In this time of pandemic where Lent has become a daily reality that is a bit heavy, I was very much looking forward to entering into the liturgy of the Easter season. Having said that, given the present context, this liturgical time is imposing itself in a different way than we are used to and I believe that this is Good News for us.
Let me explain.

For me, and certainly for you too, this is the first time that I have really experienced entering into the Easter Season with a heart that is rather heavy, stuck, anxious, sad, full of incomprehension and uncertainty. Ironically, I believe that this is perhaps the best interior disposition to have in this liturgical time since it reflects in a certain sense the experience of the first disciples following the crucifixion of Jesus. The person they followed and who inspired them died. They no longer know what to do. They are afraid of dying like Jesus. They lock themselves up first within themselves and then physically at the cenacles. A bit like them, our points of reference have changed in addition to living in fear (for some) and confinement (for everyone).

Considering that the Easter Season is in a certain sense that of the improbable and the unforeseen since it shows us a Jesus who appears to his disciples after his death in their inner and physical confinement. Considering that we are already on the 49th day before the feast of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. I believe that we should all be very attentive in our lives to this “light breeze” that impels us to unity, fraternity, joy, peace, and inspires us with justice, beauty, goodness, and truth for the common good, because we fulfil many of the same conditions as the first disciples at this time.

In the coming weeks, I truly invite us to meditate on the texts of the day that will help us to let ourselves be made and undone, built and deconstructed, to let ourselves be shaped like clay in the hand of a potter. We are all personally invited to respond to this invitation to get out of our inner confinement, our comfort zone, our habits as in the time of the first disciples.

— Marie Lyne Boucher