Often, when I was a young child, my mother would say how much she loved Easter. At the time, I never understood why. To my young mind, how could Easter be better than the birth of Christ at Christmas and the sharing of gifts? Yet, as I grew older, I began to understand why.
I have been a Catechetical Leader for many years. When Easter approaches, this often means an Easter egg hunt for all the children of the parish. In teaching about Easter, there was always a lesson with Easter Eggs, which we called Resurrection Eggs.
Each egg had an item inside that told the Easter Story. In the first egg, there is a palm branch to remind us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the town people laid down palm branches for Jesus to travel upon. In other eggs, there are thorns to remind us of Jesus being crowned with thorns and dice to remind us of the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ tunic. Another Egg had a nail in it reminding us of Good Friday when Jesus was nailed to the Cross. These eggs are a wonderful way to invite children into the story of Easter.
Here's a story that comes to mind that shows how a child-like faith can teach us. One bright spring day, students in a First Communion class were given an Easter egg. The catechist instructed the children that each of them were going to go outside and find something that reminded them of “new life.” The students ran outside and scavenged for items to put in their Easter egg. After a few minutes, they lined up and went back to their classroom.
The catechist asked each of the students to share what they had found and why it reminded them of “new life.” Mary went first. She had found a bud on a branch reminding her of “new life” as the tree was coming alive again after the winter. Next, Henry opened his egg with grass in it. He told the class, “The grass reminded me of ‘new life’ because it had been brown all winter and now it is green to show it has life.”
Sandy went next and showed her class a flower. It was ‘new life,’ she said, because after the dead of winter it was alive with life. Sam went next, and when he opened his egg, it was empty.
Puzzled, the catechist asked why he did not have something to share. Sam said, “My egg is empty just like the tomb on Easter. We have ‘new life’ with Jesus because he rose from the dead to forgive our sins and bring us to heaven.” The catechist said his answer perfectly achieved the lesson’s objective.
Why is Easter my mother’s favorite? My mother knew that Jesus brought us ‘new life,’ by giving up his so we could be free from sin. In the celebration of Easter, each of us is united with Christ through His resurrection. Jesus frees us from sin and paves the way for our own resurrection at the end of time. Happy Easter!
By Liza Roach