Claritin Clear

Every 2-3 years or so a commercial comes out that everyone seems to have memorized within a matter of weeks because of how simple, annoying, and repetitive it is. In 5th grade that commercial was the Claritin allergy commercial. If you don't know or don't remember what commercial I am referring to then maybe this will ring a bell. Every Claritin clear commercial used to end with someone unfocused on the screen and they'd say "There's clear" (then the remove the foggy screen) "Then there's Claritin clear". I like to think of Claritin when I think of Easter. Why? Because Easter Sunday is the moment of clarity.

If you ever watch Passion of the Christ there is a moment when the camera is zooming out on Mary's face as she is holding Jesus once he has been taken down from the cross. In this image of her you can see, not lack of trust but, confusion. Her face speaks the scrambled thoughts in her head, "I'm confused... God you told the world what my son would do... how could this be your plan for that? He's dead, that's the end. Lord I trust that you will save us but death is permanent  this can't be the end though, you will has not yet be completed. I don't understand your plan Lord."

3 days later Jesus rose. 

I love how when Jesus does appear to everyone on Easter Sunday how when the people finally put the pieces together they are like "oh....duh" and I can imagine Jesus reacts to their dumbfounded faces with a reaction like this:

Back to my point though. When we look back at scripture it seems so obvious what Jesus came here to do but in reality even Peter couldn't figure it out. You know, Peter, our first pope, Jesus gave him the keys to the kingdom, that guy. We wonder how they could not figure it out but when we look at society, should we really be that surprised? All over the world there is tragedy because we humans do not "get it". If death were the end then there would be no reason to have hope or to continue on after disasters. But that's the thing! Death is not the end! Jesus came. Jesus died. That should have been the end, that was what everyone mocked Jesus about as he was carrying the cross. They made fun saying that if he was the son of God then he would not die because God exists forever.

At that point in time that was all anyone knew, death was the end. Jesus would save everyone by destroying death. A better way to put it though might be to say that instead Jesus showed us that death was not the end. The reason death is not the end is because Jesus gave his life for us. He could have died and saved us but we would never know. Jesus in all of his love and mercy though came back to Earth to show us that it was never the end. Jesus by his resurrection gave us clarity.

We celebrate this mystery every year at Easter. Many who are not Catholic I find are intreguied by the season of Lent that is so prevelant in the Catholic church. They have every reason to, it is a time of fasting, almsgiving, we celebrate the last supper, the death of Jesus, etc. However, sometimes what often gets forgotten is the fact that we spend 50 days celebrating Easter.

Lent=40 days. Easter=50 days!

We celebrate 50 days of Easter because it is that moment of clarity after all of our fasting, sacrifice, and almsgiving during Lent. Easter is that time when celebrate that moment when we finally understood why we suffered, why we are here, and see that God really did have a plan for everything all along. That is something worth celebrating.

*minor correction (Blessed Pope John Paul II)*