What is Easter?

by The Most Rev. Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia”

There is something unique about the Easter Liturgies, and that is, the reality of movement – not just activity, but a joyful movement of going forth – the Church that goes forth!

We certainly see this in the Gospel for Easter Sunday with Peter and John running towards the empty tomb, after Mary Magdalene had run to them with the news that the Lord was no longer in the tomb! We read again, in the same Gospel, that Mary encounters Jesus outside the tomb after Peter and John had hurried off and she, in turn, runs to tell the disciples: “I have seen the Lord!” Mary was not only the first disciple to see the risen Lord, but she was a missionary disciple -a running disciple -she is the Church that goes forth with a message of hope and joy! >>more

by Fr. Steve Grunow

"She hears, upon that water without a sound, a voice that cries, ‘The tomb in Palestine is not the porch of spirits lingering. It is the grave of Jesus where he lay…’”

Somber words. One should say, inappropriate words for Easter Sunday.

They come from the American poet Wallace Stevens, and they are an excerpt from his poem “Sunday Morning.” The poem is about a loss and lack of faith in the meaning of not only Easter but every Sunday since then, for Sunday is enshrined with significance—not because it is a casual day of leisure but because it is the day when Christ rose from the dead. >>more