we are an Easter people

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair, for we are an Easter people and Hallelujah is our song." JPII

Every have that feeling where you're losing yourself to everything going on around you? Where you're so overwhelmed by circumstances, and people are letting you down at every turn? Ever felt like you're completely abandoned? Sometimes things are too much and we doubt they're going to ever get better. And some things aren't going to get better or go the way we want,  but we have to realize something, We are an Easter people.

But what is it to be an Easter people and what do we have to do? Its more than just remembering, "Oh yay, once upon a time a guy names Jesus rose from the dead and then the Easter bunny came." Lets play pretend. Pretend that all those problems, all that loneliness, all that guilt, all that stress, was taken away from you by someone you barely spoke to, and they dealt with it for you. Imagine they suffered for all your pain, and for all the things you've done wrong. Imagine they suffered a lot. And then imagine that they suffered so much they died for you and all those things. I'd feel a little affection towards them after that. Honestly, it'd be so sad that someone loved me that much and they died. Now imagine that 3 days later, they came back to life, to you. Since we're imagining this, imagine how happy you'd feel after that. 

Pretty happy right?

Once upon a time, a guy names Jesus died for our sins and for our salvation and then he CAME BACK to us because he never leaves us to deal with things alone. As an Easter people, we are to live with that type of joy.  We are not alone, we are not abandoned! Jesus died for us and heals our brokeness, shouldn't we celebrate?

Because after all, we are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song.

Happy Easter.