50 Days of Celebrating Easter
Posted by AGroup in Faith on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 12:00 PM
Q: Any tips on resources or ideas for continuing the Easter celebration with the family for the entire season? Thank you for sharing so much with us!
A: I am sure that some of our readers will have something to say about this excellent question, so keep an eye on this post. I would just like to offer three suggestions.
Learn from the Church
First, take a cue from the Church’s liturgy. Each liturgical season uses a different color for vestments. Most churches also adjust the color of the décor for the different seasons. During Easter, the predominant colors are gold and white. White to symbolize the new life that we receive through Christ’s resurrection, and gold to remind us of the divine victory Christ has won for us, by which we hope for heaven (gold is always associated with heaven, because of its brilliance and value).
I am sure your family can come up with some Easter décor ideas for the house, especially the area where you pray together as a family. Along with colors, the Church also uses flowers (especially lilies, because of their trumpet-like shape and delightful aroma) to symbolize the new life of the Resurrection. Throughout the Easter Season, we also keep the Paschal candle visible in the sanctuary, and light it every time we celebrate Mass. Why not start a family tradition of having your own family candle and lighting it before your family meal, when you say grace?
Every Sunday Is Easter Sunday
Second, make an extra effort to live Sundays as the Church instructs us—days specially dedicated to worship, rest, and joy. Every Sunday of the entire year is a Solemnity, the highest ranking holy day the Church has. And the reason that Sunday is the Lord’s day is because it is day on which Jesus rose from the dead. So Sundays are special precisely because of their connection to Easter. If you can’t get all the chores and homework done before Sunday, you can at least try to have everyone get most of them done.
Then you can devote these Sundays before Pentecost to family activities, starting with Mass, of course, and then having family parties, picnics, trips to the park, movies … You know what your family members like. Focus on those things during the Sundays of Easter. Use the joys of life on earth to reflect and show your gladness at the supernatural joy of Christ’s Easter victory. If you can follow a similar pattern each year with your activities on the Sundays of Easter, that will create a true liturgical rhythm in your family that will help your children learn to value this whole season.
Hit the Road
Third, make a family pilgrimage, symbolizing our Christian journey to heaven. Almost always, Easter includes at least part of the month of May. May is a month dedicated in a special way to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first fruits of Christ’s redemption, the most shining example of the new life of grace won for us on Easter.
Getting together with extended family members or other families to make a pilgrimage to a local Marian shrine is a beautiful and powerful way to keep the Easter spirit fresh. If you have a family member who is living the religious life, take an annual trip to visit them during the Easter Season. You can even make a special trip to the cemetery during this Season, as a family, to bring flowers to the graves of deceased relatives and pray for them. This makes the connection between Christ’s resurrection and ours.
I hope this was enough to get your imagination going. If you have never done anything special during the Easter Season, I would recommend that you start small. The Holy Spirit will take it from there!
Do you have a question for Fr. John? Leave it in the comments here or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)!)
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