First Holy Communion at the parish

Well, better late than never...

Back in late April the parish I work at had our First Communion Mass, and I had taken a few photos (in between running around!) from the choir loft (oh, how I wish our choir would be back in the loft! But that's a conversation for another time...). I know a few of the moms were wanting to see them, so here you go!

First Holy Communion 2007

It really was a nice Mass, the children's choir sang for it (they sang "Panis Angelicus" very beautifully, even with proper pronounciation, I am quite happy to report!) and our 23 First Communicants were radiant in their expectation to receive our Lord in the Eucharist for the first of many times (it is to be earnestly hoped!). I was quite pleased to see so many of them praying deeply after receiving our Lord - it is unfortunate that our culture now places such an overemphasis on the externals of the celebration of first Sacraments. The families are the worst, as they sometimes focus much more on the "miniature brides" than on the Bridegroom that their children are encountering. In our case, however, our children were well prepared and, I hope, able to really give thanks to our Lord for His great love in the Most Blessed Sacrament!

It is too bad I do not have photos of the entrance procession - we gave each of the children a huge white rose and had them come into the church and place their flowers at the foot of the statues of Jesus and Mary on either side of the sanctuary, then they came back to the center and bowed together perfectly before going to their seat. Quite angelic.