Lent is meant to be kept and continued by us every day

This year, the month of April presents to us the opportunity to celebrate the last two weeks of Lent which include what used to be called Passion Week (the fifth week of Lent), Holy Week (Palm Sunday through the evening of Holy Thursday), the great Paschal Triduum (from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday and Holy Saturday at the Vigil of Easter), then Easter Sunday and the Octave of Easter ending with Divine Mercy Sunday. 
 
All these beautifully intense days are then followed by the Easter Season which comes to a close the evening of Pentecost Sunday. I mention this since all these days are not only filled with the abundant graces of God for us who participate in them and take them seriously, but they are meant to set us on a new joyful trajectory to heaven. That is exactly what the holy Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus did for all mankind. That is exactly what He continues to do for us if we allow Him to do so.
 
If we have been making the effort to keep to the discipline of Lent as we began it on Ash Wednesday, we have realized again that to pursue holiness and virtue in our lives is not easy. It takes work and especially patient perseverance to pray daily, to be truly generous to others in need with what God has given us and to faithfully practice some form of penance and self-mortification. What all of Lent teaches us is that while Lent lasts for a few weeks, the discipline of Lent is meant to be kept and continued by us every day.
 
What we have been doing to keep the Lenten discipline whether it is daily Mass, extra prayers, giving of our time or treasure and performing a real penance, all of it should not stop when the Easter Vigil ends. We are not supposed to go back to “business as usual.” We have been redeemed. Our history and personal lives have not just changed but are transformed for all time and eternity. In other words, each of us must say, in word and action, that Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen has put me on that trajectory to heaven and I will live my faith as His intentional disciple, doing His will.
 
May each of you have a most blessed Easter and Easter season!