The wonderful thing about living through four seasons is that just when one of them is threatening to overstay its welcome, and you are frankly tired of it, a natural desire is born that longs for the signs of the next approaching season. Snow was met with great excitement and laughter in November, but by March you are ready for something else.
But we want to live by historical rhythms, and not just by natural rhythms. We also seek to define our days, weeks, months and years in reference to the life of Jesus Christ our Lord. We have celebrated His birth among us, just a few months ago now, and we are now looking forward to a celebration of His death and resurrection. As we work through this story again, we should realize what a captivating story it is because it always grips us, no matter how many times we have heard it.
This is the mark of a great novel. You may have read it numerous times before, but once you are into it again your enjoyment of it only deepens. You know what is going to happen, and you are better able to prepare yourself for it as it happens. In the same way, you know that spring is coming and you are better able to prepare for it when you have been through it twenty times.
So we are now longing for Easter, for the annual feast of the Resurrection, but we do not look at this future the way the first disciples did, in bleak despair. As the Church learns how to look forward to the resurrection, each year more and more of us should be assembled at the place where He was buried, expectantly waiting for Him to fulfill all His promises. There should be no hollow stares, but rather a lot of expectant whispering.