Oh how I miss Steubenville

Happy Easter to all! I hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed their Triduum liturgies, and oh yeah, by the way did you know that Our Lord is Risen? Yeah, that was something pretty cool that happened this weekend too!

Something I also realized this weekend was how much I miss my alma mater. This was my first year away from Franciscan University's Easter liturgies, and it is hard to describe how much I missed the Easter Vigil there. Now, if any of you know much about Steubenville, it is a common thing to find people who went to school there and think that anything less than what we do ceases to be liturgy. I am not one of those people! Jesus is just as risen here in Arkansas, or in D.C., or in Baghdad, as he is in Steubenville. However, the Easter Vigil there really is something special. This year I went to the Vigil at the monastery church where I teach. The mass had more incense, flowers, candles than you could shake a stick at, the abbot's "tricked-out"* crosier, and yes the Risen Lord present in the Eucharist! Despite all this, I missed Steubenville.

I find it hard to believe that it is possible to celebrate Easter more grandly than it is celebrated there. Before I went to Steubenville, Easter was just Easter. In Steubenville I could not, not cry at the Easter Vigil, and it was wonderful to feel that way. Pure joy is the only way I can think of to describe the feeling that engulfs the entire campus. Now of course I realize that if I spent my whole life going to those masses, I would lose this interest, but I do miss it now regardless. I guess the main point of this post is to inform you all of the beauty of Easter there. If you were to ever have the opportunity to visit Franciscan for the Easter liturgies, jump at the chance. I don't think you will be disappointed!

Happy Easter to all! The Lord is truly Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

*This is my students' description. Tricked-out = ornate.