…Easter, and I couldn’t sleep.
Welcome back happy Easter people! I pray that your Holy Week, Triduum and Easter were full of blessings, joy and love! I must say, I actually kind of enjoyed the break from blogging – its the first ever break I’ve taken from blogging since I started the blog and it was refreshing but I’m glad to be back!
Anyway…it was the night before Easter and I couldn’t sleep. It felt, in a lot of ways, like the night before Christmas felt when I was a child. All I could think as I was laying there praying to fall asleep (I had to be up at 4am so I could be at the church in time for sound check before Mass) was that all over the world the sun was coming up and that the Son was coming up. The sun was rising and bringing the Good News that the Son had also arisen. As I laid wide awake I simply couldn’t get over this notion that literally all over the world people were beginning to celebrate the joy of His Resurrection! I so badly didn’t want to be in my bed waiting for morning to come, I wanted to fly to where ever they were and celebrate with them the most joyous feast of our faith!
Then, slowly, the hour finally came (and believe you me, when my alarm went off at 4am I really wanted to press that snooze button, but more on that later) when it was time to get up and head to the church. Finally! The sun rose during Mass as we celebrated the Son rising! What a beautiful scene to be sure! At the end of the day, worn out and tired from all of the fantastic festivities, one simple though ran through my brain: I have to blog tomorrow. Well, that and one other thought, which I will leave you with as I dip my toes back into blogging: Easter isn’t a feast, it isn’t just one Sunday, it isn’t just the Easter bunny coming to leave you with lots of candy to rot out your teeth, it is a season, and it has just begun. Jesus has yet to ascend to His heavenly Father so let us celebrate, let the joy reign in our hearts this Easter season, for He has conquered sin and death and I for one can think of no greater reason to rejoice!
“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!” – Blessed Pope John Paul II
***nerdy theological tid-bit: the word “hallelujah” comes from the Hebrew words “hallel” and “YHWH”. “Hallel” means to praise and “YHWH” is the Jewish name for God so the word “hallelujah” or its Greek counterpart, “alleluia” literally means Praise God!***
