Christopher Celebrates Easter Communion for us all
Christopher writes:
With all our churches closed I was exercised about celebrating Holy Communion on Easter Day this year. Nervous of ‘private masses’ – as was Archbishop Cranmer – I nevertheless decided that Easter Day, being the most important day of the church’s year, would be an appropriate – indeed expected – day for a celebration of communion in the Benefice.
The Communion Service does not depend upon numbers for its validity. High Mass in the Vatican is just as valid as a celebration in The Rectory kitchen because both recognize and participate in the one unrepeatable sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Just two of us were present physically but with the prayers of the Benefice, the wider church and the world on our hearts, we were also surrounded by the great company of heaven: angels, martyrs and all those who had gone before us in the faith. We were in good company. Given our current situation, I have to tell you that it was one of the most emotional and draining celebrations of my life.
The following photographs chart the progress of the Easter Eucharist in the Benefice. (Click on each thumbnail for a closer look.) I offer them to you for your prayers and thanksgivings in the midst of this Coronavirus crisis.
