A Second Sunday after Easter Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Last Sunday the Octave of Easter came to a close. If you tried to observe Easter Sunday and its Octave, you immersed yourself in the joy of the Resurrection. In our world, that's not easy to do. We're faced with the pressing matters of daily life. It's likely that most of the world around us has been chugging along without even the slightest reference to the astounding and glorious fact that Christ is Risen.
In the Eastern and Orthodox Rites of the Church, the common greeting throughout the entire Easter Season is "Kristos vos Kress!" - Christ is Risen. While some no longer observe this practice, many still do. The liturgies are chock full of it. My wife, born Eastern Rite, continues to greet us with "Kristos vos Kress" from time to time, instead of, let's say, "Good morning!" I suppose we Latin Rite Catholics could greet each other with a simple "Happy Easter!" as well, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm just grateful for the Eastern Rite greeting when it comes. It helps me keep my heart and mind where they should be during the Easter Season.
And what of it? What's the consequence of keeping our hearts and minds open to the glory and joy of the Easter Season? Is this simply something to which we give lip service? It shouldn't be. Having practiced our Lenten discipline for those 40 days, having taken in the graces that flowed to us from the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, wouldn't it be natural to expect that we're not just going through the motions when it comes to the fullness of joy during the Easter Season? For this Second Sunday after Easter, The Inner Life of the Soul puts it to us this way:
"...The outside, everyday world of business, of study, of home cares has seemed cold and bleak to us, compared with the divine loveliness of the sanctuary and the nearness of the Sacramental Presence of Jesus Christ. For many and many a devout soul, it is hard to take up ordinary life again..."
Before we go on, we might ask ourselves: Does this capture our state of mind during this Easter Season? If not, we're letting the world (and the flesh and the devil) push Easter away; we're not taking the truths and traditions of our Catholic religion seriously. Is that what we want? If we sincerely want to continue to live the joy of Easter, there's a simple way to do that: Ask for Our Lord's grace - those very graces He obtained for us by His Passion, Death , and Resurrection. It is Christ Who can and will lead us to the joy of Easter. He alone created this joy and He alone sustains it. A "devout soul" understands the reason that ordinary life seems so out of place during this Easter Season:
"...there is a supernatural cause, a spiritual cause for this for this, which is very pleasing to Almighty God.
"He Himself it is who grants us this unearthly charm and fascinating beauty in the Catholic Church, unknown and not to be imagined by any outside her fold. He gives it, out of the abundance of His mercy, as a proof that it is indeed His own true Church; and He gives it also as a foretaste of the endless, undying happiness of heaven, so that we may long to enter there..."
The Easter Season helps us shift our gaze from this world to the next - where it belongs. For as long as God wills to keep us in this life, we do our best to know, love, and serve Him. But it's important that we remain recollected in our understanding that this world is not our permanent home.
"As Saint Cyprian said: 'We reckon paradise to be our home; already we begin to have the patriarchs for our kinsmen. Why should we not make haste and run, to see our home and to greet our kinsfolk?'..."
And we're not talking only about saints whom we never actually knew in this life:
"...'There are a great many of those we love waiting for there, - father, mother, and brothers, and children; there in great company they await us. Oh, when we come, to see them and embrace them, what gladness will it be both for us and for them!'...Yet the joy of this meeting will be but one of the countless joys of heaven. Chief among them is this, - we shall see and forever possess our God."
All of this was revealed to us in Christ's Resurrection. Are we paying attention to this? Have we allowed the glory and promise of His Resurrection to fully penetrate our hearts and minds? If we have, then our thoughts, our words, even our deeds will somehow reflect the joy of Easter. If, for whatever reason, we haven't, there's still time.
Recall that after His Resurrection, Our Lord did not immediately ascend into Heaven. He remained on earth for 40 days, frequently visiting with His disciples. He did this to allow the real meaning - the real joy - of His Resurrection to slowly, steadily, surely replace the initial uncertainty, doubt, even fear they experienced when they first learned that He had indeed risen as He said He would. In His Love and Mercy, He gave them the time they needed to absorb, to learn, to understand.
And now, during this Easter Season, He does the same for us. If we have not fully grasped the meaning of His Resurrection, if we have not incorporated this into our daily lives, remember that we too have been given these 40 days to do so.
Of course, Easter joy will not replace or even lessen our daily toil. We will still bear the crosses that come our way in the course of our life on earth. But if we attend to our business, if we bear the weight of our cross with complete abandonment to God's will, we will have discovered what The Inner Life of the Soul calls "an eighth sacrament."
"...in the strength of God lift up your eyes, and gaze with grave and steadfast calmness, unshrinking, on the sharp cross, or the monotonous daily work...that may lie before you. It is the will of God. Clasp that cross to your bosom, perform that work in His presence, drink that bitter cup to its very dregs with Him, follow the path when He calls you. One day you will be aware of a divine strength; you will cry: 'All this is but a great spiritual communion with Him Who loved me and saved me!' You will know that you are living heaven's life on earth, in the power of that great sacrament of the adorable will of God!"
