This Easter, Hold On to Hope!
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Is your single status holding you back from the joy of the Easter season?
Living as a single person in today's world is not easy. Especially if you are an older single, a widow or widower, or a divorcee, it can be especially challenging to find joy in your stage of life. Those searching for love, particularly in this season of springtime, might experience an increase in anxiety and depression as their search appears fruitless yet again.
But, did you know that precisely in this Easter season, the Church commands us to live out joy and hope? The opening proclamation of the Easter Vigil liturgy, the Exsultet, contains this directive. Take a look at the second verse:
Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
I remember hearing this profound proclamation at my first Easter Vigil liturgy. Sitting in the darkened church, holding a lighted candle, I pondered how a single light could produce such hope. Yet as that light spread from one flame into many, the whole church became illuminated, even into the darkest corners.
Let the light of Easter cast out your “gloom and darkness.”
As Christians redeemed by the victory of the Cross, we are called to be joyful! We cannot continue living “as if it is always Lent and never Easter,” as Pope Francis says. Whatever sorrows, wounds, and disappointments you might be carrying cannot overcome the glory of the Resurrection. His light is brighter than any darkness.
Scroll back up and look at that verse from the Exsultet again. What word or phrase most strikes you? Floods. Ablaze. Light. Glad. End to gloom and darkness. These are powerful words. I challenge you to take hold of one or two of them, and ponder them throughout this Easter season (which is a stunning 50 days long, by the way!).
May you, like the Church, “shake with joy.”
The very next stanza of the Exsultet contains my favorite line in the whole Easter liturgy:
Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.
I love that image of the physical church shaking with joy. A joy that is so resounding, so contagious, it makes a visible movement. Just look at the earth around us during this time of year! All of creation bursts forth in joy, reminding us of the true triumph, the true joy of salvation. Let us all, like the ground beneath us, shake off the cold of darkness and burst forth with new life. This joy is contagious and it is lasting. Join your voice to the “mighty voices of the peoples” and proclaim His faithfulness. Even in your disappointment or discouragement, there is reason to hope; there is reason to praise.
Let your light shine.
And then, just like the light of a candle that spreads when it is shared with another, spread your joy to others! We are not meant to keep joy hidden. A lamp is not hidden and put under a bushel basket, it is set on a lampstand, “where it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:15) One of the best ways to cultivate Easter joy in your own heart is by sharing that joy with others. Not only does this fan the flame of light in your heart, but it takes your mind off of what you lack (a relationship) and fills it with so much more (hope!).
Practical ways to live Easter joy.
Take your single, divorced, or widowed status—the cross that you bear—and let God transform it into the “lightning of his glory.” As a single person, there are so many practical ways you can live out Easter joy throughout the entire Church season. Try some of these out!
- Attend more church liturgies. Add one or two weekday Masses on top of your Sunday obligation. There is no greater way to cultivate joy than in partaking in the “source and summit of our faith”, the Eucharist.
- Plant a garden. I can think of no better analogy for cultivating hope than literally cultivating something from your own hands. Sowing seeds, providing water, weeding, and watching creation burst forth into fruit is so rewarding. (Helpful tip: you don’t even need a big yard to grow a garden—think window garden, community garden, or simply caring for an Easter lily.)
- Grow a friendship. Reach out to a fellow single, divorced, or widowed friend, and invest more intentionally. Hope grows through community.
- Start a new routine. Easter is the season of renewal. What is something new that you can start, or something old that you can restart? Maybe it’s that workout routine you’ve been putting off since New Years’, the hobby you dropped after Covid ended, or the household project awaiting your initiative. Now is the time.
- Deepen your prayer. God is the source of all hope, and hope can only grow if we stay connected to the vine (John 15). Take this season seriously by committing to daily prayer. Shake up your prayer life with something you haven’t done before or in a while, like the Liturgy of the Hours or a daily Rosary. Perhaps even try a Novena like the Surrender Novena.
With these practices, I pray that the joy and hope of this Easter season resounds in your heart. Happy Easter!
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