Wednesday, March 30, 2016
50 Days of Easter


A Blessed Feast of our Lord's Resurrection to all of you!

As Catholics, Easter for us is not only a Sunday holiday.  The Feast of our Lord's Resurrection (i.e. Easter) takes place over the equivalent of 8 earthly days (i.e. it has its Octave).  Each day of the Octave is the same as the first day in terms of the joy expressed in the Liturgy although the obligation to attend Mass is no longer in force for the whole of the Octave. That ended before the year 1234 when only Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday were kept as Holy Days. They are no longer Holy Days of Obligation.

But after the Octave of Easter ends, the Pascal season still remains.  While Lent was observed by prayer, fasting for forty days, and abstinence for 46 days, we celebrate Easter for 50 days, not including the Octave of Pentecost.  Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost, officially begins the Season After Pentecost. The total length of Paschaltide as a result, from Easter Sunday to the end of Whitsuntide, is 56 days inclusive. In this way, Holy Mother Church shows us the joy of Easter has eclipsed the time of penance of Lent.

Let all of us who have fasted and prayed through Lent celebrate this great season of grace.


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