From The Pastor 4-3-2016

For the past week we have been celebrating the Octave of Easter. Running from Easter Sunday to The Second Sunday
of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), we celebrate each day just like Easter Sunday. It is as if the Church needs eight days to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead!

The number eight has a great tradition in the liturgical life of the Church. The day of the Lord’s Resurrection was referred to in the early Church as the “Eighth Day”. We all know of the seven days of creation. By referring to the day of the Lord’s Resurrection as the “Eighth Day”, early Church Fathers were linking Easter to a ‘new creation” in Christ. This is much more than symbolic language. The fact is that the world was changed forever on that first Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross and rising in glory, broke the power of sin and death and the world has a new hope, a new beginning.

Something new and wonderful has been accomplished in Christ. Through his Incarnation, his Crucifixion, and his Resurrection, heaven is indeed united to earth. The gates of heaven are opened and the grace and mercy of God are available to all who seek it. May this Easter Season be a time of grace for each of us, a new beginning, a new placing of hope in the Risen Lord!