The Feast of Easter

Ever since those days Easter has been kept as the greatest feast of the Church – “the queen of seasons” and the “royal feast of feasts”. (1)  All people who have been confirmed should make their Communion on that day.  If they are too ill or old to come to church they tell their parish priest so that the Blessed Sacrament can be brought to them at home during Easter week.

Besides keeping Easter as a great yearly festival, we also remember Jesus’ Resurrection, or rising from the dead, every week.  For as the Resurrection happened on a Sunday, so Christians keep Sunday week by week as a special day of worship, joy and rest.

SUMMARY

1. On the evening of Easter Day Jesus appeared to the Apostles and gave them, first their Apostolic Commission (his authority to act on his behalf); and then secondly the power to forgive sins in his name.

2. The next Sunday (Low Sunday) Jesus appeared again and Thomas then realised that he was the Lord God.  Jesus appeared at other times too, and once when they were fishing on the Lake of Galilee.

3. We call his rising again from the dead, his ‘Resurrection’ and because it happened on a Sunday, we keep every Sunday as a special day of worship.

Reference

1. John of Damascus (c. 675-749), trans. Neale, J.M. (1818-1866) Come, ye faithful, raise the strain.  Available from:
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/c/c341.html (Accessed 14 December 2010) (Internet).