The Most Exquisite Morning

Charlene Rack is still learning to look diligently for joy in all the right places, (and a lovely Easter sunrise always helps).

I have a long-standing tradition on Easter mornings of scurrying to the door upon waking, and stepping outside. If Easter starts out sunny, I’ll bask in the glow and the sounds of early morning. Even if it’s raining, I’ll venture forth a few feet onto the front walk, reveling in the sound of birds all atwitter, as they boisterously greet the promise of a new day.

This habit began many years ago, when my husband and I were big fans of the contemporary Christian music scene. It was still in its infancy back then, with artists such as Twila Paris, Rich Mullins, Michael Card, and Wayne Watson, just to name a few. Sandi Patty was also a big name, and she had recorded a song called "Was It A Morning Like This?"

I was intrigued by the meditation presented in those lyrics:

I thought, “Surely, if ‘darkness came over the whole world … because of an eclipse of the sun’ while Jesus, the Son of God, hung on the cross, near to death, and ‘the veil in the Temple was torn down the middle’ (paraphrased from Luke 23: 44-45), then it just makes sense that the morning of Jesus’ Resurrection had to have been the most glorious, rapturous, and invigorating morning in the history of the world!”

I always feel that joy on Easter morning! Often, after standing outside for a few minutes, listening to nature’s “Alleluia,” I’ll come back into the house and insert that old cassette tape into our prehistoric tape player and listen to Sandi Patty belt out those words one more time. I can’t help but be moved by her soulful rendition!

We don’t rely on the things of this world to lead us to the Risen Lord and the enduring joy of Easter. #catholicmom

However, I know that many (especially in this challenging time in which we live) might not be able to (or might not know how to) embrace the joy of Easter. Just a year ago on Easter Sunday (which fell on April 12) we were all hunkered down in our homes with our family members, as the Covid-19 death toll rose day by day. Then the unthinkable happened – our church doors were shuttered, and we had to make do with watching a livestream Mass, and or doing our own Scripture readings, prayers, reflections, and hymns, with a spiritual Communion. There was also a deadly outbreak of tornadoes in the southern states last Easter. So nature obviously doesn’t always cooperate with the raising of our spirits on Easter.

That’s why we don’t rely on the things of this world to lead us to the Risen Lord and the enduring joy of Easter. We rely on the Church, in all its abundance: the inspired cycle of the liturgical year; the building of community through a parish family and other options (like this Catholic Mom website!); the timeless words of the early Church Fathers and thousands of other saints and philosophers of the Church, which we can return to again and again to grow in wisdom and faith; the intercession of the saints (in particular, through consecration to the Blessed Mother and to our father St. Joseph). I could mention so much more, but you get the point.

Easter joy comes not from the majestic glow of a warm sunrise, or from the family gathering that transpires afterwards, and perhaps not even from the fact that most of us could actually attend Mass this Easter (although that is AWESOME!).

Those are wonderful things, but the source of our joy must be Christ.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), we read, "Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice” (30) We can choose to forget or reject God. But “He never ceases to call" us to Him, "so as to find life and happiness." (30)

In CCC paragraph 1193, we find that Sundays (done well) are another source of our Christian joy. “Sunday is a gift from God. Sunday is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian family, the day of joy and rest … Sunday is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year.”

So, go ahead. Bask in this Easter week of sunrises and birdsong, while meditating on the risen SON, the source and summit of our eternal joy. He’s always there for us, rain or shine.

sunrise on a beach