Alleluia! He is Risen! On this Easter Sunday, our hearts are filled with joy as we celebrate this great feast on which Jesus rose victorious from the dead. His victory was not just for Him alone, but for all for whom He died. The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this beautifully in the following words:
Christ’s Resurrection—and the risen Christ himself—is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.… For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:20-22) The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians “have tasted … the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:5) and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may “live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”(2 Cor 5:15; cf. Col 3:1-3) (CCC 655)
Because of His Resurrection, and through the gift of Baptism, we share in the new life He makes possible, a life which promises victory over death for those who remain united to Him. As such, the most fitting invocation from the Litany of the Sacred Heart for this day is the following:
Heart of Jesus, our Life and Resurrection, have mercy on us
Easter Sunday radically changes the trajectory of human history and gives new hope to our lives. It also shifts the Lord’s day from the Sabbath (Saturday) to eighth day (Sunday), the first day of the week and the first day of the new creation which the Resurrection ushers in. Sunday becomes the fulfillment of the Sabbath, and each Sunday is to be celebrated with a special focus on worship and joy. Our celebration of Easter Sunday sets the pattern for how we should ideally celebrate every Sunday. The new life on the Resurrection should guide how we observe this day not just once a year, but every week.
When we think about how so many of us observe Easter Sunday, we prioritize going to Mass. Such should be our priority every Sunday. When we go to Mass on this day, we often see people making special efforts to dress in a special way as a sign of our joy on this great day. If every Sunday is a little Easter, shouldn’t we consider this choice of dress each week? After going to Mass, we then spend much of the rest of the day with family and friends, resting and rejoicing. Many of us would not even think about shopping or doing work on Easter Sunday because of the nature of so special a day. Should we not approach every Sunday this way?
Perhaps as we celebrate with family and friends this Easter Sunday, experiencing the gift of worship, rest, and rejoicing, it can be an opportunity for us to commit to carrying this on to every Sunday of the year, such that they stand out as different from every other day of the week. Sundays are days on which we rejoice in the gift of new life the Lord has won for us on this day, and should be a foretaste of the worship, rest, and rejoicing we will experience with our family, the Church, in the Resurrection.