Blessings of the Fruit on my 111th Visit!

No, not these guys....
photo by Peter Eimon, used under the creative commons license
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Last night at Vespers (my 111th visit) was a very solemn occasion. We were celebrating  the Transfiguration of the Lord. At first, There was no Icon on the table in the middle of the Nave, just a white cloth. For some reason, I had thought the Icon was underneath the white cloth and that at a specific time, Fr. Gary would unveil it to reveal the Icon. Turns out that Fr Gary walked through the Royal doors to retrieve the Icon from the Altar and then place it on the white sheet. One of my favorite parts is when the choir will sing the same hymn three times while Fr. Gary walks around the Icon and the bread and wine (for the Litya) and incense it all. Very moving.

Fr Gary quoted Jesus Christ Superstar in his homily. Quoting Judas, he asked, 

Now why'd you choose such a backward time

And such a strange land?

If you'd come today

You could have reached the whole nation

Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication

Fr Gary went on to say that they ways of God are a mystery to us and only He knows why He came when He came. He also said, "Why did He only take Peter, James and John to Mt. Tabor? Why not take the pharisees as well. They surely would have believed had the seen Jesus standing next to Moses." I thought that was a good point and one I have never thought of before. But, as Fr Gary said before, the ways of God are a mystery and we should trust Him.  And I do.

I had to rush out of there to pick up my son from work so I didn't get a chance to ask the question, "Why is the fruit blessed during the feast of the Transfiguration?" Can someone answer that for me? It was cool to see people come early to the service and place nice baskets of fruit on the table. Fr. Gary blessed it with Holy water near the end of the service.  Maybe next year, I'll bring my own basket.

Thanks for reading.