Happy Easter! The Lord is Risen!

The church I attend is just a couple blocks away from the stadium the San Diego Chargers play in and when I drove up today it was just like Sundays during football season. The streets were completely devoid of parking spaces. I had to park in a mall parking lot and walk about a quarter of a mile to church. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about it, I wish that happened more than just on Easter and Christmas. As I drove down the freeway to get there I was brimming with joy! Easter is my favorite holiday all year. There is always a tinge of pain though. I had a dream a couple years ago that I get a reminder of when I drive up and down Highway 125 through Spring Valley (east of San Diego). It reminds me of the dream because it looks similar to the landscape I had in the dream. In my dream I rounded the corner of a valley that a city was nestled in and a wall surrounded it like a medieval European city. Right at the center of the city were two cathedrals directly facing each other on opposite sides of the valley, one was Roman Catholic and the other was Eastern Orthodox. I took the dream to mean that God will reunite the two and they will strengthen each other. That might just be wishful thinking and the dream might not have been from God at all. Only time will tell.


My personal opinion is that the two churches need each other. I have frequently wondered how I could put into words the way I feel about the two churches. I finally came up with an analogy that works for me today. The Eastern Church is sensational and the Western Church is focused on the interior journey. I do not mean the East is superficial, melodramatic or unconcerned with the interior life. I mean the East has such a rich tradition with the incense, iconostasis, elaborate vestments, singing the Divine Liturgy, lots of candles and so on, while the Western Church is really bare bones. The Liturgy is relatively brief, the altar is frequently minimally decorated, sometimes there is not any singing at all. I do not point out the differences to make a statement that one is better than the other, one is just different than the other. It is like the difference between Christmas and Easter to me, one is more an inward expression and the other is more an outward expression of worship. It took me years of regular attendance of Mass to find what I have discovered in the Roman Liturgy (and years of praying the Hours). I find it quite a subtle journey and spirituality, but I sure like it a lot!