Every Sunday for the past seven weeks the churchgoers of our parish have been dramatically sprinkled with water. This has been done not because anybody stank nor because the clergy feared an imminent drought would prohibit this part of our liturgical life. It was done to remind us that Easter has a long, long life.

In the world of Asda, Safeway, Woolworth etc, Easter could be thought to begin the moment consumers are finished with the new year sales since that's when the various chocolate eggs are first stacked on shelves. There they sit for the following two or three months, looking somewhat ridiculous. Throughout that time they could be said to function as a sign of the imminence of Easter. Their shelf-life ends though just as Easter proper begins which is a shame for their continued presence would be both an enjoyable and visible witness to the resurrection. If they could be purchased throughout Easter time we might get fat but we'd better appreciate why Easter is above all our other feasts. And it's worth noting that in the past one of the great attractions of Christianity was its widely acknowledged tendency to party. Perhaps the misplaced presence of our chocolate eggs contributes to the confusion we have as to why the Church's Easter goes on so long after the supermarkets.

Confusion can though be good for us if it prods us to ask the questions which help develop faith. By being sprinkled for the last seven weeks with the waters from our font we've been moistly reminded that Easter has been our companion. As we've battled in vain to avoid the well-intentioned dowsing we may have thought, 'why are we doing this again?' By listening to the prayer which has immediately followed we would have heard the answer: "to increase our awareness of God's blessings" (2nd week); to "look forward with hope " (3rd week) and "to celebrate our joy in Christ's resurrection " (6th week).

In a way Easter ends today. So mass-goers can expect at least one more shower. But Easter can also be said to be never-ending which is why in the weeks to come the sprinkling with holy water will still occasionally occur so that we can see it as a sign of the continuance of Easter which if remembered and celebrated will ensure our faith never dries up. DG