As we have pedal to the metal cycling through life, the commercial world is preparing for the upcoming holiday, stacking the boxes of chocolate bunnies, arranging the colorful bags of jelly beans, and displaying the sweet smelling Easter lilies permeating the springtime air. This Holy Week for Christians serves as a great time to appreciate the cycles of our lives. Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Easter March 27th and Happy Passover approaching April 22nd.
But with all this “sweetness” of the Easter celebration let’s not fail to recall the hard core fact of life: we are ALL called (no matter what religion) to live the Paschal Mystery (life, death, and resurrection) in our own lives in two ways. We live this pattern in our life as a whole (from birth, death, and resurrection) and in our daily endeavors (joys, adversity, triumph).
We share the same Holy Week pattern, as we cycle through the bigger pattern and the smaller cycles.
We live through successes, friendships, joys, and triumphs (Holy Thursday,) falling through to the ultimate opposite of tragedy, despair, and hopelessness (Good Friday), to emerge with resilience to the final victory of resurrection, completion, and hope, (Easter Sunday).
So as we hide the baskets and pick up the last piece of pink plastic grass from the floor let us take this Spirit of renewal as support and comfort as we each move along our road’s journey knowing that we celebrate today and everyday, moving toward Easter, filled with hope.
Easter always follows Good Friday.
The Calm always follows the Storm.
The Light always follows the Darkness.
And there is always HOPE.
“Let us rejoice and be glad.”
Happy Easter and upcoming Passover to each of you.
