EASTER EVEN BEATS WINNING POWERBALL

The quaint, last century stone chapel sits alone just off the main highway. Neither tourists nor pilgrims stop their motorcars to visit. Silent saints, frozen in time, stand attentively in stained glass. All is muted. Few remember that once preachers caught fire here, that once sinners knelt suppliant on cobblestones here, that once calloused hands lifted up their praise here, that once lustily throated alleluias rang out here. Light still rings round sanctuary and rood screen. Light testifies. Robust faith once flourished here. Vibrant hope once thrived here. Contagious love once blazoned here. But no longer! The chapel is a queer anomaly, a leftover belonging in a museum.

We can treat Easter like this chapel. We can ho-hum this event as a curious remnant of history. We can pass it by and never catch its dynamic meaning, its enthusiasm, and its significance in Christian life. Easter even beats winning powerball - if we let go and let it shape us!

The paschal event, that is, the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the pivotal event of human and cosmic history. Easter is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of new covenant. Easter is Christ victorious over death, the high priest and advocate for wounded humanity. Easter is Christ alive, the lover of humankind and lover of the community called church. He is risen, Alleluia! He is alive, alleluia!

Easter egg hunts, Easter bunnies, Easter parades, Easter clothes can celebrate the paschal event. They can also divert us from the dynamic meaning of Easter. In fact, the paschal event is so rich and alive that Christians have to take fifty days to unpack its meaning and to enjoy the rich fare of the Easter table.

We dress up those who are new born in the womb of mother church. We delight in each other's company. We support each other with friendship and table sharing. We eat together the best of bread. We drink together the cup that inebriates with joy. We taste milk and honey. We cultivate a love for joyous rituals. We acquire a taste for encouraging each other humanly.

Here are tips for celebrating Easter's fifty days.

1. Come to church with the commitment to greet others in the parking and walking areas and in the church building. We are kith and kin in Christ. Rejoice!

2. Be festive and colorful in clothing during the Sundays of Easter. Dress up, not down for Easter. So splash the church building with the lovely colors of an assembly alive in Christ.

3. During these fifty days take time to greet and to congratulate our newly initiated sister in Christ, Jennifer, and her husband Michael, and their son, Marco. Be proud that all of us are blessed at the font and the table.

4. Meet and greet teenagers who are confirmed and the children who are communicated during these fifty days. Confirmation and Eucharist complete initiation and commit teens and their families and children and their families to Eucharist every Sunday.

Kiss - keep it simple! We keep faith personally by sharing it together. We cultivate hope personally by encouraging one another together. We love personally by forgetting self and embracing each other together.