Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
// Victimae paschali laudes (optional Easter sequence)
Happy Easter! He is Risen!
But also, now what? In Lent I have my list. I know we’re going to do this, and this, and this, and not do that, or that, or that. It’s not always fun, but I have found it to be very effective over the years, and a little more manageable from one year to the next, and—to my point today—it all really defines the season as unmistakably L-E-N-T for my family and me. But now, I need to make Easter meaningful. I don’t want Easter to be just a reprieve from Lent!
So here are two strategies I use to maintain the Lenten progress I made on detachment from worldly pleasures while making the Easter season feel special and unique.
First, I hold on to new good habits. Over the years, Lent has been the catalyst for me for a number of small but meaningful life changes. Some things that I’ve reluctantly added or taken away for Lent ended up as keepers. Today is the perfect day to assess: Hey, am I a better wife, mother, daughter, coworker, person, Catholic as a result of this change? If yes, then maybe I don’t want to let up “for Easter.” Maybe I can use Easter to start experiencing my new habit as a gift rather than a sacrifice.
But second, I use this season to celebrate licit pleasures. In my house there are things we give up every year for Lent, mostly just to prove to ourselves that we can live without them (I’m looking at you, Dr. Pepper). Then we take them back up again with, hopefully, a better appreciation for the right use of them. We don’t watch screens during Lent, so we’ll usually choose a series to watch together over Easter for family time. Last year we ate at home and meat-free for Lent, so over Easter week we visited seven different local food stands to enjoy adventurous meaty dinners. Today is a perfect day to see if any of your Lenten disciplines can be turned into fun new Easter traditions!
He is Risen, indeed!
Kendra Tierney Norton is grateful to be a wife, mother, and stepmother. She lives in the wilds of unincorporated Los Angeles County in a big old fixer-upper house with her husband and a varying number of their combined fourteen children, plus one fish, two cats, and twenty chickens. She likes to say that her goal is keeping Catholicism weird. To that end, she is the author of books including the Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life with Ignatius Press and O Come, Emmanuel: Advent Reflections on the Jesse Tree for Families with Emmaus Road Publishing, the creator of the TV series Catholic All Year At Home on FORMED, and the CEO of Catholic All Year, an apostolate dedicated to helping parents live out their Catholic faith and pass it along to their children.
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