Happy Easter to all here - Christ is risen! Our Easter vigil started at 10.30 pm and finished at 1.30 am. The longest liturgy of the year, and very beautiful in the Traditional Latin Mass form. We had the Easter fire, the carrying of the fire into the church, two adult baptisms, the blessing of the Easter candle, the blessing of the water, the actual Holy Mass, etc. It looked a bit like the pictures Orangina took. Unfortunately my wife did not attend as she is intending to separate again. Everyone has a heavy cross to carry, I guess. God bless all here. You and your loved ones remain in our Rosaries (prayed by father and kids).
Prayers for you in regard to your marriage, Michael, but grateful for the encouragement you receive from the Sacred Liturgy!
Our choir met at 7 p.m. for an hour of practice. Vigil began at 8:00 and didn't finish until almost 12:30 a.m. Our church is St.Anthony of Padua, also, and our priests are Franciscans of Mary Priests. We had quite a few baptisms, confirmations, and first communions. It was really beautiful . . .
Michael Pio, fellow NZ neighbour, I've been reading the site for years & your posts impacted me profoundly. I'm not sure how old your wife is so pls disregard if she's not of age - but now that I'm going thru this myself I feel like she may be going thru perimenopause or menopause. It's an absolute nightmare for women & can affect women from their late 30s onwards. The statistics for divorce for ppl in their 40s & older has been initiated mostly by women. Even women without prior mental health issues experience mental health issues during this time. I experience rage, weeping, crazy mood swings, more depression, more anxiety. Smells & sounds now bother me when they never used to. I'm overwhelmed by the simplest thing. I get the craziest anxiety where I can't even calm myself down at times, or I'm anxious about nothing in particular - that's when you know it's the hormones. My friend said she couldn't walk at one stage her anxiety was so debilitating. My whole body is swollen, esp my legs - I need to see my Dr again. I don't even feel like myself anymore. I'm practically bed ridden from severe fatigue. So, idk how mum's are surviving at this stage of life either. But many say they barely are... From what you described, I now wonder if she's going thru horrible perimenopause/menopause symptoms. I will pray for you & your family. If she's going thru peri the perimenopause sub on Reddit is amazing, you don't need to have a Reddit account to read, husbands are on there trying to understand. I'm just glad there's more awareness about this now since women are also dismissed as being too young for it, too. The drop of estrogen wreaks havoc on a woman's body. I didn't realise how bad it could really be & how much I'd be affected, as it also feels like permanent period symptoms.
Its a very difficult volatile time for sure. Very nice of you to speak of it to Michael. As one who survived it I can witness that you do get through it eventually.
Prayers Michael, and great advice JMJ! I'm in that zone myself but not that bad.. I can attest that even I have had these debilitating issues and just have to go to my room or sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament to chill out.
