It was great! During Easter Sunday morning Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, I had a sneezing fit! Apparently, all the magnificent lilies, in full springtime bloom throughout the sanctuary, got my allergies going! The church was exploding with pollen!
It was worth it! Because the Church is exploding with new life this paschal season!
We took the forty days of Lent, preparing for Easter, very seriously. Congratulations to those who, by more fervent prayer, more dramatic self-denial, and enhanced service to those in need, responded so well to the Ash Wednesday invitation of the Lord to “return to me with all your heart!”
A special word of congratulations to those who approached the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent, especially the thousands who lined-up for confession on our Reconciliation Monday during Holy Week.
Our priests, deacons, and parish leaders report good crowds during the Holy Week liturgies. Our cathedral was bustling with pilgrims — not tourists — and, as usual, Monsignor Robert Ritchie and the clergy, sacristans, ushers, volunteers, lectors, servers, and renowned choir continued the tradition of making St. Patrick’s a “house of prayer.”
On Good Friday night, I went out for a walk around the block with my little nephew, Pat, and we ducked into the cathedral at about 9 p.m. How moving it was to see a long line of people up the center aisle waiting to venerate the cross on display at the communion gates.
Anyway, the forty days of Lent are behind us, so now let’s celebrate the fifty daysof the Easter Season leading up to Pentecost Sunday.
Back to the “explosion of new life” I mentioned at the start of this article. See, it’s just not the lilies in full bloom (making me sneeze). The risen life of Christ is in full bloom!
See, our faith tells us that the victory of Jesus over sin, Satan, and death at Easter is not just His triumph alone — He shares it with all of us!
So, at the Easter Vigil, for instance, throughout the parishes of this archdiocese, 2,000 people conquered sin, Satan, and death with Jesus as they were baptized, confirmed, received Him for the first time in Holy Communion, and joined His Church! Alleluia! Welcome! What a boost you are for all of us! And thanks to all of you who prepared our new Catholics through the RCIA.
So, for the next Sundays, thousands of our eight-year olds will share the risen life of Jesus as they make their first holy communion! Alleluia!
So, over the next fifty days, thousands of our seventh and eighth graders will be confirmed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Alleluia!
So, over the next couple of months, hundreds of couples will begin new lives in the sacrament of marriage. Alleluia!
Spring is busting out all over!
The Resurrection of Christ is radiating life and light all over! Alleluia!
For fifty days we’ll keep the paschal candle on fire, we’ll sneeze from the lilies, we’ll bellow out “alleluia,” we’ll stay close to Jesus through the sacraments.
The darkness, gloom, and death of Good Friday do not have the last word. The night is over; winter is gone.
The light and life of Easter Sunday morning triumph! It’s morning . . . it’s springtime in the Church.
A blessed Easter!
Showing posts with label Easter Season. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter Season. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter Challenge: Living these 50 days as though Resurrection was the final word
By Sherry from Siena.Org
This year, I want to consciously, intentionally live the whole Easter season. But I don't know how.
I realized this morning that, in my 23 years as a Catholic, I've tended to live Easter as if it is just No-Longer-Lent.
After the intensity of Lent and Holy Week, Easter is - for most of us - a one day feast, not a 50 day season. A one day lamb, ham, Easter egg and chocolate blow-out. With great left-overs. And then it's spring. (Or autumn for those readers in the southern hemisphere.)
And then I go right back to my normal, anxious life that I put on hold in order to make room for the extra Lenten effort. Only now, cause it's No-Longer-Lent, I can have that triple grande mocha latte along with my anxiety.
And I'm going to need that latte as I check in around the Catholic blogosphere. Where many are discussing the whole "crisis within the crisis" thesis. Which seems to mean that Catholics who don't talk as if the world is coming to an end and persist in the virtue of hope are not obedient disciples of Jesus Christ but reprehensible enablers of an imminent disaster such as the Church has never seen before.
What tosh. I've written about this before here and here and here and here. In summary
“I'm not saying that we don't face real crisis today. We do. I'm not saying that Catholics didn't face real crisis in the past. They did.
What is laughable is our assumption that things used to be so much better in some golden era in the past. That the crisis we face are unprecedented and can only be explained by a spiritual calamity the like of which no generation before us has endured. We are so pampered. Catholics have faced crisis in every generation and most historical situations and many of those crisis have dwarfed our own. We have got to get a grip. And a brief dip into real history away from hyperbole of St. Blog's is a salutary slap in the face.”
