The Great Vigil

Little sweetheart, it’s Holy Saturday. The services are really quite special and I’ve only ever actually been to just one - the one at St Thomas years ago. West End didn’t have a Holy Saturday service. I’m not sure why. I think it’s almost exclusively Episcopalian. I may be wrong. 

It’s a midnight service and takes the form of what is called The Great Vigil. It’s the hours after Good Friday leading through the long night into Easter morning and the resurrection. At St Thomas there was quite a literal split between the two. The service begins mournfully and somber, much like the Holy Thursday and Friday services, around 11pm, and at midnight, full light returned in what was almost like the Easter Sunday service itself. 

Trinity Church’s service is a bit different and I think I might actually prefer it. It really is like Matins - early morning pre-dawn prayers -  beginning in darkness and progressing into the light, quite literally as a special candle, the Paschal Candle is lit from a bowl of fire. Liturgy is read, baptisms are performed and the entire service has a kind of ancient early church feel to it, evoking the four primal elements - fire, air, water, and earth - of the cosmos. It’s intensely moving, little sweetheart, for a variety of reasons, I think. 

When I was going to West End, I often found myself very moved by baptisms. I think so much of you when I see children now, little sweetheart, both because of your inherent goodness and because of your desire to raise a child with me. Easter Sunday is wonderful, too, with its bright colors and triumphant music, its flowers (I always make a flower donation in your name) and its declaration of faith, that death is not our end. But this journey through the night from darkness into light is one that resonates so deeply with me, little sweetheart, as I make my own long journey through the rest of my life as best I can until I may finally be reunited with you. 

How I love you! Forever!