The Easter Season
Whew! Lent and the Easter Triduum are over. Now, can we get back to “regular” life in our liturgies?
The answer is no, we can’t. We are now in the Easter Season which will last until Pentecost Sunday. As the song says, “This is the feast of victory for our God, Alleluia!” With joy, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We will continue our celebration for the 50 days of Easter until we reach the feast of Pentecost. We also can sing, “Jesus Christ is risen today,” for all of those 50 days. In “real” time the resurrection was hundreds of years ago. But Christians believe that the resurrection has meaning in our lives each and every day. Through the resurrection, Jesus opens for us the way to new life.
The Kingdom has come. Christ has redeemed us. It’s not like we didn’t know, but we know even better after we celebrate the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. After breaking bread, washing feet, standing at the foot of the cross, visiting the empty tomb, and hearing that “The Lord is Risen,” we are changed. After washing ourselves in the baptismal water, signing ourselves with the sacred Chrism, and dining at the altar of the Lamb, we are made new.
It is a mystery. We can never explain it. We will never understand it. We sometimes barely recognize it. But having celebrated these high holy days, we become more firmly embedded in it, joining our lives to Christ through the Mystery of Faith.
