Starting a New Job During the Octave of Easter: Allelulia!
Have you ever had the experience of starting a new job the day after Easter Sunday? Twelve years ago I did. It was April 2001.
As this Easter Thursday unfolds in all its glory, I've got to get to work and my tendency will be to focus on getting ready after my morning prayer and study. But I do want to share a bit of that experience of starting a new job during the Octave of Easter. (So now - says I to myself - how about a quick "extra" prayer to help keep my mind focused and gather my thoughts about that grace-filled time.)
In thinking back, the first, and most important thing that strikes me about that time, is that it was the first year I attended daily Mass every day of the Easter Octave, that year I started a new job. Before that I typically either didn't attend Mass the week after Easter or wound up "cutting down" on daily Mass attendance. Why? It had something to do with having determined to attend Mass daily during Lent, and so after Easter there was a kind of let down.
Well, more than that, it was a respite of sorts. I think I had seen daily Mass as more a sacrifice than a privilege for many years. I turned daily Mass into a kind of "grind" of making sure I didn't "miss," most especially during Lent. The problem, of course, was that my entire Lenten discipline of daily Mass was focused on me and not Christ. I hope you don't suffer with this sort of self-centered distortion when you pray or sacrifice, but maybe you do too. In any case, I think that's why I slacked off the week after Easter.
But this particular year, starting a new job right off on Easter Monday, I wound up attending Mass that whole week. After leaving my previous job, I had taken off the week before from work - Holy Week - which in itself was a special grace, as I could focus more fully on the events of Our Lord's Passion as well as do a better job shuttling the family to the various liturgies without my usual rushed brusque attitude (I'm always sooo busy, you know). Perhaps that more relaxed week had something to do with my determination to continue attending daily Mass during the Octave.
I think there were other factors as well: because I had relocated to a new part of the city (New York) which meant attending Mass at a different church; being in a new position in a new company in a new part of town, in a different sector of my industry, which would require my developing new skills, presented me with special challenges. I guess daily Mass was one way to keep myself calm and focused in the midst of all the change.
In any case, it was my first experience of hearing the first readings in order, which, of course, are taken from the Acts of the Apostles. I had read the Acts before, as a result of regular reading of Scripture each day, but hearing it read as it is sequentially during the Easter Season itself communicated some of the glorious drama of those days after Christ ascended into Heaven and left His apostles "in charge of" things here on earth.
Also, the daily hearing of all the "Alleluias" that are sprinkled throughout the liturgy really do contrast with those six weeks of Lent. Does this affect you the same way it does me? There's a lightness, a brightness that the combination of white vestments and those "Alleluias" impart to the spirit that elevates the soul. The events of the Passion and Death of Our Lord during Lent, properly contemplated, lend themselves to sorrow and sadness over our sins as we remember how we ourselves - in our sinfulness - nailed Our Blessed Savior to His cross. Ah, but the Resurrection lifts our souls from sorrow to joy!
Well, by the grace of God, I was freed from my old custom of feeling like I needed some kind of "relief" from my Lenten sacrifices. How wonderful those days were for me. The joys of Easter propelled me forward in my efforts in the workplace in a particularly important and special way that I couldn't even imagine as it was happening. I'll tell you more about that next time.
As this Easter Thursday unfolds in all its glory, I've got to get to work and my tendency will be to focus on getting ready after my morning prayer and study. But I do want to share a bit of that experience of starting a new job during the Octave of Easter. (So now - says I to myself - how about a quick "extra" prayer to help keep my mind focused and gather my thoughts about that grace-filled time.)
In thinking back, the first, and most important thing that strikes me about that time, is that it was the first year I attended daily Mass every day of the Easter Octave, that year I started a new job. Before that I typically either didn't attend Mass the week after Easter or wound up "cutting down" on daily Mass attendance. Why? It had something to do with having determined to attend Mass daily during Lent, and so after Easter there was a kind of let down.
Well, more than that, it was a respite of sorts. I think I had seen daily Mass as more a sacrifice than a privilege for many years. I turned daily Mass into a kind of "grind" of making sure I didn't "miss," most especially during Lent. The problem, of course, was that my entire Lenten discipline of daily Mass was focused on me and not Christ. I hope you don't suffer with this sort of self-centered distortion when you pray or sacrifice, but maybe you do too. In any case, I think that's why I slacked off the week after Easter.
But this particular year, starting a new job right off on Easter Monday, I wound up attending Mass that whole week. After leaving my previous job, I had taken off the week before from work - Holy Week - which in itself was a special grace, as I could focus more fully on the events of Our Lord's Passion as well as do a better job shuttling the family to the various liturgies without my usual rushed brusque attitude (I'm always sooo busy, you know). Perhaps that more relaxed week had something to do with my determination to continue attending daily Mass during the Octave.
I think there were other factors as well: because I had relocated to a new part of the city (New York) which meant attending Mass at a different church; being in a new position in a new company in a new part of town, in a different sector of my industry, which would require my developing new skills, presented me with special challenges. I guess daily Mass was one way to keep myself calm and focused in the midst of all the change.
In any case, it was my first experience of hearing the first readings in order, which, of course, are taken from the Acts of the Apostles. I had read the Acts before, as a result of regular reading of Scripture each day, but hearing it read as it is sequentially during the Easter Season itself communicated some of the glorious drama of those days after Christ ascended into Heaven and left His apostles "in charge of" things here on earth.
Also, the daily hearing of all the "Alleluias" that are sprinkled throughout the liturgy really do contrast with those six weeks of Lent. Does this affect you the same way it does me? There's a lightness, a brightness that the combination of white vestments and those "Alleluias" impart to the spirit that elevates the soul. The events of the Passion and Death of Our Lord during Lent, properly contemplated, lend themselves to sorrow and sadness over our sins as we remember how we ourselves - in our sinfulness - nailed Our Blessed Savior to His cross. Ah, but the Resurrection lifts our souls from sorrow to joy!
Well, by the grace of God, I was freed from my old custom of feeling like I needed some kind of "relief" from my Lenten sacrifices. How wonderful those days were for me. The joys of Easter propelled me forward in my efforts in the workplace in a particularly important and special way that I couldn't even imagine as it was happening. I'll tell you more about that next time.
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