Catching up

Happy Easter everybody! And I'll probably be saying that from now until the Easter season is actually over. Why? Because it's a really important statement. Happy Easter...rejoice in the Resurrection, renew your baptismal promises, reinvigorate your life in Christ. It's a small phrase with a whole lot of meaning.

Anywho, now that the weekend is over, I can finally take a breather and catch up on things. More importantly, I get the opportunity to reflect on all that has happened these last few days. It seems almost surreal if you think about it. In such a small amount of time, you go from watching Christ suffer and die on a cross, to celebrating the strengthening of the Church at Easter Vigil, and then to experiencing the joy of the Resurrection at Easter. For me, it seemed like it was almost too much to take in, too much to try to comprehend. I felt like I needed more time in between, more time to digest each little detail. But then again, this is how we believe these chain of events actually unfolded. Its easy for me to say "I need more time to understand", being 2000 years later. But what of Christ's disciples? They WERE there when they crucified my Lord, and nailed him to a tree, and laid him in a tomb. But they WERE also there when He came to then again after three days, hidden away in that upper room. They experienced all these things, one after another, firsthand. Whatever my feelings were, theirs were a million times more. Aside from the revelations of the Prophets, I think thats why Christ rose again on the third day. Because having him leave us was so painful, any longer and it would have been unbearable. Of course, that's just the random thinking of a sleep-deprived college kid, but it would make sense to me. Here is a question every Christian should ask: if I have truly experienced the saving love of Christ, how can I do anything else without it?

My parish was blessed to have Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, at our Good Friday service. Listening to his homily, he is obviously a gifted theologian and even better at conveying that theology to his flock. The Veneration of the Cross, I think, is one of the most beautiful traditions of the Church. I saw people, young and old, get down on their knees to kiss or reverence this cross, these pieces of wood. Now we all know that the cross was only a representation of the True Cross, but the amount of piety and devotion and love towards that cross was so amazingly overwhelming, as if our cross were the True Cross itself. It just goes to show the power of Christ, Christ who was able to turn a symbol of death into arguably the greatest symbol of love. As it always is, Good Friday is anything but "good", but it was necessary...for you and for me.

Source: Youtube

Easter Vigil...to be continued