Easter is a seven-week season of joy and grace. Starting with the Triduum in Holy Week and ending with Pentecost Sunday, this 50-day season has been called “the radiant center of the liturgical year.” We keep celebrating so that we might continue to enter into the meaning of the resurrection and to deepen the way it touches our daily lives.
After Easter Week’s resurrection stories, the first reading for the rest of this long and glorious season is from the Acts of the Apostles. Every day we see how Jesus’ followers reacted to his death, the challenges to their witness and the unexpected courage that comes to them. John’s Gospel is used for the entire Easter Season, the one time of year we can enter into his poetic and layered stories on a daily basis.
Easter only begins with Easter Sunday. These daily prayers and meditations come together to remind us that Jesus is with us. He is not dead, but alive. And that makes all the difference in the world in how much hope and courage we have, before any struggle, any possible fear of death.
In these 50 days, we are Easter People!