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Easter Sunday
23 March 2008
Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
Dear Friends in Christ,
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is truly Risen! Alleluia!
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the Father’s supreme and wholly marvelous work. In the Resurrection, sin and death are conquered forever, and all men are given the opportunity of everlasting life and perfect happiness by a union with Christ’s eternal glory which comes by grace through saving faith.
The Solemnity of the Resurrection is celebrated not just on Easter Sunday. The first eight days after the Vigil on Holy Saturday are the Octave of Easter, a single continuous celebration of the Day of Resurrection. And after the close of the Octave on the Second Sunday of Easter, the liturgical season of Easter (or Eastertide) unfolds through the seven Sundays of Easter and culminates on the great Solemnity of Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection. During these fifty days of Eastertide, celebrated as one great Sunday, the Church’s liturgy will unfold for us in the Sacred Scriptures and Mass prayers a meditation on the merciful love of God revealed in the Resurrection of Christ and the birth of His Church, and these glorious Easter days are an invitation to us to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery by on-going conversion to Christ and a renewed dedication to be His disciples through the obedience of faith.
At the heart of the celebration of Easter is the sacrament of Holy Baptism. It is by Baptism that we are born again through water and the Holy Spirit, and it is Baptism which makes us members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. At the Vigil and on Easter Sunday, all of the baptized are asked to renew the promises of their own Baptism as a sign of their free decision to renounce all things to follow Christ. A fitting way to celebrate Eastertide is to find out when, where, and by whom you were baptized. Find out who your sponsors were. Make the anniversary of your Baptism a special day of thanksgiving for the tender mercies of God, and keep that day as an annual reminder of the beginning of your Christian life.
Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us, and now He is Risen! Let us rejoice and be glad! Alleluia!
Father Newman