Simcha Fisher

Don't fall into the Hallmark Trap. The Hallmark Trap is when we are tricked into feeling like we deserve picture-perfect Special Days at regular intervals throughout the year. The Hallmark Trap means that on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries are always going to be a little bit disappointing, because there's no way that real life can measure up to a carefully choreographed three-minute commercial spot designed to sell overpriced consumer goods. It's nice that Mother's Day is a special day set aside for your kids to appreciate you, but there's no guarantee that they won't get a stomach bug and throw up on your bed while delivering your breakfast on a tray. Is this unfair? Not really. It's just what it means to be a mother: sometimes, people throw up on you, and you have to be sympathetic to them. When we fall into the Hallmark Trap when we're living the liturgical year, we might find ourselves thinking, "Sure, I can be patient and charitable and generous, and offer up irritations and set-backs all throughout the rest of the year. But I deserve a flood of peace and grace and joy on Easter, because it's the Resurrection, dammit!" But there's no guarantee that Easter will work out that way. Maybe it will; but if it doesn't, that's not unfair. It's just what it means to be a Catholic: we need Easter because we're crappy people who get mad at other people even during Mass. It just means we're still the Church Militant, still looking forward to the Second Coming. Thank God the graces of the risen Lord don't come to us only when it's a picture perfect Mass.
-Simcha Fisher
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/the-ce-crowd-how-to-deal#ixzz2OreV6Fpt