In the Eastern and Orthodox Rites of the Church, the common greeting throughout the entire Easter Season is "Kristos vos Kress!" - Christ is Risen. While some no longer observe this practice, many still do. The liturgies are chock full of it. My wife, born Eastern Rite, continues to greet us with "Kristos vos Kress" from time to time, instead of, let's say, "Good morning!" I suppose we Latin Rite Catholics could greet each other with a simple "Happy Easter!" as well, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm just grateful for the Eastern Rite greeting when it comes. It helps me keep my heart and mind where they should be during the Easter Season.
And what of it? What's the consequence of keeping our hearts and minds open to the glory and joy of the Easter Season? Is this simply something to which we give lip service? It shouldn't be. Having practiced our Lenten discipline for those 40 days, having taken in the graces that flowed to us from the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, wouldn't it be natural to expect that we're not just going through the motions when it comes to the fullness of joy during the Easter Season? For this Second Sunday after Easter, The Inner Life of the Soul puts it to us this way:
"...The outside, everyday world of business, of study, of home cares has seemed cold and bleak to us, compared with the divine loveliness of the sanctuary and the nearness of the Sacramental Presence of Jesus Christ. For many and many a devout soul, it is hard to take up ordinary life again..."
Before we go on, we might ask ourselves: Does this capture our state of mind during this Easter Season? If not, we're letting the world (and the flesh and the devil) push Easter away; we're not taking the truths and traditions of our Catholic religion seriously. Is that what we want? If we sincerely want to continue to live the joy of Easter, there's a simple way to do that: Ask for Our Lord's grace - those very graces He obtained for us by His Passion, Death , and Resurrection. It is Christ Who can and will lead us to the joy of Easter. He alone created this joy and He alone sustains it. A "devout soul" understands the reason that ordinary life seems so out of place during this Easter Season:
"...there is a supernatural cause, a spiritual cause for this for this, which is very pleasing to Almighty God.
"He Himself it is who grants us this unearthly charm and fascinating beauty in the Catholic Church, unknown and not to be imagined by any outside her fold. He gives it, out of the abundance of His mercy, as a proof that it is indeed His own true Church; and He gives it also as a foretaste of the endless, undying happiness of heaven, so that we may long to enter there..."
The Easter Season helps us shift our gaze from this world to the next - where it belongs. For as long as God wills to keep us in this life, we do our best to know, love, and serve Him. But it's important that we remain recollected in our understanding that this world is not our permanent home.
"As Saint Cyprian said: 'We reckon paradise to be our home; already we begin to have the patriarchs for our kinsmen. Why should we not make haste and run, to see our home and to greet our kinsfolk?'..."
And we're not talking only about saints whom we never actually knew in this life:
"...'There are a great many of those we love waiting for there, - father, mother, and brothers, and children; there in great company they await us. Oh, when we come, to see them and embrace them, what gladness will it be both for us and for them!'...Yet the joy of this meeting will be but one of the countless joys of heaven. Chief among them is this, - we shall see and forever possess our God."
All of this was revealed to us in Christ's Resurrection. Are we paying attention to this? Have we allowed the glory and promise of His Resurrection to fully penetrate our hearts and minds? If we have, then our thoughts, our words, even our deeds will somehow reflect the joy of Easter. If, for whatever reason, we haven't, there's still time.
Recall that after His Resurrection, Our Lord did not immediately ascend into Heaven. He remained on earth for 40 days, frequently visiting with His disciples. He did this to allow the real meaning - the real joy - of His Resurrection to slowly, steadily, surely replace the initial uncertainty, doubt, even fear they experienced when they first learned that He had indeed risen as He said He would. In His Love and Mercy, He gave them the time they needed to absorb, to learn, to understand.
And now, during this Easter Season, He does the same for us. If we have not fully grasped the meaning of His Resurrection, if we have not incorporated this into our daily lives, remember that we too have been given these 40 days to do so.
Of course, Easter joy will not replace or even lessen our daily toil. We will still bear the crosses that come our way in the course of our life on earth. But if we attend to our business, if we bear the weight of our cross with complete abandonment to God's will, we will have discovered what The Inner Life of the Soul calls "an eighth sacrament."
"...in the strength of God lift up your eyes, and gaze with grave and steadfast calmness, unshrinking, on the sharp cross, or the monotonous daily work...that may lie before you. It is the will of God. Clasp that cross to your bosom, perform that work in His presence, drink that bitter cup to its very dregs with Him, follow the path when He calls you. One day you will be aware of a divine strength; you will cry: 'All this is but a great spiritual communion with Him Who loved me and saved me!' You will know that you are living heaven's life on earth, in the power of that great sacrament of the adorable will of God!"
Happy Easter!
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