Babushka Brigade

Maybe we need some real grandmas these days.
I mean, look around. What do we have today?
We have women who are grandmothers and who still look like they are not yet out of their twenties (or maybe thirties.) They are active and fashionable and also often career women. They don't fit any pattern that I remember for when we had grandmas!
And today gets me thinking that some of us could perhaps use some of those old fashioned, "real" grandmas.
I can recall the days way back when the "real" grandmas certainly added a touch of excitement to the old Easter Vigil in places having such grandmas.
Now we are talking about back in the late 1940's and 1950's.
And I did say way back when.
If your imagination can take you back that far, you can visualize what I mean by "real" grandmas.
They were the ones in frumpy dresses, probably black and not stylized or fashionable wintery coats and definitely wearing babushkas. Old school style! Old World!
Maybe we might consider starting up Babushka Brigades in our parishes!
It could even be a new ministry!
In those days gone by where we would find Babushka Brigades, we would definitely find some down to earth raw excitement at our Easter Vigils.
Now let me take you back to the Easter Vigils that I am remembering and that means back to the 1940's and 1950's.
Back then I was a kid in grade school.
And back then Lent officially ended on Holy Saturday at noon.
And the Easter Vigil took place sometime before that, usually very early in the morning, around 6:00 or 6:30 AM.
I got my first experience of the Easter Vigil then as my dad would attend and he would manage to wake me up and get me off with him to the Vigil.
As you might suspect, the Vigils at that time were not exactly big events, considered central to our entire Church Year. They were something we did to get ourselves to Easter. A handful of faithful would attend, but always, always in those Polish parishes there would be the Babushka Brigade.

I might mention here that because of this understanding (or lack) of the Easter Vigil, many cultures developed popular devotions to celebrate the Resurrection. Some places would have an early Sunday morning Mass, often including a procession, to celebrate the Resurrection. In the parish in which I grew up, we had a lengthy sung prayer service and a triumphant procession on Holy Saturday evening.
The Vigil, however, back then was a strange phenomenon, known by and experienced by very few. The popular devotions drew the large numbers.
But the Babushka Brigade would definitely be present at the Vigil, especially in Polish Parishes.
And dad took me to those parishes. We had a couple of them close by - St. Stanislaus and St. Hyacinth. One or other of these is where we would usually land.
The Vigil then, as now, began outside. There would be a fire.
And in the Polish parishes often the custom was to include thorn branches (yes, with those long, sharp things that could hurt) in the fire. The thorns were considered blessed along with the fire.
As the priest moved away from the fire and into the church, water would quickly douse the flames. Once the fire was out, the thorn branches were there to be claimed.
And that is when the Babushka Brigade sprung into action.
These ladies did not worry about decorum or any sort of etiquette. They were taking home some of those thorn branches. So it was that they threw themselves to the branches. What excitement! And what risk! I mean, those thorns could hurt!
While things continued inside the church, many remained outside watching those grandmas springing into action.
And the Babushka Brigade was not finished yet.
Eventually, thorn branches in hand or often enough placed in the paper bags they brought , they would join the rest of us in the church building.There the twelve Scripture readings (yes! I said twelve and they would all be read) were taking place, leading into the blessing of the water.
When the water was blessed, the Brigade sprung into action once again. It did not matter that other things were happening in the sanctuary, at the altar. From their paper bags they would produce empty jars, significant in size. They would move toward the newly blessed tubs of water and, I should say, they did not move in any sort of gentle fashion. Those jars had to be filled. Reaching over anyone in their way, they drew that newly blessed water and filled their jars. The whole scene is reminicant of some scenes from the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday events.
Branches bagged and water jars filled, they settled down for all that followed.
But they certainly added some excitement to those early morning Easter Vigils.
Maybe you might consider adding some excitement to our Evening Vigils today.
If you need excitement, organize a Babushka Brigade!
That is if you need excitement.
That's if a new fire, breaking into the darkness assuring the victory of light over darkness is not enough excitement.
That's if hearing the wondrous sound and those mystical words sung to proclaim the Easter Wonder that God conquers death itself is not excitement enough.
That's if hearing once again the stories our salvation and remembering the life-giving God at work in our lives is not excitement enough.
That's if witnessing the Power of the Resurrection being poured out on the newly baptized and the Spirit being bestowed on the newly confirmed is not excitement enough..
That's if singing the Easter Alleluia is not excitement enough.
That's if welcoming the Risen, Eucharistic Lord bringing life eternal into your life is not excitement enough.
If all of that is not excitement enough for you, then organize a Babushka Brigade.
But then again if the wonder unfolding in this Night of all Nights is really not enough excitement for you, maybe even a Babushka Brigade will not do it for you.
Maybe what you really need is to take a deeper, more serious, more faith-filled look at the wonder of the Easter Vigil! And at Easter itself!