A Joyful Eastertide

He is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

It’s not too late for me to wish you all a very joyful and happy Easter, because today is Divine Mercy Sunday and the final day of the Octave of Easter! In fact, I’m not late at all by the Orthodox calendar, because today is Easter itself for Orthodox Christians. I believe Byzantine Catholics call the Octave “Bright Week,” which is just beautiful, and the Sunday after Easter is “Thomas Sunday” after the apostle Thomas who initially doubted that Christ had risen from the dead. After appearing to Thomas, Christ said:

“Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John 20:29)

When we hear that Gospel reading at Mass, my mother always like to remember that when Christ said this, he was thinking, literally, of all of us. It’s a blessing that reaches down through the ages. Jesus once walked this earth, and many saw with their own eyes and believed, but we are those who have not seen and yet believed.

I had a lovely Easter weekend trip with my family out to the Midwest (vlog will be up tomorrow!) - we stayed at an adorable beachy cottage and had a beautiful, blue-sky, blustery day on the Indiana Dunes. We attended Easter Sunday Mass at St. Mary the Immaculate Conception in Michigan City. The saints in the stained glass windows were just wonderful, as were the lilies and floral displays. There was an Easter letter from the priests in the bulletin that talked about the lilies and how “each bloom is a silent trumpet blasting the glory of the resurrection of Jesus.”

I took a few photos and video clips in the church after Mass, but one part of the weekend that I didn’t capture on camera, for obvious reasons, were some of the Triduum services we attended. There’s “Tenebrae,” held late at night on Holy Thursday, commemorating the time when Christ was taken in the garden. The word means “shadows” or “darkness” in Latin, and during the service, the candles go out one by one until finally the church is left in total darkness and “strepitus,” a loud noise. No Mass is held on Good Friday, but there is the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion at 3 p.m., the hour of Christ’s death.

These services are ancient traditions, and as I was taking part in them, I was thinking of all the faithful through so many generations who have taken part in them all around the world. When some people think of the Church, they picture the priests and bishops and the pope, and obviously the leaders have an important role to play; but they’re not the first thing that comes to my mind. When I think of the Church, I’m envisioning all the faithful who have filled the pews stretching back 2,000 years all the way to the apostles sitting around the table with Christ at the Last Supper. There was a podcast that I listened to in which Bishop Barron pointed out that the word “liturgy” literally means “work of the people.” In other words, during liturgical services, the people in the congregation are supposed to be engaged in the work of worship, not just the priest.

Entering into and taking part in these traditions - not just the Easter Triduum services but Mass every Sunday and many other observances that are part of Catholic teachings - it’s like tapping into roots that reach deep, deep into the ground and draw up life-giving strength. It’s easy, at only a shallow glance, to imagine these services are long, tedious, and boring; but even if the cantor is tone-deaf, even if the priest gives a stinker of a self-important homily, even if it’s difficult to control your wandering thoughts, and you feel like you didn’t get anything out of it, those roots are still there, reaching back through the centuries all the way to Christ himself, present in the Eucharist. Those roots are the reason you continue to go. Those roots are the reason I’m Catholic.

We had a wonderful book club discussion of The Cloud of Unknowing yesterday, and were talking about “reading your way to faith.” Some of the first amongst those faithful in the pews who I envisage when thinking of the Church are the great saints and writers of the past, and it is so rewarding to have a conversation with them by reading their works. The author of The Cloud of Unknowing speaks about the importance of “pondering God’s word” through reading or listening to others read the Scriptures:

God’s word, written or spoken, is like a mirror. Reason is your spiritual eye and conscience your spiritual reflection. And just as you use a mirror to detect a blemish in your physical appearance - and without a mirror or someone to tell you where the blemish is you would not discover it - so it is spiritually. Without reading or hearing God’s word, a man who is spiritually blind on account of habitual sin is simply unable to see the foul stain on his conscience.

When a person discovers in a mirror - or learns from another - that his face is dirty he goes immediately to the well and washes it clean. Likewise when a man of good will sees himself as reflected by the Scriptures or the preaching of others and realizes that his conscience is defiled he also goes immediately to be cleansed. If it is a particular evil deed he notices, then the well he must seek is the Church and the water he must apply is Confession according to the custom of the Church. But if it is the blind root and tendency to sin he sees, then the well he must seek is the all-merciful God and the water he must apply is prayer with all that this implies.

So I want you to understand clearly that for beginners and those a little advanced in contemplation, reading or hearing the word of God must precede pondering it and without time given to serious reflection there will be no genuine prayer.

The traditions of the Church are roots that connect us to God’s word and the wisdom that has sustained generations of faithful, but they are also a mirror that reveals important personal truths about our own lives here and now. We need that mirror to be able to perceive ourselves as we truly are, just as we need roots to reach life-giving truths that are buried deep and also to anchor us when the storms come and the winds blow. The traditions aren’t the end in themselves, but they’re important as means and methods by which we flawed mortals enter into God’s divine love.

If you haven’t been to Mass in awhile, consider this as encouragement to go back to your roots. 😊 I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time. In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9