"Please bathe", why Fr. Eric would tell us this at Easter, his most favorite time of the year

While Fr. Eric guided us throughout the year, including Christmas, he often told us that Easter was his favorite time of the year.

I miss him and preparing for Lent, I miss the Easter Vigil, I miss the RCIA candidates being welcomed into the church, I miss the music, the celebration, the anticipation building to Easter Sunday.

I miss his historical insights and information, particularly when he talked about repentance and how people in the ancient church wanting to be welcomed back into the church were covered in ashes for days.

"Please bathe," he would say. I share this  was not to diminish the meaning but to show the human side of Fr. Eric, the teacher and why he was such a good priest.

Fr. Eric was a faithful and proud Catholic but he never put any religion down, any other Christian denomination down, any non believer down and respected people.

God is love, unconditional love and with Fr. Eric , I always felt God's love in his words, when he celebrated mass and in his actions.