Anastasia's Grail

by Mary Pearson

had received from Ezekiel and raised an eyebrow.

  “You kind of remind me of an aardvark when you’re mad,”was her cousin’s response.

  “Thank you…?” Stacy refolded the object and threw it in her pile. “ I’m sure I’ll wear it a lot… when I’m washing the car.”

  “As will I these.” He held up the neon orange tennis. “My favorite color. How did you know?”

  Stacy’s favorite gift ended up being from Arthur—good thing Emily had talked her into getting him something. He had given her a poster of the Shroud of Turin. It measured about five feet and was of both the front and back. This would make an awesome visual aid for her presentation. “Wow. This is wonderful.” Stacy didn’t know what to say. “Where did you find such a thing?”

  “On-line,” Arthur said. “I knew you were into the Shroud.”

  After opening presents they had brunch. Only Reecie refused to eat. She was too busy with her new toys and couldn’t be pried away.

  “What did you get from Darius?” Emily asked her later, when they were alone in the room they shared.

  Stacy was still wearing the necklace. She pulled it out from her shirt and showed her sister, who read it and furrowed her brow. “It’s only one half,” Stacy explained. “Darius is wearing the other. He had it inscribed. When you put the whole thing together it says:

  ‘Our Love Will Only Be C.omplete When Our Two Hearts and Bodies Meet’

  and on the back, ‘Until Then I Wait With Baited Breath.’“

  Emily pursed her lips disapprovingly but didn’t say anything.

  “What’s that look supposed to mean?” Stacy asked her.

  Emily shrugged. “Well, if you ask me, that guy only has one thing in mind. He may as well have written, ‘Our Love Can Only Be Shared in a Dance—One That Does Not Include Pants’, or wait! This is even better, ‘Love Will Blossom When Two People Join—Heart to Heart and Groin to Groin!’“ She dissolved in a fit of giggles.

  Stacy didn’t think it was funny. See if she shared secrets with Emily anymore! She turned on her heel and left without another word. Hastily she threw on the overcoat she had worn the previous night—incidentally the same one she had worn when she went to the Marian/Eucharistic conference. She slammed the front door as she left. Inwardly she was seething, and not just at Emily. She was mad at Darius for not getting her an engagement ring like he should have. She walked purposefully, but with no destination in mind. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Angrily she thrust her hand in her pocket, searching for a tissue. She came up with a scrap of paper instead. What was this…? She recognized the slip of paper Sr. Loretta had given her at the conference. She had told her to read it when she was having doubts. If ever there was such a time, it was now. Stacy unfolded the paper:

  Novena to St. Jude

  Most holy Apostle, St. Jude, faithful

  servant and friend of Jesus, the Church

  honors and invokes you universally as the

  patron of difficult cases, of things almost

  despaired of, Pray for me, I am so helpless

  and alone.

  Intercede with God for me that He bring

  visible and speedy help where help is

  almost despaired of. Come to my

  assistance in this great need that I may

  receive the consolation and help of

  heaven in all my necessities, tribulations

  and sufferings, particularly-

  (make your request here)

  -and that I may praise God with you and

  all the saints forever. I promise, O

  Blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of

  this great favor granted me by God and to

  always honor you as my special and

  powerful patron, and to gratefully

  encourage devotion to you. Amen.

  Of course. When Stacy had needed a dress—let’s face it, she had only wanted that dress—hadn’t St. Jude come through for her? And she hadn’t even used the proper formula then. How much more did she need a proper engagement ring, so that people would see that Darius loved her, and wasn’t just after her body? Stacy marveled that Sr. Loretta had managed to give her a novena to the one saint with whom she already had a connection. It was clearly a sign from God. She would begin the novena today.

  Snow Games

  “Stace’, mind if I borrow your hoodie?” When Emily’s sister didn’t reply she marched up to Stacy’s desk and held it in front of her upturned nose. “Well, can I…?”

  Pursing her lips, Stacy nodded. She was still mad at Emily, refusing to talk to her. Because she was trying to maintain the silent treatment, she threw herself into studying for her presentation on the grail. She found material which supported the more widely held theory that the grail was the Cup which had been used at the Last Supper. There were also legends that this Cup had been used to catch Christ’s blood while interring Him, and that in Britain, Joseph of Arimathea had founded a line of guardians to keep it safe.

