An Easter Sunday Thought About Something Uniquely Special That Happened During Holy Week
First, Happy Easter! It's the #1, most best-est, greatest feast on
the calendar. Nothing - not even Christmas - surpasses Easter. Take it
all in, friends. Celebrate with family and friends. Yes, we Americans -
even us Catholics - tend to do more of the feasting, family, and friends
thing on Thanksgiving and during the Christmas-New Year's holidays. But
Easter really rises above all other feasts. We know it; let's live it.
Now here's something that hit me during Holy Week this year: This year Good Friday, the day Jesus died, landed on the date we usually celebrate the feast of the Annunciation - March 25th - the day He was conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Did you catch it? Pretty special.
Of course, every year Holy Week and Easter are pretty special. I hope you immersed yourself in the events of Our Lord's life during Holy Week in preparation for His glorious Resurrection. It can be hard to do in a world so thoroughly secularized as ours. But it was worth the effort if you tried. Besides, that's our daily struggle, isn't it - to sanctify our ordinary lives in the midst of our everyday world? Emphasis on the "every day."
So as we celebrate Easter Sunday, let's remember that we just kept some sort of Lenten discipline that - by God's grace - helped us draw at least one or two steps closer to Our Lord. Steeped in the mystery of His Passion and Death, especially this past week, and now celebrating His final triumph over death, we can hope for our own eventual triumph over our sins and, ultimately, our death. We can look forward to eternal life with Him someday - perhaps someday soon.
We pray that this understanding sticks to us now in some permanent way that leaves us changed for the better. And in a year where we observed His death on the Cross on that day that He was incarnated in the womb of His Blessed Mother, we ask for those special graces that surely flow from the happy confluence of these two days. We pray that such knowledge and understanding helps us live as we know we should, as we, with God's grace, want to live. We know it, we understand it; let's live it.
Oh, and don't forget that every day this week is celebrated as a solemn feast: every day is another Easter. That's why the observation of the Annunciation, which is of course postponed because it fell in Holy Week, won't be celebrated until Monday April 4th, the first day after Easter that's not devoted strictly to the observance and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as we hope you immersed yourself during Holy Week in the the mystery of His Passion and Death, do immerse yourself in the glory of His Resurrection this coming week as well. The celebration of His Resurrection and our salvation extends for the full week. Keep it, as best your can, in some special way, even as you go about your ordinary, everyday life. Maybe you can get to Mass during the week; maybe some special prayers; a few moments meditating on the mystery of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection; some words of gratitude for all He has done and continues to do for you.
As we typically say during the Christmas holidays: It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Ah, what the heck. Let's grab some of the "most wonderful time of the year" spirit here and now for Easter...
Now here's something that hit me during Holy Week this year: This year Good Friday, the day Jesus died, landed on the date we usually celebrate the feast of the Annunciation - March 25th - the day He was conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Did you catch it? Pretty special.
Of course, every year Holy Week and Easter are pretty special. I hope you immersed yourself in the events of Our Lord's life during Holy Week in preparation for His glorious Resurrection. It can be hard to do in a world so thoroughly secularized as ours. But it was worth the effort if you tried. Besides, that's our daily struggle, isn't it - to sanctify our ordinary lives in the midst of our everyday world? Emphasis on the "every day."
So as we celebrate Easter Sunday, let's remember that we just kept some sort of Lenten discipline that - by God's grace - helped us draw at least one or two steps closer to Our Lord. Steeped in the mystery of His Passion and Death, especially this past week, and now celebrating His final triumph over death, we can hope for our own eventual triumph over our sins and, ultimately, our death. We can look forward to eternal life with Him someday - perhaps someday soon.
We pray that this understanding sticks to us now in some permanent way that leaves us changed for the better. And in a year where we observed His death on the Cross on that day that He was incarnated in the womb of His Blessed Mother, we ask for those special graces that surely flow from the happy confluence of these two days. We pray that such knowledge and understanding helps us live as we know we should, as we, with God's grace, want to live. We know it, we understand it; let's live it.
Oh, and don't forget that every day this week is celebrated as a solemn feast: every day is another Easter. That's why the observation of the Annunciation, which is of course postponed because it fell in Holy Week, won't be celebrated until Monday April 4th, the first day after Easter that's not devoted strictly to the observance and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as we hope you immersed yourself during Holy Week in the the mystery of His Passion and Death, do immerse yourself in the glory of His Resurrection this coming week as well. The celebration of His Resurrection and our salvation extends for the full week. Keep it, as best your can, in some special way, even as you go about your ordinary, everyday life. Maybe you can get to Mass during the week; maybe some special prayers; a few moments meditating on the mystery of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection; some words of gratitude for all He has done and continues to do for you.
As we typically say during the Christmas holidays: It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Happy Easter!
Ah, what the heck. Let's grab some of the "most wonderful time of the year" spirit here and now for Easter...
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