An Easter Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Happy Easter!
This year, anticipation of this greatest feast in the Liturgical Year got the best of me. Two weeks ago, on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, I initially posted under the heading "A Fifth Sunday of Easter Thought to Start the Week Off Right." I only discovered it when I went to read the post that Sunday morning. (Yes, I eat my own cooking!); then, quickly, I changed the heading to Fifth Sunday of Lent. Hadn't done something like that before.
So I'm guessing it all had to do with inordinate anticipation. "Inordinate" because while anticipating Easter always inserts itself as Lent draws on and we get closer to the great day, this year's been different. Maybe it was a combination of an inordinately busy time at work compounded by an intense round of studying for an important test taken a couple of weeks ago - right before the Fifth Sunday post. Maybe you throw into that a dose of my wife taking a chunk of her week - for many months now - caring for her elderly widowed Mom; or all our kids now being adults leading their own lives, combined with the discovery that your parental solicitude doesn't decrease after they get on with their independent lives. (If anything it seems to increase); or two grandchildren who arrived over the past year...well, you get the point I'm sure. For some reason all these natural occurrences that dot our lives sort of gathered together into one solid, heavy block and landed on my shoulders during Lent.
Add to that something I think I mentioned before: My resolution to really practice the simple truth that "charity begins at home" came under direct and painfully obvious attack, literally starting on Ash Wednesday. No kidding. While I'm not someone that inordinately (again that word!) focuses on spiritual "stuff" (i.e., feelings, coincidences, etc.), this frankly hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no mistaking the initial assault on the first day of Lent and the subsequent waves of attack throughout the Holy Season: daunting, to say the least. On the other hand, I concluded that my intention must have been serious and sincere to elicit such a drastic response from - well, you know who.
Meanwhile, spring inserted itself into the mix a few days back, although no one really noticed it in these parts. March has been as chilly and cold as the Jordan River this year, bringing various rounds of Nor'easters laden with heavy wet snow, with the attendant power outages and other inconveniences. While our electricity has been stout and steady throughout, various friends and relatives have undergone a somewhat testy time.
But all that, along with Lent, is all behind us now. (Although there was that year where we had a giant snow storm in April...hmmm...) And so we celebrate this day of our liberation from sin, when Our Lord, to be sure we get the point of what our salvation really means, actually died and rose from the dead, eventually to rise into Heaven. He did this to demonstrate what awaits us if we remain faithful to His commandments and love Him as He so clearly and completely loves us. We will be saved from our sins. And we will attain eternal happiness in Heaven. Eternal happiness! Alleluia! It's a glorious thought for a glorious season.
This year, anticipation of this greatest feast in the Liturgical Year got the best of me. Two weeks ago, on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, I initially posted under the heading "A Fifth Sunday of Easter Thought to Start the Week Off Right." I only discovered it when I went to read the post that Sunday morning. (Yes, I eat my own cooking!); then, quickly, I changed the heading to Fifth Sunday of Lent. Hadn't done something like that before.
So I'm guessing it all had to do with inordinate anticipation. "Inordinate" because while anticipating Easter always inserts itself as Lent draws on and we get closer to the great day, this year's been different. Maybe it was a combination of an inordinately busy time at work compounded by an intense round of studying for an important test taken a couple of weeks ago - right before the Fifth Sunday post. Maybe you throw into that a dose of my wife taking a chunk of her week - for many months now - caring for her elderly widowed Mom; or all our kids now being adults leading their own lives, combined with the discovery that your parental solicitude doesn't decrease after they get on with their independent lives. (If anything it seems to increase); or two grandchildren who arrived over the past year...well, you get the point I'm sure. For some reason all these natural occurrences that dot our lives sort of gathered together into one solid, heavy block and landed on my shoulders during Lent.
Add to that something I think I mentioned before: My resolution to really practice the simple truth that "charity begins at home" came under direct and painfully obvious attack, literally starting on Ash Wednesday. No kidding. While I'm not someone that inordinately (again that word!) focuses on spiritual "stuff" (i.e., feelings, coincidences, etc.), this frankly hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no mistaking the initial assault on the first day of Lent and the subsequent waves of attack throughout the Holy Season: daunting, to say the least. On the other hand, I concluded that my intention must have been serious and sincere to elicit such a drastic response from - well, you know who.
Meanwhile, spring inserted itself into the mix a few days back, although no one really noticed it in these parts. March has been as chilly and cold as the Jordan River this year, bringing various rounds of Nor'easters laden with heavy wet snow, with the attendant power outages and other inconveniences. While our electricity has been stout and steady throughout, various friends and relatives have undergone a somewhat testy time.
But all that, along with Lent, is all behind us now. (Although there was that year where we had a giant snow storm in April...hmmm...) And so we celebrate this day of our liberation from sin, when Our Lord, to be sure we get the point of what our salvation really means, actually died and rose from the dead, eventually to rise into Heaven. He did this to demonstrate what awaits us if we remain faithful to His commandments and love Him as He so clearly and completely loves us. We will be saved from our sins. And we will attain eternal happiness in Heaven. Eternal happiness! Alleluia! It's a glorious thought for a glorious season.
Happy Easter!
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