we joined a new church a few months ago, all saints old catholic church. we have left the roman catholic church and have become orthodox or old catholics, in the hope that one day in nashville there will be an reformed catholic church congregation.
on easter sunday, ella made her first holy communion. my parents were able to be here for the occasion. while a first communion is actually a roman practice, ella wanted to make a more formal occasion of it, to have important family members present, since her whole experience in life thus far has been roman. fr. kevin was very understanding and went out of his way to make this day special for her.
the altar before mass started:
flowering the cross—everybody brought flowers from home and covered
the empty cross with them—we had never seen this before, but we all loved it
and it gives me a new insight when i see a cross covered in flowers
on the side of the road:
children’s homily:
communion at this church is normally taken kneeling at the rail, but fr. kevin had ella come up last, standing at the front of the aisle, so that the whole church could witness and pray with her as she made her first communion.
joyfully prayerful afterward:
there was some discussion in our family as to whether or not she would wear a veil. in the end, she told me that she had prayed on it and her heart had told her not to wear one. so she wore one of her favorite headbands instead.
fr. kevin filled ella’s holy water bottle with the water he had blessed at mass. those are my adorable mama and daddy on the left. after this day was all over, i told rudi that i had finally discovered the value of paying a professional photographer for big events: they are not involved, so they have the presence of mind to get the family all together for pictures. i am not a professional photographer and thus did not have that presence of mind. :(
the mass was followed by a potluck lunch and an easter egg hunt!
mama gave ella a rosary that has the sacred heart on one side of the centerpiece and our lady of fatima on the other. the stones in the centerpiece and the halo of the crucifix are ella’s birthstone.
according to ella, she is now fully qualified and authorized to take communion everywhere in the world, so now she wants to go to mass every day.