Hot cross buns! I've always wanted to participate in the tradition of baking hot cross buns for Good Friday, so, when my Lawyers in Balance meditation group organized a reunion brunch for today, I decided that this was a fantastic opportunity. I had never eaten a hot cross bun before, and certainly had never baked them before, so I relied upon a recipe that I found online.I think they turned out pretty well! Everyone at my brunch certainly liked them. I'll definitely make them again. I love baking: kneading dough with my hands, the smell of yeast, and watching the dough rise... It's so cool! I mean, who was the first human to figure out that yeast could be used to make bread rise? Wikipedia suggests that it may have been an accident. What providence!
Holy Thursday Mass at the National Shrine was very good last night. Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, presided. I liked his homily; of particular note, he was describing the most profound thing that a devout and well-educated person had ever learned--"Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so." The quote was so out of nowhere that it delighted me immensely. The choir and the organ were very dramatic.
My favorite part was at the end of the service, when the Eucharist was transferred to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The choir was singing alterating verses in Latin and English, and processed to the side chapel, which made the acoustics incredible. It's funny, because I always initially take umbrage at John 10, where Jesus calls us sheep. I'm not a sheep! I'm independent, I think for myself, I'm strong! But, as I, with the congregation, followed the Eucharist to the side chapel, not knowing exactly where to go, when to kneel, how long to pray, I realized that we are, in some sense, sheep. I ended up copying whatever the few sisters from the Missionaries of Charity were doing, frankly. (I figured, you could do worse than following women who belong to the order founded by Mother Teresa.) But, in light of the utter humanity of the moment, there was something beautiful in all of us, gathering together, none of us really knowing what we were doing, but pulling together to follow Jesus.
On that note, back to the Shrine for the Good Friday liturgy. Blessings.
