Easter Joy

I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, I wished that Christmas would last all year long. As I have gotten older, it is the other major feast of the Church year I wish would last all year long — Easter. We are fortunate that the Easter season actually lasts 50 days. Fifty days of Easter joy. Fifty days of crying out, “Alleluia” at the Acclamation and the Dismissal. Fifty days of experiencing resurrection.

But each year, about this time in the Church calendar when we are just a few days away from the season’s end, 50 days does not seem enough time for Easter joy to sink into my bones. I wish the Easter season lasted all year!

Why? Because Easter is the season of joy, joy that our story is not over, joy that new life overcomes death. Joy because God triumphs, and, when we place our hope in Him, it is not in vain.

I think it is this bubbling-over Easter joy that brings so many people to church on Easter. They may not darken the doors of the church with any regularity, but they know that on Easter Sunday they will experience joy, whether or not their lives outside the church doors are happy, fulfilling, or purposeful. Perhaps just for a moment, people can capture joy before their lives return to the same frantic schedules, relationship challenges and deadlines. 

But in reality, Easter does last throughout the year, throughout our lives. We can live resurrected lives if we just remember, remember that we have already been given more than we could ever have asked for or imagined (Ephesians 3:20) in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. Our God is great because God’s love and mercy for us are stronger than death. Grace has been given to us and continues to be given to us each day of our lives. Resurrection didn’t just happen two thousand years ago. Jesus can be resurrected in our hearts each day …

The late Pope John Paul II famously said, “We are an Easter people, and ‘Alleluia’ is our song.”^[1] Sing “Alleluia” each day to push away the shroud of death that continues to try to cover the earth and our lives. Sing “Alleluia” each day to remind yourself that you are an Easter Christian and desire to live daily a resurrected life. Sing “Alleluia” each day to shine the light of Christ wherever you go …

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

[1] Pope John Paul II, Sunday Angelus Address, November 30, 1986.