Dear Parishioners:
A Blessed Easter to all! Today we rejoice in the gift of the
Resurrection and the New Life that Jesus offers us. Alleluia springs forth and draws us into
God’s own joy in the salvation Christ has won for us. We gather together to acknowledge our Faith
that in Jesus God has conquered death and offered us a remedy for sin.
There is a special message for us in
the way the Church celebrates Easter.
For us, Easter is one day, three days that are four, a week and a day, a
season of 50 days, and 52 days a year.
It is not a one-time reality.
The one day for the celebration of Easter finds its place in the
calendar by a complex formula: it is established as the first Sunday on or
after the first full moon of the vernal, that is Spring, equinox. This was set by the Council of Nicaea
Easter has a Triduum, a period of three
days, that include four separate days in our way of measuring days: Holy
Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The count of three days is found by following
the Jewish day from sunset to sunset.
The Solemnity of Easter is
celebrated as an Octave, a week and a
day, that culminates with Divine Mercy Sunday.
The Easter Season begins with Easter
Sunday and goes to Pentecost – 50 days.
Finally, every Sunday is observed as
a little Easter. This is the reason that
the Sundays of Lent are not counted in the 40 days assigned to Lent.
From this, we can begin to see just
how important Easter is considered for us.
It is the beginning of the New Life God has promised. In Easter time, we taste something of
Eternity. I invite you to live Easter to
the full!
This week, I will be on retreat with
the priests of the Focolare Movement.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Next weekend, we will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday with Anointing of
the Sick at all Masses and with Adoration and the Divine Mercy Devotion
following the Noon Mass. All are welcome
to share with us the boundless Mercy of the God Who raised Jesus from the dead.
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