I attended mass at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in the Archdioce of Washington for the Palm Sunday Vigil tonight. It was a magnicient building, made with all sorts of marbles, shaped in a Latin Cross, and was the fourth Roman Catholic parish established in the District. The Byzantine touches to the decor were a bit over the top for my aesthetic taste but I did love the use of the Greek cross, which always bring me to my personal favorites, Celtic crosses.
Reading the passion today brought me back to that Palm Sunday spent in Spain, when we heard in spoken in Euskeran. That mass twelve years ago, with Saul and Benjamin, brought me a sense of peace as I realized that even though I could not understand a single spoken word, Roman Catholics around the world were celebrating the same reading of the passion. It was a moment of complete peace, a moment of communion with my fellow Roman Catholics.
Which contrasted to my sense during today's mass. Today's homily highlighted the need to focus this last week of Lent on the sacrifce of Christ and the Father, especially the lonely parts of sacrifice. To everything there is a season, and though we will celebrate the rising of Christ next week, first we must focus on what we must we give up and build within ourselves to truly be in communion with each other, Roman Catholic or no.
