As we do at Christmas, we prolong the great feast of Easter with a period during which we remain in the joy of the Resurrection. This is the “Easter time” (or Paschal time). It lasts fifty days, until the feast of Pentecost. Eight days under the great light of Easter In the Easter season, there is first the octave of Easter, the seven days following the feast day. The last day is “Divine Mercy Sunday,” which celebrates the infinite goodness of God. But the Easter season does not end at this point: until Pentecost, the priests who celebrate Mass remain in white chasuble, the color of joy and celebration, to celebrate his birth, of course, but also his return at the end of time. A lighted flame Every Sunday, the Paschal candle shines beside the altar. It is this large, new candle that was first lit from a fire outside the church on Easter night. After Easter, it will remain unlit during the Masses of Ordinary Time. But it will be lit at every Baptism and every funeral, because these celebrations have a very strong link with the Resurrection and eternal life. From Easter to Ascension The feast of the Ascension (see p. 74) takes place forty days after Easter. Here we see this symbolic number again, just as in Lent. Here too, between Easter and the Ascension, it involves a journey: the one that the disciples of Jesus had to make in their hearts before believing with certainty that Jesus had truly risen from the dead. It took them those forty days, and several occasions on which Jesus appeared to them to show them that he had really conquered death. He had risen, as he said he would! THE TIME OF EASTER The time 58
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMzNzY=