Preparing for Easter Now

 

Easter is a little more than a month away.  For some, a month may seem like a long time, and it is when you consider that a year is made up of twelve months.  But, it is also a relatively short amount of time.  Every day brings us closer to the holiest time of our Church Year – Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and the Easter season.  We would do well to prepare now for what lies ahead.

For our catechumens, who became Elect on the First Sunday of Lent, this is a time of intense preparation for receiving their sacraments at the Easter Vigil.  Our students preparing to receive their First Communion went to their first Confessions this week.  Yes, for those who are preparing to receive sacraments for the first time, this is a very exciting time.  For those of us who are cradle Catholics, or who have been Catholic for years, however, we might find ourselves slipping into the doldrums of Lent – slogging through these weeks of prayer, fasting, and abstinence to arrive at the final “reward” of lifted restrictions that Easter brings.  We may be eager for Easter, but for entirely different reasons.

How can we prepare for Easter now?  Lent is, after all, the season that the Church gives us to prepare ourselves – minds, bodies, and souls – for Easter itself and the season that follows.  Here are a few suggestions:

•        Go to Stations of the Cross.  If you aren’t comfortable going in-person, several parishes in the diocese are livestreaming them, or you can pray them privately at home.
•          Go to Confession.  Confession times at St. Ambrose are 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Wednesdays, 3:00 to 4:40 pm on Saturdays, or Fridays during Stations of the Cross (approximately 6:30 to 7:00 pm).
•          Take some extra time to pray each day.
•          Make an extra sacrifice – fast or abstain on a day other than Friday.
•          Give to the CRS Rice Bowl – either through a Rice Bowl throughout Lent, or make a one-time donation during Holy Week.

Whatever you do in these weeks of Lent, prepare your heart to receive the risen Jesus at Easter and to rejoice fully in the ultimate sacrifice he made for us through his death on the cross.