So, we have arrived at “Octave of” year three.  It also marks my third year since being welcomed into the Catholic Church.  My first year anniversary gave us the Octave of Burgers.  The second year was the Octave of Diners.  Soon we will announce the theme for year three.  So, for me, the “Octave of” series represents a celebration of so many gifts and graces that I have received over these last three years.
In the beginning, I had no idea what an octave was.  It was my friend Neil who told me of the Church tradition of celebrating the Resurrection of Christ in the week following Easter.  This was an exciting prospect.  I had done plenty of “celebrating” in my pre-Catholic days but never would I have imagined that the Holy Church I just joined would promote a celebration for eight days straight!  This Church knows how to party!
Our party took the form of our “Octave of” celebration.  I hesitate to call it divine inspiration, but it certainly seemed like this brilliant idea was bestowed upon us by some supernatural means.  The idea was simple.  We would get together each day of the octave with a group of friends and would honor the eight day feast with a particular theme, for year one it was burgers.  At the end of the octave we would rank the selections and determine the best one.  It was truly wonderful how people came together to enjoy this somewhat silly concept.  Our dedication to the octave was also remarkable.  On one of the days of the octave I was stuck at work and my dear friends came in to celebrate with me by having burgers from the hospital cafeteria (a unanimous decision for last place).
Year two, the Octave of Diners, was an experience as well.  Whether it was giving extra points for variety of clientele, (i.e. the old man at Big Sky talking about punching people in the face), if a waitress called you “Hon” or “Sweetie,” or the possibility of having a heart attack after eating the food (a full pound of bacon at The Bomber, yum!), it was definitely a memorable experience.  It was also thrilling and potentially dangerous since two of the places had violent crimes occur after we had been there.  Apparently word of our experiences in the “Octave of” celebration was spreading even to the seedy underbelly of the criminal world.  Thus the idea of creating a Blog and Twitter account this year so more friends, family, and criminals can more easily follow our exploits.
The silly themes of the “Octave of” celebration are really only part of the story.  It’s more about coming together as a community of friends to celebrate a core belief our Catholic faith.  As St. Paul says, “…if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1 Cor 15:14).
That is the true purpose of this celebration; glorifying Jesus Christ our Savior together as a community – as a family – and spreading the good news of the Gospel to all the world.  We encourage as many people as are able to join us on this journey (or follow our exploits via our social media outlets) and we look forward to revealing our theme for this year’s “Octave of” celebration.