Cardinal Newman once said, "At Christmas we joy with the natural unmixed joy of children, but at Easter our joy is highly wrought and refined in character." This part of Jesus' life is elusive and the Christian is not totally at ease with it. Part of the reason is that Jesus' presence has changed and is totally new. The whole atmosphere, both physical and relational, is different from those meetings he had before with his friends. Therefore, the Easter experiences must be read, pondered and prayed in a different manner from the events of Jesus' mortal life if we are to experience the joy to which Newman refers.
