For we Catholics, Easter is not a one-day event but a 50-day season of celebration! Death has been defeated by the God who went down into the muck of sin and despair and arose victoriously! 

"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13)

Perhaps one of the most direct and summative lines of all Scripture is this week's passage of John's Gospel.  This command to love one another (family, friend, enemy, and stranger alike) is tasked to all of us who dare call ourselves Christian.  It's not optional!  "This I command you: love one another." (John 15:17). 

"Laying down" our lives might mean embracing the inconvenience of bearing a coworker's burdens, dealing with an annoying stranger, or losing sleep because of a crying child. But these moments are little "schools" of love where our hearts are stretched to increase in our capacity for love. 

"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you." (John 15:16).  It should be oddly comforting that God believes us to be worthy to participate in the spread of the Gospel message, through our words and actions.  If God calls us to the task, he will equip us for the job.