Tag: Church

Easter Traditions

Easter Traditions

Easter is just three days away! This not only means the end of lent and a massive overload of chocolate for me, but lots of family and church as well.

Even though my brothers and I are long past believing in the Easter Bunny, my mom still makes us search for our Easter basket that is hidden somewhere in the house on Sunday morning. When we were younger, we woke up as early as possible in order to achieve the glory of the being the first one to find our Easter basket. Now, however, it is a struggle for my mom to get us out of bed early enough so that we still have time to find our baskets and get ready for church.

So, after we find our Easter baskets and eat more than our fair share of chocolate and candy, we go to Easter mass. After mass my dad prepares a big Easter brunch while us kids change out of our church clothes and get ready to go to Grandma’s house.

All of my cousins, aunts and uncles on my mom’s side of the family will be at Grandma’s house. We spend the day talking, playing games and eating. At some point during the day, the adults and some of us older cousins put on an Easter egg hunt for some of the younger cousins. We fill fake Easter eggs with anything from little chocolates, to dimes and nickels (which they love). After stuffing ourselves once again during dinner at Grandma’s, we head home for a much needed sleep.

My family’s Easter traditions are nothing speculator or abnormal, but they are special to me all the same. Loyola givesĀ  students a long weekend so that we have more time to spend at home for the holiday. I am looking forward to a long, relaxing weekend at home spent with family and good food!

Mass At Loyola

Mass At Loyola

I come from a Catholic family and while growing up I usually only went to mass when my mom would force me to wake up on Sunday mornings to go with her. As I grew up and entered my junior year of high school, she began to let me choose whether or not I wanted to go. My weekly attendance dropped a little after that but, for the most part, I continued to go; sometimes, just to make my mom proud of me.

So, when entering college and living on my own for the first time, I kind of expected that I would not attend church regularly. Not that living on my own automatically made me less religious, but I thought that without the encouragement of my mom I would choose to sleep in rather than go to church. Fortunately, I was very wrong.

After starting school I soon learned, to my surprise, that many of the friends that I had made went to church each week. After inquiring about it, I decided to join them the next Sunday, and have continued to go almost every week since.

I found out that the church on campus, Madonna Della Estrada, offers mass three times each Sunday: 10:30, 5:00 pm and 9:00pm. This makes it super easy to find a time that fits into your schedule. The chapel is right next to the IC and the library which makes it perfect on Sunday nights to take a break from studying at the library.

Mass at school is also an awesome experience because I attend it with many of my close friends. It is really cool to see each other in a different light while at mass and is a good way to connect deeper with friends. I love it!