The Octave of Easter

The Lord has Risen! Alleluia!

 

Easter Sunday is not the end of our Easter celebration.  After forty days of preparation with Lent, and the Easter Triduum, from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, it is easy to miss looking ahead on the Church’s liturgical calendar.  This is, after all, the climax of the Christian year with the celebration of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Catechism calls Easter the “Feast of feasts” and the “Solemnity of solemnities.”  Yet, Easter Sunday is actually just the first day of the Easter Octave, the eight-day festal period, in which we continue to celebrate the momentous conclusion to the Paschal mystery and the economy of salvation played out in liturgical time. 

 

The eight days of the Easter Octave are a special time to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection and more deeply contemplate its mysteries.  The Church punctuates the special importance of this feast by assigning it the highest liturgical ranking, that is, as a Privileged Octave of the First Order.  This means each of the eight days is counted as a solemnity, the highest-ranking feast day, in which no other feast can be celebrated.  It begins the fifty days of the Easter celebration to the feast of Pentecost, but these first eight days of the Easter Octave culminates with the second Sunday of Easter:  Divine Mercy Sunday. ( https://catholicexchange.com/the-octave-of-easter-divine-mercy-sunday-2/ )

 

Easter Sunday (Year A)

And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.  His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.”  Matthew 28:2–6b

 

What an experience that must have been!  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb early in the morning to pay tribute to our Lord’s sacred body.  They brought the oils and perfumes that they planned on placing on his beaten and bruised body.  They came to offer Him their last act of love.  But as the women arrived, the earth quaked and the angel of God appeared to them.  

As they left, Scripture says they then left the tomb quickly, “fearful yet overjoyed.”  All they could think about was telling the other disciples of their encounter when another incredible joy befell them.  Jesus Himself met them on the way.  In their amazement, the women fell at His feet and did Him homage.  Not the homage they planned on doing to a dead body, but the homage due to a risen Savior.  They worshipped Him.  Jesus then spoke: “Do not be afraid.  Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Mt. 28:10).

 

It was true.  All they had hoped for came true.  They saw Jesus arrested.  They saw Him beaten.  They saw Him falsely accused.  They saw Him sentenced to death.  And they saw Him die.  Now for the miracle of miracles, they saw their Savior alive.  Every hope that they had came true. Everything came to fruition in that moment.  All that was lost was restored a hundredfold.

 

The Resurrection of Christ is not simply an event that took place long ago.  It’s an event that continues to take place when we patiently walk with our Lord through the trials, crosses and sufferings of life, with hope and trust in His power to do all good things.  Evil always loses in the end when we remain steadfast in our hope in Him.

 

As we celebrate the reality of the Resurrection of Christ, ponder the promise He has spoken to you.  If you have surrendered all to Him and died to the world of sin, keep your eyes now on the Resurrection.  Have hope in Him and in His power to breathe new life into your heaviest cross.

 

Sometimes we have hope in our own ideas of the Resurrection.  We ask for some hope to come true because we think it is what we need.  But the Resurrection of Christ should teach us that His plan for new life for each one of us is far superior than what we could ever imagine.  Do you believe that?  Do you maintain your hope in Christ even when all seems lost?  

 

Reflect, today, upon the unfathomable plan that God has for your life.  Know that if you remain faithful until the end, our Lord will bring forth greater joys in your life than you could ever think possible.  It may not happen according to your schedule or your wishes, but it will happen in accord with His perfect divine will.  Do not doubt.  Do not be afraid.  Have hope and trust, and anticipate the moments when the power of the Resurrection brings forth the greatest joys you could ever imagine.

 

My Resurrected Lord, I trust You with all my mind, heart, soul and strength.  I believe that You are faithful to perfection and that Your fidelity will never fail.  Give me hope when I need it the most and help me to keep my eyes on the glory that awaits.  You have conquered all evil.  May I always trust in You!

( https://mycatholic.life/books/catholic-daily-reflections-series/lent-and-easter-reflections/8-octave-of-easter/ )

Posted by Mary Jo Kriz