The Easter Sunday Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord is celebrated with great joy and music. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” The tomb is empty, death has been conquered for all time. We renew our baptismal promises and celebrate the life that comes with believing in the Risen Lord.

Easter Season

The season of Easter is the most important of all liturgical times, when Catholics rejoice in the Lord's resurrection. Easter celebrates that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to Mary of Magdala, who witnessed her vision to the apostles; Peter and John ran to the empty tomb; they saw and believed.

The feast of Easter is at the heart of the Christian faith. It is a celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Our faith flows from our belief in the resurrection and that we, too, are destined for eternal life. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too your faith…For, if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 14, 16-17).

Such is the importance of Easter to Catholics that the celebration doesn’t last a day but a season. The first eight days, known as the Octave of Easter, beginning on Easter Sunday and concluding on Divine Mercy Sunday, are considered one continuous celebration and a time of feasting.

Forty days after Easter, we celebrate Christ’s ascension to the Father, the culmination of the Paschal Mystery. Then, 10 days after that, the Easter season concludes on Pentecost Sunday, a celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit.