Easter is today, and it’s like an Easter I’ve never experienced. It’s an Easter that everyone alive on this earth has not experienced. Quarentined to stop the spread of COVID-19 has elminated family gatherings, church, Easter egg hunts, and almost everything traditionally associated with Easter as I know it.
I did go out and obtain a smoked ham from our local butcher, wearing a facemask per the CDC’s reccomendations. But other than a traditional Easter dinner on the menu, the traditional Easter is hard to find.
Church looked like this:
Traditional Catholic services were held via You Tube or the like. Easter dresses were exchanged for Easter pajamas (at least in my house they were.) Traditional communion was exchanged for a chocolate egg.
We streamed the homily from our home Catholic church, and the priest said something about the empty tomb found on Easter Morning. My second-grade son said, “Empty tube? What empty tube?” Then as I tried to explain the story of finding Jesus’ tomb empty, he goes on to playing with Easter basket toys or wrestling around with his sister. I can’t honistly say that he heard any of it.
Any of you who have taken your young children to church know the challenges of getting them to pay attention, let alone be quiet at times, depending on their age. Try getting your kids to pay attention to church online. Ug, I gave up quick. The seven and four-year-old would dissapear and reappear in the living room as my wife and I sat on the couch listening to Facebook Live church. Weird.
But at the end of this experience, when the invite was extended to Zoom and hang out via live video with everyone, and I let my kids know they could now come and see the other people online, they quickly dropped what they were doing and wanted to take part in seeing and being seen on camera.
Proof, that they are in fact listening, just selectively listening to those things they want to hear or take part it. But they are listening.
So however you are talking about Easter or experiencing Easter, your kids are listening. They’re always listening, and chances are they will not follow directions much of the time, they will carry the experiences with them and maybe even carry on Easter and traditions, classic or new, with their loved ones and families in the future.
May I always speak and act as if they are listening and watching–because chances are they are, even when appearances say otherwise.
Father Through Me 