Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Eastertide! The word “Easter” is derived from the English word, “East,” which traditionally symbolizes the direction of the rising sun. The rising sun is a symbol of hope because it brings the light of the new day and warmth after the darkness of the night. These images are used in the Catholic tradition as symbols of the Risen Christ, who is the true Light of the World. The Eastertide refers to the 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. All of the Sundays within the Eastertide are considered Sundays of Easter; hence, we have the first through the seventh Sunday of Easter, and then conclude with Pentecost Sunday.

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Dear Friends,

This Second Sunday after Easter is dedicated as Divine Mercy Sunday. Often, people wonder why Pope John Paul II chose this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. We find a clue in the Gospel Reading today. We are told that Jesus breathed on the Apostles and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:22-23). In doing this, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as the Sacrament of Divine Mercy, through which God forgives us our sins and reconciles us to himself.

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The Lenten Season this year was one that most of us will always remember for our inability to worship publicly. If someone were to tell us at the beginning of Lent, just six weeks ago, that we would all be celebrating Easter from our homes, none of us would have believed. But here we are this weekend, celebrating Easter behind our closed doors. It may seem like Lent has no conclusion this year. However, we can still make sense of the situation we find ourselves in right now, especially in the light of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we commemorate this weekend. Now we find ourselves humbly placed in the shoes of the Apostles and the Blessed Mother during the passion and death of Jesus Christ. I imagine how they wrestled with their helplessness through the three days and nights leading to the resurrection of Jesus. I imagine them facing the unknown future, not knowing how to move forward in their lives. We all know the story well. In an instant, their sadness was turned into an unimaginable joy and happiness when they witnessed the risen Christ. Their experience gives us a reason to remain hopeful, placing our trust in God that there will be a light at the end of this tunnel.

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How are you holding out? I hope you and your family are doing well.

I know it is hard for any of us to accept, but we have received new Liturgical guidelines from the Vatican and the Diocese requesting that Holy Week and Easter celebrations be celebrated in private this year. I know we all have diff erent questions about what this implies. Here is the summary of the guideline regarding the Holy Week, the Triduum and Easter celebration:

Palm Sunday. The Holy Week begins this weekend with the celebration of Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is allowed this year but only as a private Mass. However, Palm branches are not to be distributed to the faithful as a cautionary measure. We will have a Virtual Private Mass here at St. Benedict at 11 am, livestreamed on our YouTube Channel.

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