Dancing at Easter.

There are indeed some lovely old churches in

Nazaré, but the Easter Vigil was held in the large functional square hall in the Pastoral Centre. A lot of work had gone into decorating it and setting things up for the celebration: a huge square table for an altar, and also an enormous font with warmed water in it. All were festooned with flowers and the table was adorned with a Jewish-style lamp or menorah with nine lights, giving to the occasion the atmosphere of a Passover Seder, which of course is at the origins of the Catholic liturgy.

It begins with the blessing of the fire, from which the Paschal candle is lit and processed into the darkened church, where all our little candles are lit from it, the Light of Christ. It is plunged three times into the font where the holy water is blessed, and then we proceeded to baptise a clutch of babies. No half measures here either, the naked infants being dunked three times, entirely immersed on the third one. They were none the worse for it, an atmosphere of fun prevailed, and then we all had the chance to renew our baptismal vows in song.

We proceeded to the narrative of the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and journey through the sea and the desert to the Promised Land, so fundamental to just about any account of our common human vocation. In Ireland this often gets shortened; not so here, where on the contrary, not content with a leisurely reading of all nine readings, we had little contributions from all around when people witnessed, saying what the reading meant for them personally, in the tradition of lectio divina.

Having started at ten o’clock, it was after two by the time we got into the Mass itself. Nothing was hurried, psalms and everything that could be sung was sung, with much rhythmic clapping and music. Communion was an elaborate affair with big chunks of unleavened bread and huge cups of wine. The love feast finally ended with dancing, everyone together doing a rhythmic  four-step while they rotated slowly round the altar. It was half-past three in the morning, and a good time was had by all!

As Psalm 49 says:-

Sing a new song to the Lord,

His praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,

Let Sion’s sons exult in their king.

Let them praise his name with dancing

And make music with timbrel and harp.

Whence comes the urge to forsake the churches for this occasion? Part of it surely is the desire to get back to the origins, which involved the exodus of the Israelites from relative comfort, though in slavery, for a hazardous journey in the wilderness on a vague promise, and then the early Christians, living an intense experience of community frequently in danger as well as discomfort. But there is more, and particularly in traditional Catholic countries with beautiful old churches.

Those churches were built in the context of a very different world, which certainly had a grace and beauty about it that we find it impossible to emulate, but which went with a degree of structured authority that, while we may be unwise to criticise it too much, certainly had many shortcomings and eventually decayed into authoritarianism, and with a lack of personal autonomy that today is not acceptable. The authoritarianism worsened as the spiritual inspiration became attenuated and secular authorities of various stripes sought to usurp the place of the divine one. The original inspiration of the Church was frequently resented by the secular powers, though they sometimes sought to coopt it into the various secular forms, notably into the nation states.

But this ain’t working anymore! Our personal identities tend to have outgrown any one nation, just as technology and the world economy have done also. Meanwhile the authorities can say what they like, but are rarely able to deliver; hence the general panic and all sorts of half-baked efforts to resuscitate nationalism. Mere cosmopolitanism is not of course an answer either. How right the Church is to seek renewal in more vibrant and genuine community! If what we witnessed here on Easter morning is happening on a widespread basis, we may indeed expect some exciting and encouraging surprises.

The nation states themselves will find renewal if they learn to act within a continuum between local communities and supra-national organisation, which is the only way any of them can hope to address the major problems of war, migration, international financial banditry and environmental breakdown. Meanwhile, the costs of failure mount and threaten ever more devastation…. And as for myself?

The work on the boat seems endless, and the costs are mounting. In my weariness, I draw indispensable support from the Lady of Nazaré and her community here. The fact is that the alternative of simply letting the boat rot is not a good enough reason to go on. Why bother with an old wooden boat? This too involves a turning away from exploitation to love; a going out into the desert armed only with that elusive transcendent Promise! The work is an act of community, as in any real boatyard and with all work of human hands with natural materials, not produced like most modern boats with noxious synthetic ones in a factory, and orientated to a transcendent purpose, to setting out again on the Gannetsway. So thanks to Alec and all the other people more or less involved! But I am sadly missing sailing the sea….

photos by Fiona