Feasts #1: Season of Eastertide

Christ is truly Risen, alleluia, alleluia!

Beginning with the Vigil of Easter, the Church moves from the sad and sober season of Lent, with its ashes and fasting, to the joyful season of Easter. For fifty days, the Church will sing the praises of Her Risen Lord, accompanying many of Her prayers with the acclamation: ALLELUIA! 

​Because Easter is the most important feast in the Church's Calendar, She therefore devotes more attention to its celebration. She ascribes to it more reverence, solemn chanting and the like. She adorns the feast with lights, especially the Paschal Candle, blessed and lit for the first time at the Easter Vigil.

​The Church rejoices that Christ has risen from the sepulchre, and that He has conquered sin and death. By His bitter Passion and Death, Christ descended to Hell to free the Old Testament saints from the Limbo of the Fathers, and grant them a place in His Kingdom, which shall never end.

During this joyful season of Easter, the Church moves us to partake of that spiritual joy which the Lord's disciples shared, in which He appeared to them to prove His rising, and to strengthen them in the Faith which He gave them. He celebrated Holy Mass with them, expounded the Scriptures, and gave them His blessing. 

For the first eight days (Easter Sunday - Divine Mercy Sunday) the Church celebrates Easter proper, that is, She celebrates Easter Day for eight straight days. After which, She continues to honour the Resurrection until Ascension Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter when the Lord ascended into Heaven to sit at the Right Hand of the Father. Then ten days later, the Church ends the Season of Easter with the Solemnity of Pentecost, in which She rejoices at the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Cenacle, and the confirmation of the Church in Her divine mission to preach the true Faith throughout the world.

For all of Lent, I have refrained from singing in the Divine Office, even on Sundays, as a sign of the sorrow of my penances. Now, because Easter has begun, I return to singing the Office before the Lord, because my joy at His rising from the dead causes me to naturally break into song. And this is the response we should all have. 

So, let us sing continuously before the Lord, praising His Majesty, which has returned to us from the realm of Hell, and to glorify that the Cross has become a sign of salvation for us, and has become the image of the end of Satan's grip over man. 

So let us follow the Lord through this most blessed Season, recounting His mercies with joy and raising our voices to Him in song, hymn and canticle, ever singing: Christ is truly Risen, alleluia, alleluia!