. "Happy Easter everyone". And then the priest went on to open up with a joke. I know that guy. It was Father Ariel. Father Ariel was the priest at St. James in Red Bank where we attended masswhem we l;oved there. It was also Father Ariel who I ran to hours after Ryan died to offer confession on Ryan's behalf. I wanted Ryan to be free from sin before he arrived at heaven. I hope that worked. That day was deep. Today was a little deep. But God only gives us what we can handle. He does that for us otherwise we'd all collapse.
I made sure I was one of the first to greet him after the mass. I asked him if he in fact was the celebrant at St James. He answered yes, for 12 years, at was now at Good Counsel after being transferred by the Bishop. I told him of the last times I sat before him, in that confessional, and then at Ryans funeral mass where he was the celebrant, and now today, six years later on Easter, the day Jesus was risen from the dead. He had a little look of surprise and he offered his condolence again, gave a supportive smile, and said, "May God bless you". Who would have thought that six years later and by chance I picked his church, on the other side of the state, to celebrate Easter. Again, that was a sign, it must mnean something good, and I'll take it.
And then it was time to grab a bagel from Deli on Bagel in Pennington. It's been 40 days with no bagels, candy or chips and my body and health have probably done good by that, along with too many hours of fishing. I hope you had a blessed Easter with you and yours.