Bring Easter To Your Work This Week
He is risen!
Now, here most of us are at our jobs again. But "behind the scenes" we Catholic men know what's really up. Jesus Christ is risen today - and everyday. Work goes on, but everything is changed.
The temptation to just "go back" to work is natural. You arrive on the job. Nothing seems different. The deadlines, the customers, the boss, your co-workers - it's all as it was before. Maybe you couldn't take any time off from work, so it can almost feel like you're back after just another weekend.
But it's not another weekend. In fact, this whole week is Easter Week. The Church considers every day this week an Easter day. Get to Mass and you'll hear the "Gloria" recited each day. "Alleluia's" are freely sprinkled throughout the words of the Mass now. From now until next Sunday, each and every day is a solemn feast day: Easter again and again.
So the Church has done it's job. It's told you that each day is Easter. So what do we do? Most of us won't sprinkle our own words with Alleluia's. We may not even say "Happy Easter" very much. Do it if it comes naturally. But in our secular world, most people won't even acknowledge Easter.
It's up to us to keep Easter now in our hearts and minds, front and center. We can't afford to just let it slip into the background.
Lent was intended to cause a change. Did it? Even if it "feels" like it didn't, there's a good chance it did in some way - if you observed Lent at all. God's grace worked on you, whether you "felt" it or not. So look at yourself. How did you change?
Now that change is part of you. You're a new person, even if only in some small way.
But the big idea here is that everything was changed. Jesus saved us and showed us that we weren't meant to just live our miserable lives and die. He showed us the way it will be for us. We will rise with Him.
Our lives will continue for eternity, in joy and in glory, ever to be in His Presence some day. And the hope of Easter now lives in each of our hearts.
It's all there inside you. Just take a few moments, pray, let it out. Don't hide the glory, the joy of Easter. Let it shine in every thought, word and action this day, this week. Don't give in to the "everyday" now - not for one minute. This week was meant to be celebrated, each and every day.
Happy Easter!
Now, here most of us are at our jobs again. But "behind the scenes" we Catholic men know what's really up. Jesus Christ is risen today - and everyday. Work goes on, but everything is changed.
The temptation to just "go back" to work is natural. You arrive on the job. Nothing seems different. The deadlines, the customers, the boss, your co-workers - it's all as it was before. Maybe you couldn't take any time off from work, so it can almost feel like you're back after just another weekend.
But it's not another weekend. In fact, this whole week is Easter Week. The Church considers every day this week an Easter day. Get to Mass and you'll hear the "Gloria" recited each day. "Alleluia's" are freely sprinkled throughout the words of the Mass now. From now until next Sunday, each and every day is a solemn feast day: Easter again and again.
So the Church has done it's job. It's told you that each day is Easter. So what do we do? Most of us won't sprinkle our own words with Alleluia's. We may not even say "Happy Easter" very much. Do it if it comes naturally. But in our secular world, most people won't even acknowledge Easter.
It's up to us to keep Easter now in our hearts and minds, front and center. We can't afford to just let it slip into the background.
Lent was intended to cause a change. Did it? Even if it "feels" like it didn't, there's a good chance it did in some way - if you observed Lent at all. God's grace worked on you, whether you "felt" it or not. So look at yourself. How did you change?
Now that change is part of you. You're a new person, even if only in some small way.
But the big idea here is that everything was changed. Jesus saved us and showed us that we weren't meant to just live our miserable lives and die. He showed us the way it will be for us. We will rise with Him.
Our lives will continue for eternity, in joy and in glory, ever to be in His Presence some day. And the hope of Easter now lives in each of our hearts.
It's all there inside you. Just take a few moments, pray, let it out. Don't hide the glory, the joy of Easter. Let it shine in every thought, word and action this day, this week. Don't give in to the "everyday" now - not for one minute. This week was meant to be celebrated, each and every day.
Happy Easter!
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