Jesus is risen -- so what?

I remember going to Ireland to cover travel stories for CNN.    Our enthusiasm was bubbling over as we sailed across the Irish Sea from Scotland to Belfast.   Our first few days were spent in  Northern Ireland.    We were awed at the beauty of the Antrim coast, overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people and  astonished with the history.    Stupefied by the stupendous castles and lured by the luscious  green landscapes, our camera crew couldn’t wait to  start rolling.    After more than a week of working long-hour days,  our enthusiasm started to wane.  As the country became more familiar, the newness wore off and our initial excitement faded.   The coastal beauty seemed to have lost some of its glimmer.  The  emerald countryside  appeared a little less striking.   Even the castles seemed less spectacular.  In the final days of the trip, there were times when we had to practically beg our photographers to get a few shots.    

Life is often like the trip described above.  The longer we stay in one place, one job or one relationship, the greater the challenge to sustain our initial passion and fervor.   Honeymoons never last long enough.  We long for newness, yet become quickly bored.  And, boredom often seduces us to take for granted all that we have been given.   Like life, liturgy is  something that for most of us has become familiar and comfortable.   And all that the liturgy represents can too easily be taken for granted.  Four weeks ago, we celebrated the incomprehensible reality that a God-Man rose from the dead.  Jesus died and rose that we might have life to the full--not sometime in the future--but today.  As the Easter Psalm reminds us, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.”   The newness for which we long is ours for the taking every moment of every day.   If we really lived as though this were the truth, our “Alleluias” would be heard ‘round the world.  Amen!