Happy Eastertide!  I don’t know about you, but for me Holy Week’s intense focus on Christ’s passion can be dark, dreary, and depressing. Then, suddenly, Easter arrives with a burst of pure sunshine filling our hearts with joy, peace and hope!  Holy Week necessitates a sense of sorrow and regret as we fast, pray, and repent.  But, from now until Pentecost, we celebrate Eastertide.  What will that mean for you?  How will you live this exciting period?

In the gospels for Easter Monday (Mt 28:8-15) and Tuesday (Jn 20:11-18), we read about Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus on the day after His crucifixion, and subsequent relating it to the other disciples.  I was imagining this scene where she tells the disciples about her encounter.  I doubt her conversation went like, “Mornin’, guys.  Any fresh coffee?  Oh, by the way, I got up early and went to Jesus’ tomb but He wasn’t there, and as I strolled back here this morning I met an angel-like guy all dressed in white who told me to stop crying.  And then I met this other dude who said he was Jesus and I should stop holding on to him.  What do you make of it?”

No!  We’re told she “went away quickly” / “ran” to tell the disciples about meeting Jesus.  She had seen Jesus Who was no longer dead and in His tomb and couldn’t run fast enough to tell the gathered together disciples all about her encounter.  Imagine the excitement in her voice!  She was gasping for breath and probably couldn’t find the words to make an intelligible sentence.  Yet, nothing could keep her from proclaiming what she had witnessed.

What will you do over these next seven weeks?  Will life just get back to normal?  Or will you live Eastertide like Mary and the Apostles, about whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and who earnestly evangelized after Pentecost?  Will you live the Psalm from Easter Wednesday (Ps105:1-4), “Give thanks to the Lord, invoke His name; make known among the peoples his deeds!  Sing praise to Him…proclaim all His wondrous deeds!” 

At every Mass, we recite, “We proclaim Your death, O Lord, and profess Your Resurrection, until You come again.”  Will that sentiment remain within the confines of the church building, or will you live it outside of those walls?  Will your disposition be joyful or will it revert to complaining about the exigencies of life?

Now is the time to consider how well you evangelize.  Your parish may have just initiated at Easter a whole new cohort of Catholics through OCIA, and is preparing to begin the process with a new class.  Who will you invite?  There are people out there just waiting to have the gospel proclaimed to them, people who are searching for a new life in Christ.  Won’t you show them the way?

“My dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice for the redemption of my soul!  Your Passion brought tears but your Resurrection brings immeasurable joy.  I pray for the grace to courageously ‘proclaim Your death and profess Your Resurrection’ so that others may know of Your great love.  Amen.”

(How Will You Live Eastertide? was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2013-2026 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.