"He is not here"

Mt 28, 6; Mk 16, 6; Lk 24, 5

Easter has long been a challenge for me. Perhaps it goes back to my discovery about the truth of the Easter Bunny.  For whatever reason, Easter just doesn't reach the heights of joy that Christmas has. Must be an overdose of chocolate. So I have long struggled to understand the meaning of Easter. Oh, I know the story. But what exactly does it mean for us today, and how do we live our lives differently because of it?

To complicate matters, my father died on a Holy Saturday (i.e., the day before Easter). Therefore, from that point onwards, I always associate Easter weekend (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday) with my father's passing.

 

He died a few months after Richard was born. On Holy Thursday we drove from Connecticut to Cleveland. I thought that seeing the baby might perk him up and revive him. And when we arrived, he did brighten when he saw baby Richard. Friday morning he sat at the breakfast table with us.

I spent a lot of Good Friday sitting next to him as he was in in bed. The radio was on and I heard the Good Friday service. It was very powerful for me to contemplate the suffering of Jesus on the cross while sitting next to my father as he took a similar journey towards the mystery of holy eternity.

Dad died early in the afternoon on Holy Saturday surrounded by most of his family. I always will regret that we left a few hours before in order to return to Connecticut so we could celebrate Easter with Lynn's family. But how could we have known the hour....

This year, as in the past, I used a vacation day to take off on Good Friday (remember when it was one of the regular holidays?). We met Lynn's aunt, Sister Pat, for a fish supper (she wanted fish 'n chips but we couldn't find an eat-in place and ended up at Burger King having a Big Fish sandwich and fries).

Holy Saturday we were together (see separate post).  In the past, one of the activities of Holy Saturday was the preparation of the food for Easter dinner. This usually included going to church to have the food blessed. We didn't do that yesterday but we did go to Stop & Shop to get Richard ham for a sandwich on Easter. And I received a box in the mail from my mom. It contained some nut and poppyseed rolls, chocolates, and easter eggs. THANKS Mom!!!

And here it is Easter. I am reflecting on its meaning and the blessings I have been graced with. Somehow that seems right.