{"id":15432,"date":"2012-04-23T21:57:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=15432"},"modified":"2012-04-24T08:43:37","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T13:43:37","slug":"one-third-of-fifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/one-third-of-fifty\/","title":{"rendered":"One-third of Fifty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Twelve Days of Christmas. Forty Days of Lent. Now Fifty Days of Easter. According to my calculations we are approximately one-third of the way through the Easter season. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) there doesn\u2019t seem to be any popular song counting up the 50 Days of Easter. But maybe there should be.<\/p>\n

If Easter is the most sacred holiday on the Christian calendar, it seems fitting that all fifty days be used spiritually to good purpose. Unfortunately, Easter is probably the holiday that gets the most drive-by\u2019s as the school year winds down, and kids get busy with finals and planning for the summer.<\/p>\n

Easter is the season for hope and joy if ever there was one, but I wonder what it\u2019s like for people who aren\u2019t feeling much hope right now. When I think of people who are suffering from illness, depression, loneliness, isolation, and loss of loved ones, I realize that perhaps the best way to give thanks to God may be for us to take some concrete steps to try to restore hope or joy to someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

With more than 30 days remaining in these fifty days of Easter there is still time to seek out someone who could use a little hope and joy right now. Lent has come and gone. Christmas seems far away. And there are some right now for whom Christmas may not even arrive this year.<\/p>\n

Is it possible that we could find some time in fifty days to make Easter more real to someone who is suffering? Maybe this could be our resolution.<\/p>\n

Nothing should rob us of the joy of Easter. Easter is real because Christ is Risen. He has given us hope that surpasses understanding and maybe that joy could be magnified if we use this time to bring the light of hope to someone who might feel forgotten, to someone who really needs it but just doesn\u2019t feel it.<\/p>\n

These people are all around us if we\u2019re paying attention.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still Easter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twelve Days of Christmas. Forty Days of Lent. Now Fifty Days of Easter. According to my calculations we are approximately one-third of the way through the Easter season. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) there doesn\u2019t seem to be any popular song counting up the 50 Days of Easter. But maybe there should be…. [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t