This might seem like it’s been the strangest and most subdued Easter season we’ve ever experienced. Lent seemed to continue throughout Holy Week, the Easter Octave, and into the Easter season.
Many of us went through quite the rollercoaster of emotions over the past month and a half. First was confusion when things were changing seemingly overnight, which led to concern as the virus was spreading rapidly throughout the country and state. As time went on, frustration and even anger may have set in as we saw no end in sight to shutdowns of businesses, disruptions of routines, and even suspension of public ministry of the Church.
Now, we can start to see the end of the tunnel. We finally have permission to gather again as the Body of Christ in the worship of Our Lord in His Holy Mass. No longer are the Sacraments something restricted, but are available to receive! The public life of the Church, dormant for too long, is awakening once again! This is a time of joy, almost as if we’re celebrating Easter a couple weeks late.
As we go forward, we obviously will remember this long Lent. We’ll remember all those emotions we faced. We’ll remember attending Mass virtually through the Internet, whether during the live stream or the later recording. We’ll remember the phrase “social distancing” for a very long time to come.
Once thing I hope this will remind us is the importance of the Sacraments. There’s an old saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” The Sacraments are the greatest gifts that have been given to us by God, and they have been absent from many of our lives throughout this past month. Now that we can once again receive these beautiful blessings from God, perhaps we won’t take them for granted, as we humans do with so many things.
I also hope this will be an opportunity for us to invite family and friends who have fallen away from the practice of the faith to return. We assume that the Church will always be here, so there’s no urgency to return. However, this long Lent showed that even the presence of the Church in our communities is something to be taken for granted. Perhaps this will be a good time to encourage those we love to come back, and a good time for us as a community to welcome them back with great joy.
The long Lent is ending. Just as Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, we’re rising from the dormancy of the last month and a half. Let us joyfully celebrate!