  This legendary Cup was thought to have special powers. Mythology surrounding it was combined with the Celtic mythology surrounding a “cauldron” of great power. Early grail romances involved Percival and were woven into the Arthurian legend. In these legends, the hero, whether Percival or, later, Galahad, needed to prove himself spiritually mature enough to be in the presence of this grail. Sometimes the grail was seen as a symbol of God’s grace.

  The earliest French spelling of grail was greille, meaning grill, and this gave way to greal, which was thought to be a shortened version of sangreal (true blood, or blood line). In the works of Chretien of Troyes, based on an incomplete poem given him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders (1180), Perceval was dining with the legendary Fisher King. Of none of the feast was the wounded King able to partake, but only of That Which was born in on the last dish, the Graal—a single communion wafer. So here, graal is a dish that holds the eucharist.

  In the works of Robert de Baron, Joseph of Arimathea began a line of Grail keepers that eventually came to Percival. The most celebrated grail-bearer, though, was Galahad, son of Lancelot and Lady Elaine. In the Arthurian legend, the Grail is kept in a Grail Castle and is visited by knights,or is quested after.

  Emily hadn’t left the room that the two girls shared. While Stacy pored over her book, she had been listening to some Christian music that their grandmother had given her for Christmas. Now she was playing a song that was so beautiful, Stacy longed to ask her what it was—only that would entail actually speaking to her. Stacy sighed and continued her research.

  Belief in the Grail has never ceased. Ownership has been attributed to various groups, among them the Knights Templar, who were at their peak at the time (1200’s) most of the tales originated. There are Cups claimed to be the Grail in several churches, most notably one in the Valencia Cathedral, which has been called the official Papal cup and most, if not all popes have prayed the Mass, using It (most recently, Pope Benedict—July 9, 2006). This one was supposedly taken by St. Peter to Rome in the first century, then to Huesca, in Spain, by St. Lawrence in the third century. Scholars say the the artifact is a first century Middle-Eastern stone vessel, possibly from Antioch. It is made of agate and rests upon a gold and gemstone stem, made in the Medieval era.

  There is another candidate, the Emerald Chalice of Genoa. This was obtained in Caesarea in Palestine during the Crusades at great cost, but it was later revealed to have been made of glass, not emerald. So it is less touted as being the true Grail at present.

  “Stacy… Em…!” Stacy heard Ezekiel’s voice calling from downstairs, “We’re setting up a touch football game and snowball fight and we wanted to know if you can come.”

  “When?” Stacy yelled back.

  “Half an hour,” said her cousin.

  Stacy looked at her watch. Darius was coming over at about that time. She told Ezekiel this.

  “Bring him, too,” said her cousin. “We want as many people as we can get.”

  Stacy shr
ugged. At least it was something to do. She made a hasty call to alert Darius so that he would dress appropriately. Then she put on sweats and a hoodie. Stacy had decided that the only way Darius was going to become comfortable with her family and vice versa was if he actually came over a bit more. So she had talked him into hanging out for the afternoon and staying for dinner. After that, who knows? Ideally he would be agreeable to staying with them during religious interval training. But they would have to take it one activity at a time.

  There ended up being five to each team. Stacy and Arthur’s friend, Marco, were the fastest runners, so one went with each team to keep things even. Stacy and Darius were on Zeke’s team. Emily was on Arthur’s team. Most of the rest were acquaintances to Stacy, people that worked out and played basketball with her cousin. It was apparent pretty quickly that these guys took their touch football pretty seriously and that the game might be a bit more aggressive than had been advertised. Stacy was playing wide receiver to Zeke’s quarterback. Darius played running back, but he wasn’t nearly as nimble running as he was with his tongue and it became clear that he neither appreciated getting dirty, nor injured. Pretty soon Zeke quit giving him the ball altogether, opting either to throw to Stacy or to hand off to his workout buddy, Frank. Darius pretty much kept to the sidelines and he seemed bored.

  Meanwhile Arthur and Emily’s team was faring better, having successfully breached their opponents’ end zone three times to Stacy’s team’s one. Their lone goal had come from a quarterback keeper