Alleluia Again

Strangely the most intense moment of Easter Day came right at the beginning, as I sat with a cup of tea (not a very nice one, as it happened) at 4.30am saying the Office. Once upon a time I would omit Morning Prayer on Easter Day, reasoning that I had to get up early enough without it, but decided eventually that that was a bit lightweight and I should do it all properly. 'Properly' means that the Office comes before Mass. Now it's the beginning of the Resurrection, and it opens the floodgates of joy and thanksgiving - in a very restrained way, of course. Through the whole of Lent, the word 'alleluia' has not been heard in the Liturgy; and from the dawn of Good Friday, the Office itself has been cut to its bones, consisting only of psalms, Bible readings, Gospel Canticle and collect - even the Lord's Prayer is left out. With the first light of Easter Day all the familiar elements, said so often they've worn grooves in the soul, come bursting back and how the heart welcomes them. I often say that gratitude is where the spiritual life begins, and this all shows how wise the Church is in arranging these apparently tiny, irrelevant liturgical details. We don't have to work at summoning up feelings towards God: the liturgy does it for us and all we have to do is let it do its work, because it's the Holy Spirit's work too.

The Dawn Mass at Swanvale Halt drew more people than ever before - only by a couple, but still - and, for the first time, a dog (which did have human owners). As for the main service at 10am, although we didn't quite have a hundred communicants, the stewards counted nearly 150 souls there, which certainly tops any Easter Day since I arrived and probably for many years before then (I will have to check the figures). Where did they all come from?