How did you celebrate Easter this year?Our parish's vigil Mass began in the entryway of the church, with the doors open. Since the church is on a main avenue, we start with the sounds of the city all around us, a reminder that the first Easter also took part amid the bustle and distractions of city life. I always enjoy the quick, almost furtive, yet joyful, whispered greetings of "Happy Easter!" as people welcome each other in the darkened sanctuary. (It's here! Finally! And so are we! Can you believe it!)As often happens, there was a momentary pause due to "technical difficulties" with the fire used to light the Easter candle. Watching everyone process in, faces lit only by their candles, is a special joy, and cause for its own moment of meditation---how beautiful and varied are the faces of God's people! Once in our pews, we settled in (more or less, there was a constant low level of activity in the back pews from the under-10 crowd) for the next three-plus hours of praying and singing (lots of singing in our parish---everything from Gregorian chant to contemporary gospel) in English, Igbo and Latin.We had the joy of a man in his 60s (named, wonderfully, Pasqual) receiving the Easter sacraments during the Mass. Afterwards, we trooped downstairs to the church hall for a dessert potluck---a lovely, little parish tradition that is, among other things, a humble reminder of how sweet the Resurrection is.

Luke Hill is a writer and community organizer in Boston. He blogs at dotCommonweal and MassCommons. 

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