Being Catholic in college isn't easy. Actually, being Catholic in general isn't easy. After you leave home and your parents, there's no one to drag you to mass or pray with you before bed anymore. You don't have someone to remind you to go to confession or not eat meat at dinner on Fridays during Lent. Now it's a lot harder. We have to keep ourselves accountable, focused and faithful, even when there's no one there to tell us to.

As a Catholic, something I've always admired are the liturgical seasons we go through. Some seasons are somber, some are all about preparation and some are "ordinary." But now, we're about to enter a new season–one different from all the others. We are about to enter Easter. Easter in the Catholic Church is a 50-day celebration. Like Christmas, it doesn't end when the food is put away or the family goes home. It's not a one-and-done type of holiday. Easter is a long, drawn-out period of celebration.

These 50 days are the most important of the year for me and they should be for many of us. Sure, preparing for Christmas during Advent is fun, and giving up Starbucks and ice cream for Lent really pays off around spring break, but this season is all about happiness. Its about really what everything is all about. What could be more worthy of a 50-day celebration than Christ coming back from the dead after saving us from all of our sins?

These next 50 days should be easier for all the college-age Catholics out there. College is tough and we have a ton on our minds. We could all use something to celebrate. We shouldn't be going to mass because we have to, we should go because we want to. These weeks should be all about happiness and joy and rejoicing in the sacrifice that was made for us. The 50 days shouldn't be like the others where we have to force ourselves to go to mass or pray–these 50 days, we should be proud of to be Catholic.

So, college Catholics, let's try something different this Easter season. Let's try to keep in mind that Easter isn't over. Let's try to keep in mind that being saved from our sins is worth more than just a trip home for brunch with our families and Easter egg hunts with our cousins. Let's try to remember that these 50 days are a celebration of hope, happiness and the perfect opportunity to renew our faith.