Easter Sunday

We began Roamin' Catholics: Body & Soul at one church for 8:00 mass and ended up at 9:00 mass at another. Read about our out of the ordinary Easter experience.

HIS:

Christ is Risen, Alleluia!  We have more reason to rejoice this week, thankfully that everyone is safe.  This week’s Roamin brings us to yet another diocese, Orlando, FL.  We traveled to Florida to visit with Mary’s Dad and Brother to celebrate Easter as well as a little fun in the sun.

 This morning began like any other, albeit not in our own home.  We rose early to make it to the 8:00 am mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Melbourne. Florida.  

As we arrived early at the church, the parking lot was mostly full, but we slid into the Biletnikoff’s usual spot and made our way into the sanctuary at about 7:40.  As we sat waiting for mass to begin, there was a loud noise that came from the air vent above and to the right of where we were sitting.  No one seemed to think much about it, as it sounded like the thump made when an air conditioner fan turns on and begins to circulate air.  However, it was soon apparent that it was much more than that.  The room below where the air duct was located is the sacristy.  This where the priests and or deacons prepare for the liturgy and the vestments are stored.  It is not unusual before mass for people to be coming and going from this space as they prepare the altar with all that is needed for mass.  So it didn’t strike me as odd when a woman scurried out of the room but what she said did catch my attention.  She softly called for someone she knew and said fire.  You couldn’t see the flames but you could see the orange glow in the room.  My brother in law Ivan sprang into action and ran into the Sacristy to see what was happening and within a split second or so of getting in the room, there was an eruption of flames and hot air that slammed the door to the room leaving us to wonder what happened.  At this point, I leapt over my father in law to see what I could do to help.  Fearing the worst but praying for the best.  Before I could get to the door, Ivan came out and announced to the congregation that everyone should leave.  As we moved out of the sanctuary, I looked back at the sacristy and noticed that the sprinkler system had kicked in and any flames that existed were quickly extinguished.  This was a scary experience.  We were all a bit shell shocked.  Prayers going out to all involved.

We left as soon as we could to avoid some of the organized chaos that was certain to ensue and reevaluated what our options were for Easter Sunday Mass.  A little bit of quick cell phone research and we decided on a 9:00 am mass at Immaculate Conception Parish in Melbourne Beach, about 25 minutes away.  We briefly flirted with attending this parish as they had a sunrise service outside that sounded interesting.  This church is right across the street from the Atlantic ocean.  What a beautiful setting, but a little early for this crowd.  As it were, Immaculate Conception was founded as a mission church of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1977.  So there is a connection to the Ivans home parish (you see, both my F-in-L and B-in-L are named Ivan).

It was a little difficult to get a message from the celebrant this week as my mind was preoccupied with the events of earlier this morning.  As a side note, there also seemed to be an inordinate amount of doors slamming in this church which wasn’t good as the memory of the explosion was still fresh.  Thank God for the safety of everyone involved and that is the true message to take away today.  Our Lord is risen and that is truly a great thing!

HERS:
Christ is risen today! Alleluia!

Our adventure this week brought us to our furthest Roamin' destination so far... 908 miles away from home base to the 8:00 am Easter mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Melbourne, FL. We were pairing this adventure with our Spring break in Florida this week to visit my dad and brother.

Although Our Lady of Lourdes was our selected church this week and we (my dad, brother, Lou and I) made it to our seats, we evacuated the church prior to the beginning of mass. So, this is what happened... Right before mass was ready to begin we heard a loud noise, that at the time I thought was the air conditioner "kicking in".  Shortly after, a woman appeared from the door of the sacristy and was calling loudly for one of the parishioners. She looked troubled, so my brother Ivan (who was sitting close to the sacristy door) and another parishioner followed her into the sacristy. After my brother entered the sacristy, there was a loud explosion and I could see a burst of orange flames coming from the door of the sacristy. Immediately after that, the door slammed shut from the pressure.

This next part is difficult to write. In the 5-10 seconds that followed, my thoughts were "backdraft", "oh my God", "my brother is dead". These seconds seemed to freeze before me. We all rushed to the door and by the grace of God, my brother appeared unscathed and began shouting for everyone to evacuate. At the time, we didn't know what was going on, or if there would be subsequent explosions. We bolted from the church, into the car and back home. Along the drive back to my dad's house,  I Googled other churches in the area and found a 9:00 mass at Immaculate Conception, also in Melbourne. When we reached the house, we were one man down. The activities of the morning were too much for my dad and he decided to stay home.

We made it through the 9:00 am mass unscathed. I was still a bit shaken up by the earlier events of the morning and as a result was not giving the mass my undivided attention. I remembered to say thank you to God for the outcome of the morning. Thank you is the phrase of the Easter Season. Thank you to God for giving us Jesus to die for our sins. Thank you to Jesus for His love for us...
Dying. On. The. Cross. For. Us.

We later went to my cousin Jeff's and his wife Janet's home for Easter dinner and the feeding of our bodies. They had family and friends at their home and as always the food was plentiful. It was a good end to a day with a rough start. But all is good.

Amen.

As always, we end with our Soulfie:

Happy Easter!