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Views from the Choir Loft

Easter Monday

Fr. David Friel · April 1, 2013

ASTER MONDAY is a good day not to bug your pastor (unless, of course, someone is in need of the Sacraments). After the rush of Lent & Triduum liturgies, Easter Monday is an unofficial though widely embraced opportunity for clergy types to decompress and recharge. It is a necessary day of rest for many priests, who like to spend the day quietly or even alone.

I did just that thing today by driving up to the Delaware Water Gap, a gorgeous National Recreation Area in the Pocono mountain region of northeastern Pennsylvania. My goal was to climb Mt. Minsi, which I did under the mantle of very pleasant weather (high 50’s, partly cloudy). Why? Because leisure is essential to our souls. In the words of one of my favorite philosophers: “Work is the means of life; leisure the end. Without the end, work is meaningless —a means to a means to a means . . . and so on forever” (Roger Scruton).

A great deal of my childhood was spent out in the woods, leisurely hiking and camping. My hike today reminded me of how deeply formative those times were on my body, mind, and spirit. In a real sense, although I first met God in my parish church, I came to know Him in the woods of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and Virginia and New Mexico. God speaks in so many ways, not least through the marvelous beauty of His creation.

When I reached the summit, I took my breviary out of my pack to pray Sext (Midday Prayer). Here is what I prayed:

O LORD, our God, how majestic is Your name through all the earth!
Your majesty is praised above the heavens.
From the mouths of children and of babes, You have found praise to foil Your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.
When I see the heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars which You arranged,
what is man that You should keep him in mind,
the son of man that You care for him?
Yet, You have made him little lower than the angels;
with glory and honor You crowned him,
gave him power over the works of Your hands.
You put all things under his feet.
All of them, sheep and oxen, yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish of the sea that make their way through the waters.
O LORD, our God, how majestic is Your name through all the earth!

Today, I give glory to God not only for His triumphant Resurrection, but also for His kind hands, which have fashioned a world that reveals His majesty and permits true leisure. May God be praised!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The sun’s disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl, when suddenly a clamor was heard from all the people. The sun, whirling, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.”

— ‘Dr. Almeida Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra (1917)’

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