Easter is a Season, not just a day. Just like Christmas and its Twelve Days, there is more to it than a 24-hour period of time. After Easter Sunday the Season continues—first with the Octave 8 or days of Easter, and then the full Easter Season which concludes with the Pentecost Sunday, May 15th, some 50 days later. During this time various different liturgies within our Easter Season are celebrated, i.e., The Annunciation of the Lord on 4 April and (the Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena on 29 April) The Ascension of the Lord on 5 May.

I mention this to highlighted that we as a Church take time to celebrate the meaning of Christ’s death and Resurrection and the eternal impact it has on our human lives and on our immortal souls. God’s great gift of Salvation is something that needs to be kept front-and-center in our minds and hearts so that we might prioritize appropriately the way we live-out our faith. What do we
consider important in our lives? What do we spend our time perfecting: our game or our soul? And how then do we do that? The path, while difficult is also made clear to us in Scripture and Church teaching: to imitate Christ in the way we interact with
others—our family, friends, work and church. Remember that He came to be the “Suffering Servant,” to show us that the one who is Divinely Royal came to serve—to bring
happiness, joy and peace to our lives while illustrating and living The Truth: God’s Love. At Mass, in Eucharistic Prayer II we hear: “…Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection, we offer You, Lord, the Bread of life and the chalice of salvation, giving thanks that You have held us worthy to be in Your presence and minister to You.” We minister to the Lord by ministering to our brothers and sisters in need—in need of food, prayer, shelter, comfort, counseling and teaching. When we do something for others, we do it for Christ.

We take the time in Easter to see His Death and Resurrection (and at Christmas His Incarnation) and recognize the impact and change Christ offers to us out of God’s love. This is why the Church notes that Mass and celebrating faith is not simply an “obligation” to fulfill on Sundays with a long list of other things to “get through” (the “honey do” list), but rather is something that should be the source of our daily activities of life. After all, the joy and the happiness, the peace and the comfort of Eternity are for a “long time.” And I believe it is something most definitely worth obtaining.
May we all be blessed in this endeavor! Happy Easter—all 50 days long and to infinity!