I'd like to propose an intense and intentional celebration and living of the whole season of Easter right through to Pentecost as one of the best and most fruitful ways to get a grip and restore our hope so that we respond as true disciples of Jesus Christ to the challenges before us. Experiencing and living the reality and power of the Resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit as the first disciples did has always been the ultimate answer to whatever crisis the Church has faced in every generation and every historical situation.
The women in today's reading in Matthew 28 are "filled with awe and great joy" as they run from the empty tomb. And then Jesus meets them. And they fall down and clasp his feet. And he tells them "Do not be afraid".
What if we together dared to immerse ourselves in and then radiate the awe and great joy of the Resurrection? What if we dared to obey our Lord when he says "Do not be afraid." Do I even know what I'm talking about? No - but my experience is that God honors attempts at obedience even when we are clueless.
What if the Catholic blogosphere was filled primarily with stories of awe, conversion, and transformation, healing and resurrection, joy, hope, the Presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit for the next 50 days? Not to hide from our challenges but to remind ourselves of how the story ends: that in a truly Christian worldview, the Resurrection is the final word on human sin, corruption, and stupidity.
Would our problems magically go away? No but we would be different and our readers would be different and the conversation would have changed significantly. And I am certain that we’d be astonished at what God would do through our communal act of faith, hope, and obedience.
In any case, here at ID, we’ll be seeking to celebrate the whole 50 days. And we’d love to learn from you how you live Easter and Pentecost.
This year, I want to consciously, intentionally live the whole Easter season. But I don't know how.
I realized this morning that, in my 23 years as a Catholic, I've tended to live Easter as if it is just No-Longer-Lent.
After the intensity of Lent and Holy Week, Easter is - for most of us - a one day feast, not a 50 day season. A one day lamb, ham, Easter egg and chocolate blow-out. With great left-overs. And then it's spring. (Or autumn for those readers in the southern hemisphere.)
And then I go right back to my normal, anxious life that I put on hold in order to make room for the extra Lenten effort. Only now, cause it's No-Longer-Lent, I can have that triple grande mocha latte along with my anxiety.
And I'm going to need that latte as I check in around the Catholic blogosphere. Where many are discussing the whole "crisis within the crisis" thesis. Which seems to mean that Catholics who don't talk as if the world is coming to an end and persist in the virtue of hope are not obedient disciples of Jesus Christ but reprehensible enablers of an imminent disaster such as the Church has never seen before.
What tosh. I've written about this before here and here and here and here. In summary
“I'm not saying that we don't face real crisis today. We do. I'm not saying that Catholics didn't face real crisis in the past. They did.
What is laughable is our assumption that things used to be so much better in some golden era in the past. That the crisis we face are unprecedented and can only be explained by a spiritual calamity the like of which no generation before us has endured. We are so pampered. Catholics have faced crisis in every generation and most historical situations and many of those crisis have dwarfed our own. We have got to get a grip. And a brief dip into real history away from hyperbole of St. Blog's is a salutary slap in the face.”
I'd like to propose an intense and intentional celebration and living of the whole season of Easter right through to Pentecost as one of the best and most fruitful ways to get a grip and restore our hope so that we respond as true disciples of Jesus Christ to the challenges before us. Experiencing and living the reality and power of the Resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit as the first disciples did has always been the ultimate answer to whatever crisis the Church has faced in every generation and every historical situation.
The women in today's reading in Matthew 28 are "filled with awe and great joy" as they run from the empty tomb. And then Jesus meets them. And they fall down and clasp his feet. And he tells them "Do not be afraid".
What if we together dared to immerse ourselves in and then radiate the awe and great joy of the Resurrection? What if we dared to obey our Lord when he says "Do not be afraid." Do I even know what I'm talking about? No - but my experience is that God honors attempts at obedience even when we are clueless.
What if the Catholic blogosphere was filled primarily with stories of awe, conversion, and transformation, healing and resurrection, joy, hope, the Presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit for the next 50 days? Not to hide from our challenges but to remind ourselves of how the story ends: that in a truly Christian worldview, the Resurrection is the final word on human sin, corruption, and stupidity.
Would our problems magically go away? No but we would be different and our readers would be different and the conversation would have changed significantly. And I am certain that we’d be astonished at what God would do through our communal act of faith, hope, and obedience.
In any case, here at ID, we’ll be seeking to celebrate the whole 50 days. And we’d love to learn from you how you live Easter and Pentecost.
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