My pastor Father Charlie Lachowitzer says Easter begins really with Laetare Sunday when both Sunday and daily Mass readings take a turn from repentance toward renewal. This turn actually is part of our lives all year around.
Continuing to read Hans Urs von Balthasar's The Christian State of Life this weekend I ran across this supporting quote, which moves along similar lines:
Thus the Christian's life and state do not simply run parallel to the earthly existence of Christ as though he had to live until his earthly death imitation of the state in which Jesus lived until the crucifxion. Christian life is not a mere imitation of the Lord's hidden and public life. On the contrary, it is from the beginning and at every moment a participation not only in the Cross, but also in the Resurrection of the Lord.
Not that the disciplines and practices of Lent aren't useful. They are. In the ground of Lenten practice we plant the seeds which spring up in hope. Yet, I want to think more about Father said. I want to have emblazoned on my own heart both the Cross and the Resurrection.
And there is no better way to do that than to observe Holy Week, from tomorrow morning through Easter Vigil. If you aren't there yet, try to be a part of at least one of these dramatic services. They are more than theater or re-enactment. They are performance and participation art at its highest level.
Continuing to read Hans Urs von Balthasar's The Christian State of Life this weekend I ran across this supporting quote, which moves along similar lines:
Thus the Christian's life and state do not simply run parallel to the earthly existence of Christ as though he had to live until his earthly death imitation of the state in which Jesus lived until the crucifxion. Christian life is not a mere imitation of the Lord's hidden and public life. On the contrary, it is from the beginning and at every moment a participation not only in the Cross, but also in the Resurrection of the Lord.
Not that the disciplines and practices of Lent aren't useful. They are. In the ground of Lenten practice we plant the seeds which spring up in hope. Yet, I want to think more about Father said. I want to have emblazoned on my own heart both the Cross and the Resurrection.
And there is no better way to do that than to observe Holy Week, from tomorrow morning through Easter Vigil. If you aren't there yet, try to be a part of at least one of these dramatic services. They are more than theater or re-enactment. They are performance and participation art at its highest level.
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