Easter

The Easter season has begun. The Lenten season, with its time of fasting, prayer and penance, is finished, and now we move into Easter. In contrast to Lent, Easter is a time of wonder, celebration, and feasting as we contemplate new life. It is, or should be, the most joyous time of the year.

Sometimes we mistakenly think of Easter as “Easter Sunday,” or perhaps “Easter Week,” running from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday; then it is over! According to the Liturgical calendar, that is not correct. The Easter season does not conclude until Pentecost, which in 2010 falls on May 30. Following that, the Christian liturgical calendar moves back into what is commonly referred to as “ordinary time.”

Ordinary time; it sounds so…ordinary! How wonderful that the Easter season continues. How sad if this season of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection were to be over so soon! How lovely to be able to enjoy the warming of the earth, the return of the summer birds, the emerging of spring flowers, and the budding of trees, and consider all of that as part of this wonderful, sacred season.

May your life be graced with the Spirit of Easter today, and tomorrow, and the day after. May you, like Mary Magdalene, experience the joy and wonder of resurrection, and the amazement and sure knowledge that the Holy knows you personally and calls you by your name. If we experienced that kind of wonder every day, I doubt that time would ever be ordinary again!

Happy Easter everyone.

Posted by Carman