Refelctions... part deux

Easter Sunday ends... just like any day, with the hours passing us by, until... 12 midnight arrives and Monday officially steps in. The question is, how did we maximize what is supposed to be Catholicism's most important holiday and celebration?

Granted, we have the usual Easter mass, and people take the time and effort to greet friends for Easter - some would even have Easter egg hunt, families may be together for Easter lunches... or dinners, but in reality, has anything changed? Aside from the usual fanfare, are we any better for the reflections of the Holy Week that was?

Good question. How did we spend our Easter?

I can only answer for myself, of course - and in some way, for my family.

First off - we hardly had a perfect Easter. Why so? Due to our not having been able to have had our confession prior to Good Friday, we simply could not partake of Communion during the Easter mass celebration.

Now here's something we (meaning Barbie and I) are not too sure of. In Easter masses, we renew our Baptismal vows... does this automatically remove us of our sins? Going back even further... to the Easter message itself, where any priest or pastor would remind us of (or claim that) Jesus died for us to save us - to have God forgive us... to, as our priest (Fr. Noel) said in a relatively clear analogy - rebuild the bridge to God that was broken with the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Doesn't this mean we are sinless? Doesn't this mean we could have taken Communion?

The answer isn't that clear - and if my conscience is to be my judge, I'd say better to play safe and not commit another sin by receiving communion without having had confession - and let's not even jump into the debate of why one can't just confess directly - I'm not saying one can't... I'm just saying I'd rather follow the Catholic practice, as I've been used to. Whether I'm just making myself and my family suffer for this more... well, what's a little sacrifice? Besides, needing to be honest to a priest, in confessing one's sin... I see it as helping one test their own resolve and inner courage. After all, if one isn't totally honest, won't that mean it was just a wasted effort? You can fool the priest... but can you fool yourself? Question is, would said person fooling themselves even care to be honest?

I'll leave this philosophical discussion for now, since I'd like to further reflect on this - or even better, discuss it with friends. Let me, rather, reflect on another item - one that our priest focused on as the cornerstone of his Easter message.

That Easter should be the cornerstone of the Holy Week, rather than Good Friday. Think about it... I see so many religious icons of the Crucifixion - and much less, images of the Resurrection. Yet, without said Resurrection, then Christianity in general would just have been a joke. The Crucifixion represents dying and self-sacrifice... in that sense, it is important... it proves Jesus' ultimate love. Yet the Resurrection represents God's acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice - and forgiveness of sin. It represents the renewal of salvation... it represents hope. So believers of the faith can always have that hope... that as bad as things may look, there will be hope at the end.

Naive? Maybe... but it can be empowering for anyone. I don't know about you - but I would rather be optimistic too. No, we do not forget the death... but recognize it as a necessary step to set the stage for hope. Guess that's where we got the saying "...darkest before dawn". The hope being that dawn will come.

This gets me to think... why, therefore, do we not 'generally speaking' celebrate Easter with grander scale than - say, Christmas? I mean, you can feel the goodwill in Christmas, and for some... many people look forward to a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Well, aren't we supposed to be equally thankful (if not more so) for Easter? Shouldn't we celebrate it more? Why don't I see a greater mass build-up for Easter day? Is it because we first need to be stoic and sad for Good Friday? Hard to sell?

Hmmm... we may need some strong reallignment here. Until we celebrate Easter better, we may stay stuck to the fact that Christmas will always be the best loved holiday, with Easter always playing second (or even third) fiddle.

It shouldn't be so.