What does Easter mean for you? Is it just another of those feasts that turn up on the calendar charting the arrival of spring? Bringing in its wake hosts of golden daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze, as the famous poem says? Or does Easter have another deeper meaning in your life’s trajectory?

For me Easter is a time that is ‘special’ and I think this special quality seems to grow every year. Of course, it is quite difficult to comprehend the full message of Easter without understanding the meaning of the passion and death of Jesus Christ.

Easter renews our faith and brings grace

Easter heralds the end of Lent, a time we use to try and accompany Our Lord more closely as he makes his way to Calvary where he dies on a cross out of love for us, and also to redeem us. You might ask: How does this apply to me? What has this to do with my own sufferings and difficulties?

We need faith-but also grace- to believe and accept that God is working behind all this ‘mess’ that is in our world, that he is there to heal us, and that ‘all things work together for the good.’

But faith and grace are not ‘nice feelings’ that make everything rosy and trouble-free. Faith involves believing in something or someone and accepting their word as true and authentic. Faith involves accepting that I am a child of God and that with him nothing is impossible. Faith helps us to trust less in ourselves and our own flimsy powers and to trust more in Jesus. 

What does grace do in our lives?

Grace is very potent. It heals us and helps us become stronger in our faith and life. Grace strengthens our relationship with Jesus and enables us to understand better that when Jesus died on the cross, he died to set us free from sin, and reconcile us with God. 

Grace comes through the sacraments. One particular sacrament that enables us to return more quickly to Our Lord is the sacrament of reconciliation or confession. Through the ministry of the priest in confession, we are cleansed of our sins and given grace that restores us to a closer relationship with Jesus than before. But this presupposes that we are genuinely sorry for what we have done.

Who is Jesus for me?

Easter is a good time to reflect on where do I stand with Jesus? What kind of Christian am I? Because without Christ there is no Christianity.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, who chose to suffer. He was a sinless man who freely embraced a humiliating and painful death. He tells us in the Gospel, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Did Jesus have to die in that way to redeem us? No. 

But he decided to take the blows, the spits, the cruelty meted out by the Roman soldiers, the lashes, the humiliations and profoundly painful death to open the gates of heaven to us, and liberate us from our sins.

That little four-letter word ‘free’ is very powerful. Freedom is something that has been given to everyone on this earth, even though some people have less freedom on account of their actions or the actions of other people. 

And Jesus has left us free to choose him or reject him.

Making the most of this treasure

This Easter might be our last one. We never know. But whatever the case, we should use this precious time - which goes by quickly- to encounter Jesus again and to let him in. Allow him to change us. Greet him and thank him for all he has done. Rid ourselves of those cobwebs of fear or anger or prejudice or hatred or whatever toxicity we might have inside us, and open our souls and hearts to accept those graces that are free and abundant.

Easter doesn’t end with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening. The Church gives us fifty days to really celebrate the risen Lord! 

So, let’s try and use this Easter time to grow in our relationship with Jesus, to bring him into our lives and personal relationships a bit more - to draw us closer to him and bring others along with us.