We survived Lent. We meditated on Jesus’ Passion and Death. We sacrificed, mortified ourselves, and gave more generously. And now we have entered the time of feasting, joy, and new life of Easter. It’s almost too much to absorb, because we’ve spent over a month denying our senses and giving up a portion of our comfortable lives. Could it be that Easter really means we are supposed to end the good habits we’ve adopted during Lent?

Jesus said, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15). Maybe that’s why Lent is so crucial to our spiritual advancement: because we need to remember what it was like without Jesus on earth. We need to recall the horrific events that led to His death. That is the purpose of our fasting.

But Easter is when we resume singing “Alleluia!” during Mass. It is when we sing the “Gloria” again. The Risen Jesus is with us – now, always! We rejoice in celebrating that He will never leave us. Easter is a preview of the Great Wedding Feast in Heaven. It is as if God permits us to catch a glimpse of the eternal glory that awaits us one day, if we live a life of obedience and humility.

Living out Easter is much easier than living out Lent. We naturally gravitate toward dining on fine foods, indulging a bit in rich desserts, and forgoing the more austere practices we attempt to master during Lent. Suffering is hard, but celebrating is attractive. We know that living the Easter message is more than merely gathering with family to gorge on the foods we’ve refrained from eating during Lent. It’s more than just laughing with relief that “Lent is finally over,” so that we can resume our typical lives thereafter.

The Easter Song

The Easter message is about adopting joy in our daily lives. And joy supersedes the fleeting feeling of happiness. Most of us pursue happiness in some way, and we experience this transitory elation on Easter Sunday. But true joy is not rooted in human emotions. It is much like true love: it is a choice we must make.

In order to live Easter fully, we have to get up each day and make a decision to smile at the grumpy customers we have to face at work. We have to choose to speak kindly to our children when they whine or complain after a long day at school. We have to set aside our frustrations in favor of listening with authentic interest in the disgruntled neighbor who is struggling from a recent job loss.

And this, of course, is much more difficult than simply celebrating a high Feast Day in the Church. Somehow, when we choose joy, we become more joy-filled, even in the midst of our own interior suffering. Choosing joy is where Lent and Easter converge; it is the way in which we are able to maintain the ascetic practices of Lent while simultaneously practicing a life full of joy.

Rejoicing in a way that becomes habitual is much more difficult than rejoicing when we feel ecstatic about a fun event that involves food, tasty beverages, and the warmth of family and friends. Rejoicing is about discovering that, as a Resurrection people, we have to often make difficult decisions and endure hard trials. And choosing to be joyful does not mean that we create phony facades so that no one knows we are suffering. Rather, it means we allow God’s grace to surpass the drudgery of the ordinary parts of our days.

How do we practice joy?

Living the Easter message means that we give God our hearts that were emptied during our Lenten fasting, so that He can fill us each day with fresh insight, gratitude, and hope in the midst of what is unknown and uncertain or even painful and grave. As we practice Easter joy, we rise above the little secret deaths we must undergo in order that others might be renewed, encouraged, and uplifted through our lives. That is true resurrection.

There’s no panacea for how we can specifically practice living Easter joy in every area of our lives – work, school, in the neighborhood, or at home. At times, it seems we overcomplicate spiritual practices when what is needed most is a simple and refreshing view of how the Holy Spirit is calling us – in each moment – to love the people He has placed in our paths.

I can think specifically of an instance in my own life where this has been very clear to me. During a particularly trying week, I had to run some errands on a random day. But before I could leave the house, one of my neighbors and friends dropped by unexpectedly. I was worn out, on the verge of losing my mind with my kids, and struggling with some seasonal depression. I hardly wanted to engage in conversation with anyone.

But I saw her smiling face as she cheerfully waved and knocked on the door, and I knew I couldn’t hole up inside and hide from her. So I took a deep breath, chose to smile (See? Choosing joy), and said a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit. After a brief hug and some catching up, I discovered she was really struggling with something and needed to share it with a trusted friend whom she felt would listen with empathy and pray with/for her in her time of need.

I was called, in that moment, to be that person. I was called to live Easter joy, despite the fact that I didn’t feel it in any way. God lifted me up out of the messy soot of my own week and into my friend’s troubled world so that I could enter it with her, lovingly and tenderly. He asked me to be for her a consoler, so that she could know that she wasn’t alone in her journey.

This happens to me more often than I could explain in a short article. But the point isn’t so much to highlight what I did; rather, it is to illustrate what we are all called to do in order to live out Easter on a daily basis: we are called to accompany those who are hurting, lost, brokenhearted, weary, lonely, or otherwise suffering in some way. And this requires setting aside our own personal pain, at least for a time, so that God can move through us. This is how we touch the lives of those He places on our paths.

If we experienced a fruitful (not perfect) Lent, then our hearts are more open, willing, and ready to receive this Easter joy. Only God can fill our hearts with it. But all we must do is be receptive to the call, whenever it may come. First, we listen to Him attentively through prayer. Then we ask Him to allow us to be the gift of joy to someone in need. And he will never, never fail to answer that prayer. Be prepared to be amazed, humbled, and surprised as you live your call to Easter joy!

What are your plans for this Easter season? Share in the comments below!