CFF Family Connection! 4/14/2020

Dear families,  Happy Easter! This is the strangest Easter I've ever experienced. It's been bittersweet. Usually, I'm obnoxiously cheerful at Easter, and it's not just because I get to nibble on chocolate again. This Easter... well.  On Holy Saturday, we made our own Easter fire on the driveway and let the kids roast marshmallows (I know, I know, that's not really part of the Easter liturgy). Kim had made a small paschal candle earlier; we lit it and set it on an altar with flowers and prayed with OLMC's live-streamed Easter Vigil cast on the TV screen. I tried to enter deeply into the spirit of Easter after a very long Lent. The liturgy was lovely, as always. The music was exceptional. Father Richard's homily comforted and inspired. I was simultaneously grateful to have the ability through technology to pray with our community and terribly sad to not be together in person. I prayed, How long, O Lord?   On Easter Sunday, we gathered around the table for the Easter meal. I was a bit downcast looking at the empty chairs in which our grown children's families would have been if not for social distancing. I thought of others going through trials, difficulties, and suffering due to this crisis. The infernal blahs threatened to cast their shadows across the bright field of Easter Sunday.  In the midst of the sadness, joy stirred in my heart. I managed to enjoy the day and to laugh with my loved ones. I felt gratitude that through all of this, God has been with us. I guess you could say that joy and gratitude were fueled by Easter hope.  The hope proclaimed by the real and extraordinary event of the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday is this: God's love is infinitely greater than sin, the powers of darkness, and death itself. The Resurrection is the Christian fulfillment of Virgil's expression, omnia vincit amor, "love conquers all."  For me, the challenge is to cling to that Easter hope, which we anticipated during Lent as the pandemic crisis unfolded, and have now realized in the celebration of Easter, even as the crisis continues.  Pope Francis, in his exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, wrote something that seems especially relevant today: "There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet but firm trust, even amid the greatest distress" (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 6, emphasis mine). Christian joy is rooted in the hope we have in Christ, who remains with us even in our darkest times. Jesus warned His disciples (us) that in this world we will have troubles, and yet He also promised that we will share in His joy. Some days the joy in me is barely a flicker, to be honest. Some days it flares into a bright flame. But, flicker or flame, it remains. And that's because Christ remains.  People who have experienced liberation from addiction often say that they are able to do it by God's grace and by tackling their addiction "one day at a time." I suspect that's how we'll get through this, too. In The Joy of the Gospel passage cited above, the pope goes on to quote Lamentations: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness... It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lam 3:22-23,26, NRSVCE).  Every day is a new day. Every morning blooms with Easter promise, and that promise is the source of our hope. From out of that hope, joy is renewed.  Lord, restore in us the joy of your salvation (cf. Ps 51:12)! I continue to pray for you.  In Easter joy,  Leighton Drake Director of Children's Faith Formation / Middle School Ministry Next Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday.  Learn more about it HERE.

Sent by Leighton Drake