Why do I want so badly to be able to sing well at Easter? I believe that Easter is the feast that truly speaks to us, to the depths of our being. It hits us right where we live. This is the feast that addresses our deepest fears and our greatest hopes. And the deepest fear and deepest hope are centered around one question and one question only: Am I loved? Am I loveable?
Easter says, “Absolutely!” And that’s why I need to sing.
Real love is costly. It has the potential for bringing us much pain and sorrow. But real love also has the capacity of bringing us tremendous joy.
Jesus’ love for us cost him His life. We see the depth of Jesus’ love in the freedom of it–the willingness of it, the eagerness of it, the gladness of it. He was not forced into death. He chose it freely. True, He did not enjoy the suffering. The entire way of the cross was anything but pleasurable. The same goes for us. We are faced with situations in life that are anything but pleasurable, yet we know deep within that love knows only one way: we’ll do whatever is necessary for the well-being of our beloved.
Jesus loved us with all His heart, not a fraction of His heart. Not because He had to, but because He wanted to. He freely chose to love us to the maximum extent possible, and because of that we have the Resurrection.
How does the Resurrection flow from that depth of love? Well, it’s been my life experience that when some aspect of life dies, something new is born and we experience a resurrection. We’re a different person than we were before. And if deep love – whether given or received – has been part of that experience, the transformation is even deeper. We can never be forced into new life. We can only be loved into new life.
A happy and most loving Easter to you!!!
Fr. Herb, C.S.C.
