When you do Lent well, Easter means more.
This year, as a family, we did Lent well. We prayed together, we sacrificed, we talked about being better, and we talked about Lent. The poster created at work hung in the kitchen and, while it encouraged forty ways to live Lent well, we got to about half of them, which is pretty good, all things considered.
The kids were adamant that no one say the “A” word and chastised friends who did. We go through this every year.
The season – cold, snow, and all – seemed more real this year for some reason. Perhaps it was because we needed resurrection from a long, cold winter. Perhaps because for us, as a family, our Lent included power outages and hospitalizations, viruses and snow days. Perhaps it was last week’s funeral that tipped Lent more towards darkness than usual. Perhaps we gave up more, lived more intentionally, and waited, hoped, and prayed with greater fervor.
But come Sunday morning, the energy and enthusiasm was palpable and came not from chocolate but from the anticipation of getting the “A” word back. As we drove to church, the children, especially the youngest, wondered exactly when we could return to the singing of the “A word.”
When it was time to sing it within the context of Mass, no one missed a note.
Then, on the way home, we sang it some more.
Indeed, it is good to have the “A” word back.
We are an Easter people. A resurrection people. Alleluia. Alleluia.
Hope has transcended the bounds of death.
Death has been vanquished.
Even on the cross, overwhelmed by a prayer of abandonment by the God he has so earnestly and steadfastly served, Jesus refused to give over to resignation. He forgave. He kept believing and hoping. He said, “yes” to God. Again and again, he said, “yes.”
Jesus has delivered himself entirely from himself in order to be completely God’s.
And so stones are rolled away. And God says, “yes” right back. God raises that which we crucify.
The tomb is empty. He has been raised. Now, go and tell the Good News.
We are an Easter people. And “Alleluia” is our song.
May your week be blessed.
~pjd