Eastertide’s Joy and Rest Each Sunday

I’ve seen with seven grown children how the religion lessons and discussions about their faith come back to them when they are grown. Sometimes they help us to understand spiritual things. My son, Jarred, helped me to understand a profound truth about Lent and Easter and how to live this out through the liturgical year. He commented, “Mom, the Passion of Jesus strengthens our faith while the Resurrection increases our hope!” These words inspired much reflection.  

I knew the Resurrection, Jesus’ greatest miracle, had to happen or our redemption would not have been complete. I remembered in the movie Pope John Paul II (Ignatius Press) when the bishop Karol Wojtila succeeds was speaking about resistance to the evils of Nazism, socialism, and communism, and the fear they engender. He told Karol's class of seminarians, “This is the highest form of resistance: to give hope to those who have none.” The Holy Spirit helped me to see then that no matter what evil surrounds us, hope is critical to surviving it and continuing on in faith.

When Jarred said these words, I understood that it is not enough to contemplate Jesus' Passion: we must also contemplate His Resurrection. The two go together in His act of redemption and should go together in our own lives.  

Every Sunday

Easter is the most fabulous feast in the liturgical year, and every Sunday is supposed to be like Easter. Contemplating Easter as the culmination of the redemptive work of Jesus, we can embrace the fact that each Sunday is designed to remind, refresh, and invigorate our faith and hope in Him, His Church, and our own resurrection from the dead. God has given us every Sunday to rest in His peace. We have six days of hard work and one wonderful day of rest.  

Imagine if we take what we've learned this Lenten season and go into Eastertide celebrating all the way to Pentecost, savoring the full Easter season, and continuing to fully live this liturgical season. But then we don't stop there. We make every Sunday a mini-Easter, a true day of rejoicing, of rest and peace for our families.  

When I truly kept the Sabbath (now Sunday for Christians) striving to bring the joy and rest of Easter into each Sunday, our family life was transformed. We do not shop or work on Sunday, but instead, we worship, rest, and have family time. Through the years my children frequently said, “Mom, I love Sunday!” and “I can't wait until Sunday—no more work.” and even, “It feels like a holiday!” The pressures of the week and the housework are all set aside for a day of rejuvenation and re-creation.

Time to Rejuvenate

On Sunday as on Easter, we truly savor this, me most of all. For my tired, weary mind and body, Sunday is rejuvenation. I try to plan ahead for Sunday meals, so I have minimal cooking and dishes. If this is not possible, at least I know all I have to do are the meals and cleanup. No laundry, no floors, nothing else. Just rest!  

God has outdone Himself in rewarding me for keeping Sunday holy. The more I make Sunday into a special continuation of the Easter celebration, the more joy and happiness I bring into the week that follows. We all need a time of rest and recuperation with time to walk and talk; to have fun, festivity, and games. Sunday is God's time, God's rest, and He wants to share it with us. All we have to do is say yes, then really begin to live it.  

I invite you to truly celebrate all of Eastertide and to determine within yourself that this time will continue in a way through all the Sundays of your life. You will look forward to Sunday as your time of rest. With no extra work on your part, your children will see Sunday as a special day. By honoring God's day, you feel refreshed and strengthened to do the work required in the other six days. By imparting a new way of thinking, a new way of resting, you bring joy to your family. It has transformed my life and can do the same for yours.  

Jarred didn't realize how much I would ponder it when he made that wonderful comment. If we sacrifice every day of our life for our family and participate in this way in the Passion of Christ, God certainly wants us to have the fruits of joy, peace, and hope on the mini-Easters we celebrate each Sunday. Our Father loves us so much that He wants our minds and bodies to experience a little of the joy and rest that we will enjoy with him forever. All it takes is our desire. Let's begin together.