Easter Sunday
Feast Day: The Resurrection of the Lord
Early on Sunday morning, some women went to a tomb with spices to anoint a dead body.
They were worried about one thing: who would roll away the heavy stone?
They never needed to worry.
The stone was already rolled away.
And the body was gone.
Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia!
The Empty Tomb
An angel was sitting on the stone, and he spoke to the women:
“He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.”
— Matthew 28:6, Douay-Rheims
That sentence changed the world.
Jesus had told His Apostles again and again that He would rise on the third day.
They did not understand.
Now they would.
The Most Important Day of the Year
Christmas gets the decorations.
Easter is the bigger feast.
Without Easter, there would be no Christianity at all.
St. Paul said it plainly:
“And if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:14, Douay-Rheims
And then:
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep”
— 1 Corinthians 15:20, Douay-Rheims
The Resurrection is not a nice idea or a metaphor.
It is a fact the Apostles were willing to die for.
The Easter Vigil
The celebration begins on Saturday night with the Easter Vigil, the most beautiful liturgy of the year.
It starts in darkness.
A new fire is lit, and the Easter candle is carried into the dark church.
Candle by candle, the light spreads.
The ancient Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet, is sung.
New Christians are baptized and confirmed, and the bells that went silent on Holy Thursday ring again.
Fifty Days of Easter
Easter is not one day.
The first eight days, called the Octave of Easter, are each celebrated like Easter Sunday itself.
And the Easter season lasts fifty days, all the way to Pentecost.
Lent was forty days.
Easter is fifty.
God is generous.
When Is It Celebrated?
Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, which the Church fixes on March 21.
The early Church agreed to celebrate it on a Sunday, the day Jesus rose, and the Council of Nicaea in 325 worked to unite all Christians on a common date.
That is why Easter can fall anywhere from March 22 to April 25.
In 2027, it falls on March 28.
In 2028, it falls on April 16.
What Easter Teaches Us
Easter teaches us that death does not get the last word.
Sin does not get the last word.
Despair does not get the last word.
Jesus does.
And every Sunday of the year is a little Easter, a weekly reminder that He is alive.
(See Why Sunday Became the Christian Day of Worship.)
When Is Easter?
The Catholic Church celebrates Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, between March 22 and April 25.
Prayer Inspired by Easter
Lord Jesus Christ,
You rose from the dead on the third day,
just as You said.
Fill our hearts with Easter joy.
Raise us up from sin and fear,
and help us live as people who know
that You are alive.
Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia! Amen.
