The Easter season is here, sisters! After a long, beautiful, difficult, redemptive Lent and profound Triduum, we have arrived at the celebration of the pinnacle of our Faith: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The fact that Our Lord was raised from the dead is the crux of our Faith. But how easy is it to overlook the Easter Octave and the entire Easter season (50 days)?
Entering Into Easter
So instead of casting a short glance toward our Faith's greatest Mystery, let's more deeply enter into this Easter season.
To help us do that, Blessed is She is hosting an Easter gathering called Go and Tell.
Go and Tell is a free online gathering that encourages Catholic women across the world to gather together for an afternoon. During this gathering, we'll hear from Laura Kelly Fanucci, author of Risen, about the importance of the Resurrection in our own lives and how we can live Christ's call to go and tell.
The Importance of Community During Easter
To better understand the importance of gathering as a community of believers during the Easter season, we chatted with Beth Davis about the impact these gatherings can have on our personal and communal faith.
What does it mean to Go and Tell? Why is it important we do this?
These are the words used in three of four Gospels to Mary Magdalene in the Resurrection accounts (Matthew 28:7, Mark 16:7, John 20:17). It is the first instruction Jesus gives after He has risen from the dead: go and tell. And this command is given and entrusted to a woman!
Women are particularly meant to communicate the Good News of Jesus' Resurrection and are given a special dignity and role as missionaries to speak hope to those in doubt, fear, and despair (How cool is that?!).
We just finished Lent, a time of deep prayer and reflection. Why is it important to continue to go deeper with Jesus during this season of celebration?
It strikes me that we as Catholics are so good at entering into the penitential and preparatory seasons, but then we get the thing we're waiting for and we fail to celebrate it! Or at least that's true in my own life.
But the Church highlights the importance of Easter by observing the season for 50 days—that's ten days longer than Lent. The Church is trying to tell us how important the Resurrection is. How important it is to celebrate what Jesus has done. How important it is to receive and internalize His victory for ourselves.
We spend this blessedly long season celebrating because as Laura Kelly Fanucci says, "the Resurrection changes everything." The Resurrection can and should change everything in our lives.
The Resurrection can and should change everything in our lives. #BISblog //Click to tweet
You attend all the BIS Gatherings. What is it about them that makes them fruitful in your own life?
I love the Gatherings because they prioritize and celebrate faith and community. I would love faith and community to fall in my lap, to be easy. And sometimes, by God's grace, it is. But more often than not, it takes work: intentionality, emotional investment, and time.
When I take the time to prepare and host a Gathering, I find myself making space for the season in my own life.
And after the Gatherings, my conversations with the women who also watched are so fruitful! It can sometimes be hard to take a conversation or friendship deeper, so the Gatherings provide a context for sharing my heart, hearing theirs, and a starting place for prayer together.
How can the experience of this gathering in community with real-life people deepen our friendships and mutual striving for holiness?
As meaningful and moving as Gatherings are on their own (I'm always praying and thinking about the content for days before/after), they are so much more transformative in community.
Holiness doesn't only happen in isolation. So when we meet with one another and honestly share our struggles and desires—and pray together!—there is deeper growth and lasting fruit. It reminds me of Jesus' words in the Gospel of Matthew, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (18:20).
But perhaps the best and first fruits are just simply realizing that you're not alone. I need to get out of my head and off the hamster wheel to genuinely connect and laugh with other women...regularly! There is always a special, set apart feel to the Gatherings (and brunches). I think you'll find that getting together with other women of Faith is refreshing and life-giving.
What will Laura be talking about during the gathering, and why is the message one every woman needs to hear right now?
The two things I am most excited for Laura to unpack are women's particular and chosen role in the work of evangelization and the life-changing implications of the Resurrection.
There is so much hope in both of these messages that we sometimes miss when we read more familiar Gospel accounts. Jesus came to women, spoke to women, loved and trusted women, and gave women a special assignment.
Secondly, I can't wait to hear more from Laura about how to live Easter and lean into the Resurrection. I know I'll be spending my Easter season thanking Jesus for what He did, asking Him to show me what He wants to resurrect in me, and believing that He can do it because He already has!
Come and See, Go and Tell
Friends, we hope you'll join us for this year's Easter Gathering. Come and see what the Lord has done, then go and tell the world about it.
Will you be joining us for Go and Tell? You can register for free here!
Why We Go and Tell #BISblog //Click to tweet
Beth Davis is a lover of Jesus, a recently retired youth minister and the Director of Ministry Advancement for Blessed is She. She is passionate about teaching women how to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus and speaking hope to weary hearts. Her favorite things include being an aunt to her five fantastic niece and nephews, the Saint Name Generator and whatever book she’s currently reading.
Beth Davis is a lover of Jesus, a retired youth minister, the Director of Formation for Blessed is She. She is passionate about teaching women how to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus in prayer through writing, speaking, and mentorship. Her favorite things include being the favorite aunt to her five niece and nephews, making friends everywhere she goes, and whatever book she’s currently reading.
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