With the arrival of Easter, we find ourselves at the highpoint of a series of holy days. For us, this started with the celebration of Palm Sunday and Good Friday. This week before Easter is called Holy Week. From Easter, we anticipate Ascension Day and Pentecost. Easter season ends with the Saturday before Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) and thus also includes the Pentecost feast. The celebration time of Easter is also tied to the season. That is why the dates “move” and it is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (March 21).

The function of a feast, such as Easter, is to commemorate the past event, identify with the event, create communion related to the feast, and to create an opportunity to consider its future aspects; in other words, our expectations and hope. The events of salvation, like Easter, are therefore not only historic but also have a real consequence for our future. In Sunday services celebrated at the time of the early Christians the resurrection of the Lord was already commemorated. No one was to forget that Sunday was a day to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord. Through the liturgy and the divine service, the history of divine deeds is not called to remembrance as something that was (occurred historically) but is attested to as something lastingly valid and that is present.

The central Christian feast is the day commemorating the Resurrection (Sunday) which was already commemorated in the first church on the first day of the week. When the weekly day of rest was moved from the last day of the week to the first day of the week, the early Christians broke with Judaism. The fact that the Sunday is observed shows that Christianity is not a Jewish sect.

The significance of Easter for us is that we celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead which is both a miracle and a mystery. Holy Scripture gives an account of the many who saw the Risen One. His Resurrection was proclaimed by the Apostles right from the beginning as the core element of the gospel. It is the foundation of our hope for life eternal because Jesus Christ made it possible to overcome both death and mankind’s separation from God. Belief in the resurrection of “Christ the firstfruits” from the dead is the basis for our belief in the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation of the living upon His return (CNAC 12.5.4). As part of the Bride of Christ being prepared by the Apostolate of today this is our sincere conviction and hope for our own eternal future; to have fellowship with the Lord and our brothers and sisters for all eternity.

May the celebration of Easter bring all of this to life again for us!