Easter
I can still picture my brother, sister, and me waiting by the clock at noon on Holy Saturday. “Five… Four…. Three…. Two…. One!” It’s over! Yes, Lent was over for another year and we all could eat candy or chew gum once again. I didn’t know why or who made up the rule that declared that Lent was over at noon on Holy Saturday, but I sure wasn’t going to be the first to change that rule! Forty days were long enough for a youngster growing up in the ‘50’s. Yes, folks, we had it tough in those days. Or at least we thought we did. Until one starts talking to an older generation. Then, we find out what “tough” really means.
I remember having to abstain from eating meat on Fridays – not only on Fridays during Lent….. but, EVERY FRIDAY. My mother would always tell me about how she would dread Fridays because she knew that she had to prepare fish for my father and macaroni and cheese for the rest of us. Sometimes we had scrambled eggs or just grilled cheese. They hadn’t invented cheese pizza in those days so we ate a lot of tuna fish and egg salad sandwiches!
Now, combine the thought of “no meat” with “not being able to eat between meals.” There again…. Not just on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday such as the rule today….. but, EVERY DAY during Lent! I’m not sure what would have happened to us if we broke that rule. But, being the obedient child that I was, I wasn’t going to find out!
Not only couldn’t we eat meat or eat between meals, we also had to “give up something.” My dad would always have one cup of coffee in the morning and then give it up for the rest of the day. You should have seen his special cup for that coffee – it was the size of a large soup bowl. But…. it was only one cup!
Many families prayed the rosary every evening during Lent. Of course, this was before school sports and other activities such as shopping took up all our evenings. We would kneel on the floor and the father in the family would be the leader. I remember making my mom close the drapes because I didn’t want our Lutheran neighbors to see us!
There were a lot of rules that kept us in line, such as “no food or water after midnight” so we could receive Holy Communion the next day. My husband, Norm, went to a Catholic grade school and he remembers the Sisters covering the water fountains before Mass so no one would make a mistake and take a drink of water! And you had to really concentrate while brushing your teeth so you wouldn’t swallow a drop of anything. Now you know why all weddings were performed in the morning. No bride or groom could wait until the afternoon or later before eating since they were the only ones allowed to receive Holy Communion back in the ol’ days.
We are all familiar with receiving Communion from Lay Ministers. But, it wasn’t that long ago when only the priest could touch the Host. The nuns drummed it into us that we were not to ever touch The Body of Christ. Even if the Host stuck to the roof of our mouths, we couldn’t touch it.
Now, we not only can be “on the altar,” but our Altar Boys can be girls…. Or men and women! My brother, who was an altar boy, could still remember as an adult his responses in Latin and the proper time to ring the bell.
But, before we could receive Communion, we had to “go to Confession” as we used to call it. For a child of eight, this was very scary. Norm remembers his older brother making out his list of sins for him. When Norm finally made it into the confessional he rattled off his memorized list and felt very relieved. Then…. the priest opened the little door to signal to Norm that it was time to talk. He had to repeat the whole list again!
We were taught that we had to make a good Confession and not lie. I would always say, “I fought with my brother and sister about seven times since my last Confession.” Saying the word, about, was my way of not lying. As long as I was close to the exact number (since it changed every week, of course), I figured I was doing okay.
I grew up in Forest Lake and at that time, we didn’t have a parochial school. So, all the parents had to “car pool” to Sacred Heart Church in St. Paul every week to bring the nuns back to Forest Lake for Catechism classes. We learned how to reverently fold our hands and memorized all our prayers and the answers – verbatim – to all the Catechism questions. Question: “Who made you?” Answer: “God made me.” Question: “Why did God make you?” Answer: “To know, love, and serve Him in this world and be with Him forever in the next.” Now, if you automatically answered these questions….. you certainly are not 21! Or 41! Or even 71!
It’s fun to look back and reminisce about how it used to be and to know that we have it so much better now. Yesterday, Fear of God was one of the reasons we obeyed all those rules. Today, Love of God is the reason why we follow the few guidelines we have now. When you gather together with your families this Easter, ask your kids and grandkids what they remember about past Lents and Easters and what everyone gave up this year. I know that candy is not the only thing that youngsters are giving up. I think video time and phone usage is high on the list. At least for my grandkids.
Happy Easter, everyone!
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