Why You Should Still Be Celebrating Easter (And How)

I don’t know about you, but for me, the days of Lent seemed to drag on and on this year.

Looking back, I know that the Lord used that time to chip away the earthly attachments, comforts, and ungodly vices in my heart. But it was hard. And long.

However, as always, the Lenten season ended, culminating with the blessed and sorrowful days of the Triduum, which soon ushered in the “Alleluia” of the risen Christ on Easter morning.

What peace, joy, and celebration that day held! The long journey in the desert of Lent, to the Garden of Gethsemane, and at the top of Calvary, ended with an empty tomb and a full heart. Whatever you did on Easter Sunday to celebrate, I’m sure you felt relieved and blessed just like me! 

But guess what? It’s still Easter.

Yes, even now, when our Lenten and Triduum journey seems so long ago that it feels like a dream, the Church is still celebrating the risen Jesus. Even if the Easter decorations have been put away, and stores have brought out the 4th of July decor, and all that remains of your Easter candy are the extra pounds you gained from it, we are still called to celebrate!

Get this: the Easter season is 50 days long. Remember how long and drawn out Lent felt? Well, as redeemed Christians, made new in Christ’s resurrection, we get to celebrate our salvation in Jesus’ death and resurrection for longer than we spent preparing for it!

In case you need more convincing, the very Mass is ordered in the celebration of the season. The white altar cloths and vestments, the Alleluia chorus, the Gloria.... they all remind us that we are in a season of feasting. Of rebirth.

With the resurrected Jesus also comes the resurrection of the earth, too. Look around outside and you’ll notice: flowers, leaves, birds, cute baby animals… they are all signs of new life! As much as Lent was a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the Easter season is a time of joy, celebration, and new life.

So, what are you doing differently during this Easter season?

As Evangelii Gaudium boldly points out, “there are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.” We are a redeemed people, living in the peace of our resurrected Savior. Our very lives should reflect the joy of heaven. Are there still times for fasting and penance? Of course. But in this very season of Easter, we are called to celebrate. 

Jesus put it this way—“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Matthew 9:15).

If you haven’t thought about Easter since Easter Sunday, let’s change that today!  We’ve still got until Pentecost Sunday to celebrate.

Here are just some of the many ways to make this season a remarkable and transcendent one:

1. Continue to “feast” by enjoying your favorite adult beverage or dessert with your meal—maybe not every evening, but definitely more often than you would normally!
2. Read Acts of the Apostles and see how the faith spread after the Resurrection (the first reading for all of the Easter season Masses is taken from Acts, so even just keeping up with the daily readings is a good practice).
3. Spread joy by doing random acts of kindness—buying the drink for the car behind you in the coffee drive-through, baking goodies for your neighbors or coworkers, etc.
4. Go to daily Mass more often, remembering Jesus' ultimate sacrifice and the redemption it brings (plus, you can't get enough of those "Alleluias" right now, am I right?).
5. Pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary—not just on Sunday's and Wednesday's, but all the days!
6. Make a pilgrimage to a holy site—set this season aside, too, as sacred and holy.
7. Conduct a “spring cleaning” in your home, car, or office as a reminder of Christ “making all things new."
8. Celebrate the feast days of the saints to remember the feasting that goes on now in heaven!

Living the resurrection is the most "Christian" thing to do right now. It should not only bring you well-deserved joy after the hard-fought season of Lent, but it is necessary. Now, more than ever, the world needs to see the Church—Christ's mystical body here on earth—alive, vibrant, and well.

Happy Easter—Alleluia!