Alleluia . . . what a great word! It sums up all we believe, feel, and experience during the Easter Season.I am so grateful for this word. It would be hard to articulate the joy, peace, gratitude, and excitement of Easter if we did not have alleluia to sing and shout! As St. Augustine said, “We are Easter people and alleluia is our song.”This year during Lent, I really noticed the absence of alleluia. I was shocked that I missed it. I missed it at Mass and at the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours. In the past I have taken alleluia for granted. I just sang it as any other word in the text of the song or of prayer. So, finding alleluia’s return at Easter was quite a treat.I had the wonderful experience of being the “Greeter” at our Monastery’s Easter Sunday Mass. That meant that I got to stand outside the Chapel and greet people as they came to Mass. I was able to say, “Good Morning, Welcome…Alleluia!” What a joy to make people smile with spreading the Good News of the Resurrection…and I really loved to hear alleluia! echoed back to me!Now that alleluia is back, I am committing myself not to take it for granted. Every time I read it, say it, or sing it I want to do it with full voice and with full attention to meaning. I want to feel and live as a person who is grateful for the life and love of the Risen Lord! Alleluia!
“Let us sing alleluia here and now in this life . . . so that we may sing it one day in the worldto come, when we are set free.” —St. Augustine