Second Sunday of Easter - 03.04.2016

FATHER LIAM SAYS: The part of the Catholic Church that follows the Roman Rite names today as ‘The Second Sunday of Easter’  Members of the Catholic Church that uses Eastern Rites – and they are as fully in communion with the Bishop of Rome as we are – refer to this Sunday by different titles.  It is very important to remember that not all Catholics follow the same Rite or the same calendar as we do.  Here in Britain and elsewhere there are many Catholics who have been given permission by the last Pope – Benedict XVI – to follow a Rite that reflects their Anglican heritage.  They celebrate the sacraments and the Mass in a different way than we do and have a different liturgical calendar than the one we now have.  From the very beginning the Church has celebrated the same sacred mysteries in different ways in different places and at different times.  There has never been just one way of celebrating the mystery of Christ, though the Church in the West after the Reformation – at a time of great chaos and confusion – did impose a far greater degree of uniformity than ever before.  Until some years ago we used to call this Sunday ‘The Sunday after Easter.’  That is how the Catholics who belong to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham refer to it – as does the Anglican Church.

Why does the Roman Rite now call today the Second Sunday of Easter rather than the Sunday after Easter?  Because the Church wishes us to see Easter as something bigger than a celebration of one day.  It is a celebration that lasts fifty days.  If we call today the Sunday after Easter we could seem to imply that Easter has been and gone.  But Easter lasts until the feast of Pentecost.  The Paschal Candle (or Easter Candle) is alight at all Sunday Masses until then.  Pentecost literally means the fiftieth day.  The Church sees Easter as lasting seven weeks – a week of weeks.  Seven is a number that signifies perfection.  After seven times seven days we come to the fiftieth day, giving expression to how far beyond perfection Easter is.  St Augustine in North Africa, who died nearly 1,600 years ago, never tired of telling his fellow believers that ‘we are the Easter people and Alleluia is our song’.  But Augustine did not use those exact words. 

He did not speak English – nor did anyone at that time.  The word the Church uses for Easter is Pascha and most Christian countries call the feast of Christ’s Resurrection by some modification of Pascha.  This word is the Latin and Greek version of the Jewish word which refers to the great event of the Passover – the wonderful deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.  The saving death and resurrection of Jesus coincided with the Jewish feast of the Passover.  We refer to Christ’s death and resurrection as the Pascal Mystery – when Jesus passed over from death to glorious new life and in doing so enabled us to be sharers in his victory.  In most languages that have an affinity to Latin, like Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian there is a constant reminder of the connection between this season and the great biblical events of the Old and New Testaments.  In English there is no such link as the word Easter is of pagan origin.  It derives from the name of the Saxon goddess Eástre, the divinity of the dawn.  The Venerable Bede – the great English Church historian who died in 735 AD – tells us that the Anglo-Saxons called the month we now call April Eosturmonath – the month of Ostara, the name some German tribes used for the goddess Eástre.  The Teutonic nations called the great Christian feast, which fell at the beginning of spring, Easter.  The name has continued long after the heathen goddess has been forgotten.

The Easter Season begins on Easter Sunday morning.  The three days preceding it is the most important of all the Seasons of the Church’s year.  It is simply called the Paschal Triduum or the Three days of the Pasch – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.  I wish to thank you for the wonderful way in which you have participated in these great celebrations.  The attendance has been very good.  The way in which you volunteered to help in cleaning the church and in taking part in the ceremonies and in decorating the church has been tremendous.  I would like to thank the servers for turning up in good numbers and adding great dignity and solemnity to the various ceremonies, some of which are quite complicated.  The musicians and choir, under the leadership of Andy were superb.  It has been a great beginning to Easter.  Only six weeks remain!   Last, but not least, thanks for your very generous Easter offering!