Since we don't have to give anything up for Easter, it's a lot easier than Lent to forget when it actually ends and to assume that it just sort of fades away after a few weeks. As we all know though, Easter is actually longer than Lent and I always thing that the fact we don't make more of the whole Easter Season is one of the great missed opportunities in the Catholic Church. Sadly, one of many.
Anyway, this is all a preamble to my pointing out an article which appeared on the website of the Catholic Herald a few weeks back. It was called How the disciples' alarm at the Risen Lord became a joy so great it left them dumbfounded. Okay, so it's not exactly a snappy title, but it's a really good piece by Bishop David McGough. here's a slice...
"Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." This invitation to repentance formed the conclusion of Peter's address to the people of Jerusalem at Pentecost. It was a call to repentance unlike any that had preceded it, since it flowed from the power and presence of the Risen Lord. The Resurrection transforms the possibilities of repentance.
St Paul, in the seventh chapter of his Letter to the Romans, had despaired of sinful humanity, left to itself, ever finding true repentance. We long to do what is right, but instead we find ourselves committing the very faults that we seek to avoid. The Risen Lord, by his death and Resurrection, became the power by which we not only hear the call to repentance, but are enabled to respond in a new way of life. When we repent in the Risen Lord, we rise to a new life. Faith enables a change of heart whose possibilities are rooted in the power that raised Jesus from the dead.
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