Monday Musings – Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!

We have finally arrived at the joyous season of Easter. We have spent forty long days in fasting, prayer, and penance, and now we have seven glorious weeks to rejoice in the Lord’s resurrection. Yet, even as we revel in Easter joy, many of us might be left wondering, “What do I do now? Where do I go from here? What am I supposed to look forward to next?” These aren’t bad questions, but a better one to ask ourselves is this: “Have I truly allowed the incredible reality of the resurrection to take root in my heart and change my life forever?” And our response to this answers all those other questions.

God sent His only Son to take flesh, become like us in all things but sin, undergo brutal suffering and death (so we don’t have to), and rise from the dead for our salvation. If we stop and think about this, it’s amazing! And if we really believe this, our lives will reflect it on a daily basis, although imperfectly. Our days will be Christ-centered, filled with joy, gratitude, charity, patience, and many other virtues.

If this doesn’t describe your life (and it certainly doesn’t sound like mine!), then that’s ok. But we’re not off the hook. If our lives don’t yet look like this, then that should prompt us to go deeper, to find even more meaning in our spiritual disciplines, to make the beautiful truth of God’s love more personal, to live “all-in,” every day for Jesus.

In other words, if our lives have not been radically affected by this God-man who sacrificed Himself to save our souls, then why are we celebrating at all? That’s like going to someone’s birthday party without knowing or caring about the person and then completely ignoring the one whose life is being celebrated!

The resurrection changes everything, including each one of us if we let it. And that’s exactly as it should be, because we’re not supposed to remain the same; we were created to become holy! Our lives are supposed to be changed more and more by the mystery of Christ’s love, transfigured level by level, until finally, we are made perfect and can enter into the never-ending joy of heaven.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the festivities, the family gatherings, and the non-liturgical events surrounding Easter Sunday that we can forget all of this, forget the reason we are celebrating with such joy — God has come; He has loved us; He has touched our lives; He has died for us; and now He is risen, our eternal hope!

In the midst of all the activity, can we still hear the Lord whispering to each one of us from the Cross, “I thirst”? Are we listening? He is always thirsting for our love; He is always longing for us to give Him our hearts, completely and unreservedly.

Lent may be over, but perhaps in the attempt to continue our journey of transformation to personal holiness, we could keep some of our Lenten disciplines, and maybe even add some different ones. If we’re serious about our faith, and we truly believe all that is contained in the great mystery of Christ’s resurrection, we will do whatever it takes to remember, to strive, to love.

And what better way to do that than to thank Him and praise Him for His mercy? This coming weekend we will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, the great feast of God’s mercy. The Divine Mercy Novena began on Good Friday, but it’s still not too late to start! Pray the novena with me, starting today, and may this first week of Easter re-enkindle in our hearts a deeper understanding of God’s love for each of us, inspiring us to let ourselves be transfigured by that love.