None of us can fail to have marveled at the beauty of the Magnolia trees at Sacred Heart this year. Warmed by the gentle sunshine, they burst into life on the Holy Night, and during this Octave have delighted us with their extravagant beauty and delicate scent. But soon the blush blooms will fall, and the trees will put out shiny new growth, ready for the year to come. How appropriate they should flower for Easter week – but it is also appropriate that they should soon lose their petals…

This Sunday has, perhaps, the greatest number of liturgical titles. When I open my Missal, I find it described as Dominica in Albis in Octava Paschae or, literally, ‘Sunday of White in the Octave of Easter’, but more anciently Dominica in Albis Despositis, the somewhat less elegant, ‘Sunday-when-White-[Robes]-are-put-aside.’ It is also known as Low Sunday, or Quasimodo Sunday, and more recently, Divine Mercy Sunday.

Those white robes refer to the white tunics, known as ‘albs’ after their color, which are the true baptismal vestments of Christian initiation. We still use them today – albeit in an attenuated form. Traditionally, infants presented for Baptism are clothed in special white robes, used only for this occasion.

They also became the standard liturgical garment for the New Testament priesthood: before the priest dares to put on Christ in stole and chasuble, he must be reminded of having put on Christ in Holy Baptism. Without Baptism, he could in no wise be conformed to Christ in Holy Orders, so before he adorns himself with the symbols of the ministerial priesthood, he must first adopt the garment of the royal priesthood every time he ascends Calvary.

The alb is therefore a holy garment: it is washed in the Precious Blood of Christ. In Ethiopia and Eritrea the laity wear white to attend the Liturgy, and this gives us a reminder that we step out of the world every time we cross the threshold of a Church. It is for this reason we must resist every attempt to ‘domesticate’ a Church building; filling it with the stuff of everyday life: tissues, noticeboards, hand sanitizer, or wet wipes – all of this is irrelevant in Christ; it has no place in Church.

This Sunday in Rome, neophytes baptized at the Paschal Vigil in the great rotunda of St. John Lateran removed their albs for the first time. They must go into the world and toil in the vineyard with the rest of us. But like the priest, they will take them up again. For Scripture tells us that the Saints are clothed in white robes, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They are all wearing their albs. In the world, we have to lay them aside for a while, because we are not there yet. But the Sacred Liturgy gives us a foretaste of where we shall be – and for this reason we are attentive to the details of the times and seasons.

This year, even the Magnolia trees are joining us in our Paschal joy, for they too will set aside their royal garments to get on with the ordinary stuff of life for another year. But the image of their beauty is imprinted on our hearts: as they are now, so we shall be.