The Easter Season

Easter, the celebration of Christ's Resurrection, is the most important liturgical feast in the Church. It is so important, we celebrate it for 50 days! Easter Sunday is followed by the Octave of Easter, an 8-day celebration comprising the days from Easter to the first Sunday after Easter. This gives us time to further contemplate the great mystery of the Resurrection and it prolongs the joy we feel at the empty tomb.

​After the Octave, we continue to be in the Easter Season until the feast of Pentecost on the 50th day of Easter. Pentecost is preceded by the Ascension of the Lord on the 40th day of Easter.

How Is the Easter Season Celebrated in the Church?

The Church celebrates the 50 days of Easter as one feast day. Whereas the Alleluia was omitted during the Lenten season, now the Church resumes singing this most joyful prayer before the proclamation of the Gospel, and often at the end of Mass. The liturgical color of the season is white, so priests wear white vestments at this time. Your pastor may also use the blessing and sprinkling of water during Mass instead of the usual Penitential Act. This reminds us of our Baptism. The Paschal Candle, which symbolizes Christ as the Light of the World, is displayed at the ambo (where the readings are proclaimed at Mass).

The Ascension

At the Feast of the Ascension, we celebrate Jesus ascending under His own power to Heaven. Ascension Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, meaning Catholics are required to attend Mass to celebrate this great feast. This year, the Ascension is on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

We hear about the Ascension in Acts 1:6-11.

"So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'"

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about the Ascension of the Lord:

​"Christ’s ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11). . . . Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever. Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit." (CCC, nos. 665-667)

Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday marks the last day of the Easter Season. On this day, we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming to the Apostles and Mary. Before Pentecost, the Apostles were afraid of the Jewish and Roman authorities and remained in hiding. After receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, they went out and boldly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ​The date of Pentecost changes each year according to Easter. This year, Pentecost is on Sunday, May 19, 2024.
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Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the Church. On this day, we especially pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and remain with us. The Church prays the novena to the Holy Spirit for nine days after the Ascension to Pentecost Sunday (which is actually where the concept of a novena, or nine-day prayer, originated). Priests wear red vestments to symbolize the burning fire of God's love and the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles.

We hear about Pentecost in Acts 2:1-11.

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power."