18 March 2010

Depaganisation done!

Zach is now part of a much broader family than just ours.  On Sunday he was baptised during the Mass we regularly attend in our parish.  If you have a closer look at the photo Lana's Dad helpfully captured, you will see many smiling faces.  My Dad is grinning, as is Lana's Mum and then all the congregation in view are also grinning. That was a pretty amazing capture of the joy we all felt on this most opportune Sunday in Lent.
The 4th Sunday in Lent is known as Laetare Sunday. This day is set aside as a "break" from the penitential Lenten season, allow us all to pause, reflect on how we have done so far and prepare to finish off Lent in fighting form.  The normal Lenten Purple vestments are replaced with Rose coloured vestments.  As our priest explained, this is half way between Lenten purple and Easter white so we can all get the appropriate visual cues.
Meanwhile, here is our Rose looking the wrong direction. Again.
The priest asked us why we didn't wait until the Easter Vigil Mass to have Zach's baptism.  That would be awesome, as it was when Clare was baptised what seems so long ago, but we wanted Zach baptised reasonably promptly and we had to arrange a time when my parents were able to visit from Melbourne.  So we picked the next best day in Lent, Laetare Sunday.

2 comments:

Paula D said...

Not being Catholic or Australian, who do Rose and Lana have a head cover on? Because of Lent? Question from a protestant. :)

DavidofOz said...

Hi Paula

The head covering is a worldwide traditional Catholic thing. It isn't compulsory as you can see no other ladies in the church we attend are wearing veils.
But it is from scripture: "Therefore ought the woman to have a covering over her head because of the angels." (1 Cor 11:10)
Also, being the very practical fellow I am, when we rediscovered the faith, I researched why most Catholic women stopped wearing Mantillas (veils). None of the reasons were valid and we are not supposed to slavishly follow the customs of the world, so we decided to wear veils.
I will do another post with more information as it deserves a better discussion.

Thanks for the question!