This is the feast of victory

It's the tradition of our church parish that the sponsor create the Sacramental candle for the candidate. I had such fun crafting Kayla's candle and thinking of her journey as I worked.  The simple cross design is one I've used before for Jazz's Baptismal candle.  Kayla requested some bling, so I added a few small crochet flowers with sparkly centers and a sparkly ribbon.  I used nails to tack the stitched piece to the candle hoping to symbolize Christ's crucifixion.

We loaded the dressed, primped and combed children into the van and headed to meet Kayla and her family for dinner prior to the Vigil Mass.  I had a bag of small toys ready to keep Irish Jig occupied during the 4 hour Mass and totally forgot an extra set of batteries.  My camera died after taking family photos before dinner, so Mass will just have to live in memories :)

The candidates and sponsors gathered outside the church, around the Easter fire, waiting for Mass to begin.  As the priests readied themselves and the congregation started to join us, one of the RCIA team members had us doing the wave around the fire.  We laughed and enjoyed the joyous atmosphere.  Once the fire was ignited, the priests blessed and lit our Pascal candle, then shared the light of Christ with the congregation.  We filed back into the church and continued with the Liturgy.  Since our parish has such a large Hispanic population, our Mass was a bilingual celebration with the seven readings and psalms being alternated between the two languages.  While beautiful to witness, it makes for a long mass.  Irish Jig took a nap on Classic Rock for awhile, then played, then whined, then napped again.

At the prescribed time, Kayla and Kelsy stood and proudly declared their intent to join the Church.  Baptisms followed, then Confirmation and finally Eucharist.  As we ambled to our cars following the celebration, we were both tired (it was midnight) and exhilarated.  I am proud to have been a part of Kayla's (and Kelsy's) journeys into our faith.

I hope that your own Easter celebrations were filled with joy, family, laughter, and music.  And chocolate!

Today's post title from Festival Canticle, sung as the newly baptized enter the church after donning white garments!