After first vespers of the fifth Sunday of Lent we enter the beautiful but solemn season of Passiontide. 

We went to a friend’s Church last weekend for a Baptism, and sat behind a family where a mother was sitting with her 4 boys, ranging from elementary school to high school. Next to them was a man in the aisle in a wheelchair, with a breathing mask on and his limbs strapped to the chair. I didn’t know what family the man belonged to until a beep on the chair sent the mother of the 4 boys rushing to the chair to take care of the matter. Then, at the Our Father, the youngest boy – maybe 5^th grade?- reached over and grabbed the man’s hand. I then saw his ring, and knew he was the husband and father of this family.