A Second Easter, Spring, and Our Lady All in One Sunday

The Orthodox celebrate Easter today, as do the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church who keep this traditional Easter date - one that follows the Julian calendar for the Liturgical Year. Because my wife is Byzantine Catholic we'll celebrate Easter a second time. Since most years Easter falls on different Sundays than Roman Rite Easter, we've been celebrating Easter twice for many years. There's a lot to be said for having a second Easter!

A second Easter tops this Sunday...but there's more.

Spring now shifts gears from April showers to the flowers of May. Our front yard now sports Lilies of the Valley dotting the patch of green that's grown greener. We're starting to get the warmth that comes with the season after a recent stretch of coolish, even chilly temperatures throughout April. Nature fully awakens.

Finally, May brings us Mary. It's her special month. Let's hope some parishes manage a May crowning, despite the C-Virus Mess that keeps hanging on. Our Blessed Mother deserves nothing less. 

I don't know how you feel, but for me this triple play of Second Easter, spring finally asserting itself, and Our Lady's May has come at just the right time. We've been laboring under the cloud of a pandemic spiked by government imposed lock-downs for too long. This has continued, albeit to a lesser degree, despite evidence that the draconian restrictions that began in March were not only overdone, but questionably effective. The result of those policies has been the current push to get everyone to accept an injection of an experimental medication whose long-term effects remain unknown. Add to this the recent rumblings that those "fully vaccinated" may soon require additional booster shots in coming months. Pile on the insistence that distancing and masks remain required practices, even if you accept the experimental jab, in any attempt at what's been called "reopening."

Another shot of Easter glory, blooming Mother Nature, and special spiritual bouquet's for Our Blessed Mother will go a long way in the face of all this. 

To be clear, our family has come through all as well as can be expected. So my welcoming this triple play was not driven by any desperation or despondency. Those who got COVID came through with flying colors. Those who lost their jobs or suffered other economic impact have borne their burdens graciously. They continue their efforts to find employment at a difficult time. No one has given in to despair or depression, something I've read about, but has not touched any of us - so far. Nevertheless, there's a kind of heaviness that's come with the Mess.

It's a heaviness that surrounds us. We feel it simply walking in the streets, passing people who, out in the open air, with no crush of people, nevertheless walk masked. Or in the park, with even more open space, where some people not only walk, but exercise masked. (How do they breathe?) Or in church when we must sit distanced, masked the whole time. 

I've heard that some parts of the country aren't so constricted. But that's not true in our neck of the woods.

Accompanying the physical manifestations of this Mess are the actual virus. It's not gone. And even if the chances of becoming infected are not great, even if so infected you likely won't get terribly sick or die, the fact is some do and have. It may be some kind of cold or flu, but for some it seems much more insidious. 

Overlaying this pandemic overlay has been the glaring truth that the truth no longer matters. Lies and deception aren't anything new. But the degree to which they have infected our media, our politicians, our social interactions, exceeds anything I've ever experienced. Pile on the words and actions of the "shepherds" or our Catholic Religion and the toxic brew becomes even more lethal.

In the face of this, another Easter, the springtime manifestation of warmth and beauty of God's creation, and the special presence of Our Lady in our lives during May has come to, in a sense, save the day. At least it has on this day. 

Happy Easter!