The Easter Celebrations are the highpoint of the Catholic calendar and the parish spared no effort in pulling out all the stops to celebrate the paschal mysteries. Our celebrations began with the Oswald Singers performing John Stainer's 'The Crucifixion'. Stainer lived in the second half of the nineteenth century and his 'Crucifixion' is an Oratorio for Easter, retelling the passion of Christ through music. In the tradition of the masterpiece passion settings of Johann Sebastian Bach, Stainer's work portrays the events leading to Christ's passion on the Cross, powerfully combining narrative delivered through solo arias and recitatives, choral reflections, rousing crowd scenes and accessible congregational singing. 

The stirring performance of Stainer's Crucifixion was the launchpad for the celebrations that followed in Holy Week: processions with palms on Passion Sunday, the washing of feet, and the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, followed by the reposing of the Blessed Sacrament in the side chapel evoking Jesus's agony in the Garden where he appealed to his disciples, 'Could you not remain awake with me for one hour?' 

On Good Friday, there were stations of the Cross at St Gregory's followed by the 3pm Service in Our Lady & St Michael's church. The faithful were presented with a stark picture as they entered the church: no lighting, no candles, no flowers, everything stripped back, the altar cloths removed, statues draped in purple, all bare and empty. The priests walked in in silence and began the service with the prostration, abasing themselves as Christ had emptied himself, holding nothing back for himself. The passion narrative was followed by the creeping of the cross, the moment in which everyone came forward to venerate the wood of the cross as the haunting words of the Reproaches were sung. Everyone left in silence, and we entered into the silence of Holy Saturday. 

The world feels empty on Holy Saturday, and no one can escape the sense of restlessness, the profound sense of loss and grief. But quietly through the day teams of volunteers prepared the altars, cleaned and polished the candlesticks, arranged the flowers and Easter garden, and made preparations for the Easter Vigil celebrations. The altar servers were up bright and early on the Saturday morning for an 8.30am breakfast before being put through their paces with rehearsals for the great event, the mother of all vigils. 

The Easter Vigil was a perfect night: the sun set and the wind dropped, and the fire was lit and blessed, and the Easter Candle was raised to acclamations of 'Lumen Christi' and 'Deo Gratias'. The Easter Hymn was prayerfully intoned by Malcolm Stilwell as the Easter light spread throughout the darkened church, illuminating the night with its warmth and light. We then walked through the story of salvation, listening attentively to the Word of God: the story of creation, the exodus, the call of the prophets, all the way, to the singing of the Gloria, the bells ringing, the unveiling of the statues, and the proclamation of the Easter Gospel. There followed the blessing of the font, the lowering of the Easter candle into the waters of baptism, signifying the union between Heaven and Earth, and MiHwa and Barry were both baptised and received into the Church with great tears and joy. The rest of us renewed our baptismal promises and were sprinkled with Easter water, reminding us of our new life in Christ. With the liturgy of the Eucharist, the action which began on Maundy Thursday at the Mass of the Last Supper was completed, and the paschal mystery was fulfilled with joy unbounded. Jesus Christ is Risen! And so, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus becomes our mystery too as we received Holy Communion on this Easter night. 

These days truly invite us into a tremendous mystery which never ceases to amaze and the parish is enormously grateful to all those who worked so hard to celebrate these mysteries: the wonderful team of altar servers, the choir, the organists, the flower arrangers, the sacristy team, the cleaners, the readers, and so many others who put so much time and effort into everything. The arrival of other peoples from different parts of the world also gives us a deeper sense of our catholic faith. On Maundy Thursday the Keralan community celebrated Appam, a tradition of prayers and songs to remember the Jewish passover, and on Holy Saturday, the Polish community arrived with baskets of food to be blessed at a midday service, and of course, no one can express Easter joy better than the children, who raced around the grounds after the Sunday Mass looking for Easter Eggs in our Easter Egg hunt. 

'Fling wide the gates! for the Saviour waits to tread in His Royal way; He has come from above, in His power and love, to die on this Passion Day'. These are words from Stainer's Crucifixion, and they call us too, not to hold back, to open wide the gates of our hearts, of our parish, to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is risen and alive and will remain with us till the end of time. Surely something to be eternally grateful for, and to celebrate for evermore.