Life-teen update (04-15-2007)

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday Life-teen fans. Today, April 15 is Divine Mercy Sunday, which marks the end of the Easter octave, the eight day feast during which we celebrate Easter. In days long past this was represented by eight straight days of feasting and rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord. It was a party in the name of salvation. These days it seems like we have a tendency to forget about Easter as soon as all the eggs are found and the dishes have been cleared away after dinner. The octave is a good way of reminding us that the Church carries on the rejoicing for another seven days. If the eight day octave wasn’t enough to continually remind you of the resurrection, then maybe the Easter liturgical season will be. 50 days from Easter to Pentecost. As was pointed out to me this past week, Easter is the only liturgical season where we get to have the Easter candle lit at every Mass. The Easter candle stands as a constant reminder to all of us that Christ is the light of the world. If we want to dwell in the light rather then the darkness, than we must dwell in Christ. As Catholics we are called to carry the light of the resurrection, the good news of salvation, out to all the nations. As young adults this takes primarily in school and in our families. School is probably the more difficult of the two. In our country you are allowed to say pretty much anything you want in a high school as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus. Even I have been warned by the administration that my Wednesday afternoon lunches at the high school can be cut off if I start trying to convert anyone. So far though they haven’t told me that I can’t hand out free pizza to anyone I want. Actions are much more difficult to control than words. If a picture is worth a thousand words, think of how much more it means to actually be the one in the picture. We don’t have to say anything to preach the Gospel, we just have to do it.