The Easter Season is a grand season – so grand that it lasts fifty day! I trust that the celebration is so long and intentional because it takes a while for it all to sink-in. Even though I have heard the Easter Story recounted time and time again— even though I’ve seen the movie Jesus of Nazareth more times than I can count—even though I have alleluia on my lips—I still wrestle with understanding what Easter really and truly is all about.
I am glad we have these fifty days to reflect upon what happened in the days after the Resurrection. It is stirring to read the accounts of Jesus’ followers, in the Acts of the Apostles, as they try to make sense of all that is happening. It is breathtaking to go along with them on the roller-coaster ride of emotions that is stimulated by these events of salvation history. All of the conversion stories, miracles, and healings do much to enflame my heart. We can gain confidence and find hope in the courage of Apostles and Jesus’ other followers as they joyfully and boldly proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection.
It takes the whole of these fifty days to, once again, be awakened to what Jesus did all for of humanity and how his resurrection has made this life worth living.
The fifty days of Easter are a great gift of the Liturgical Year. They allow us to bask in the joy of Easter and come closer to Jesus. The Easter Season is a great time to be transformed by the Risen Lord!
Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that we may always find delight in these Paschal Mysteries,
so that that the renewal constantly at work within us
may be the cause of our unending joy. Amen.
(Prayer over the offering from Saturday in Octave of Easter)
Sister Lisa Maurer
Sister Lisa Maurer was born and raised in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Before entering the Monastery, she taught and coached in Catholic Schools within the New Ulm Diocese. Sister Lisa made her first Monastic Profession in August 2009 and on July 11, 2012, she made her Perpetual Profession. Her first ministry was working at the parishes of St. Lawrence and St. Joseph in Duluth. Currently she is the Mission Integration Manager of the Benedictine Health System. See all of Sister Lisa’s posts.
[This blog was first posted on April 10, 2013]
Angel on Tomb: from the Pericopes of Henry II
http://anssi-et-anne.skynetblogs.be/archive/2005/08/07
/aurelia.html, Public Domain;
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44806069