In Honor of 50 Days of Easter: Alleluia!

To be perfectly honest, Easter was never my favorite holiday as a kid. I mean, we didn’t even get school off, what kind of holiday is that? But even if I didn’t exactly get the wonder of Easter then, I could tell there was something special about Easter mass. Whether it be the brass quartet, the Easter lilies or the standing room only church, there was something I could not help but love.

Now that I am all grown up, I love Easter, and yes, a part of it is still the brass quartet, Easter lilies and standing room only church. But a newer love of mine is getting to exclaim Alleluia for the first time after over forty days. And exclaim it we do!

Sixty-four. That was the number of “Alleluia’s” printed in my parish’s mass booklet on Easter morning. And that is just the printed ones. If I had counted the actual total of “Alleluia’s” that were sung, said or proclaimed on Sunday, we would probably have reached well into the triple digits. With each one, I could practically see Satan getting kicked in the face by Christ’s victory, and it was awesome.

Alleluia is one of those church words though, that I have said my entire life, but never really knew what it meant. Here’s what it literally means- “Praise ye, Yah” or Yahweh. The word in its original use has been used to praise God since the beginning of the Church. Heck, Alleluia has been used to praise God by the choirs of angels since before time began! And when we sing it, proclaim it, say it, we are participating in the worship of the angels. It is the highest expression of thanksgiving, joy and most importantly, triumph. Triumph over death, triumph over sin and triumph over Hell. What reason is there to not proclaim it?

Well, in case you didn’t notice, Lent is one of those reasons. Why? Because Lent is a time, not for joining with the angels, but a time to focus on our sins, and repent, just so we can have the privilege of worshiping God again. And now the time has come to do exactly that. After waiting, and waiting, we get to join in the worship of the angels, we get to express our profound adoration and love of the Lord, as He loved us first. How freaking cool is that?

I hope that this profound joy of the Easter season makes its way into your heart, and your life. Have a happy Easter, and relish getting to join in the praise of the angels once again!

Keara King gets excited about the little things in life-like bagels on Friday and swinging on swing sets. She is a sophomore student at SFA, from Flower Mound, Texas. She is a social work major, and her dream is to work with children at St. Jude's.