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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Easter: A celebration of love and life

Easter: A celebration of love and life

Published Mar 31, 2024 03:06 am

As the Catholic faithful observe Easter Sunday on March 31, Diocese of Antipolo Bishop Ruperto C. Santos highlighted the significance of Easter citing the commemoration as a celebration of love and life.

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 Easter Sunday (Photo credit Catholic Online)

“Jesus is risen. Alleluia! This is the Good News. Jesus is alive. God is indeed forever,” said Bishop Santos in his Easter message.
 

“Easter is a celebration of love and life. With Jesus risen from the dead, the Easter message is that Jesus is love. He loves us. With His love, Jesus obeyed the salvific will of God the Father to serve and save us. Out of His great love for us, Jesus gave up His own life on the Cross for our redemption,” the prelate said.

“And with the glorious resurrection of Jesus, love triumphs against hatred and violence. Love is victorious over sin and selfishness.,” he added.

Bishop Santos stressed Easter is an assurance of the gift of eternal life.

“With Jesus rising from the dead, the Easter message is that Jesus lives. Jesus reigns. Jesus lives in us. With His resurrection, Jesus conquers death. Jesus overcomes pain and bereavement. And now eternal life is assured to us,” the bishop said.

Easter, the Church leader said, is also an affirmation that Jesus is truly our God.

“With Jesus risen from the dead, we are reminded that Jesus is truly Lord. He is God. He is not just an ordinary man but indeed our mighty Savior, our merciful Lord. And what happens to Him, we will also share in His glory. Heaven is open to us, waiting for our homecoming. Jesus is our Lord whom we must follow, submit ourselves and serve. Together with Jesus we shall also rise with Him,” said Bishop Santos.

Easter Sunday is the greatest feast that renders complete the mystery of man’s salvation and redemption. It is the high point of the 40-day Lenten Season that began on Ash Wednesday, and the culmination of the Holy Week.

In Rome, Italy, the Holy Father’s Easter Sunday Mass at the Saint Peter’s Square at 10:15 a.m. is considered as the most well attended Eucharistic celebration as it gathers together thousands of Catholics of different nationalities, and viewed live on television by millions across the world.

The Pontiff will deliver the traditional Urbi et Orbi (To the city and to the world) Easter Papal Message and Apostolic Blessing at noon in the central loggia of the Vatican basilica, a tradition that is also done on Christmas Day. 

Pope Leo I, an early Church Father, called Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday as “the greatest feast” (festum festorum) and said that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter.

The New Testament teaches that the Resurrection of Christ, which according to the Sacred Scripture took place on the third day after His Crucifixion, is the foundation of the Christian faith.

“The Resurrection established Jesus as the Son of God and that God has given Christians a new birth into a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Christians, through faith in the living God, are spiritually ‘resurrected’ with Jesus.”

Easter Sunday is preceded by seven weeks of Eastertide, the 50 days leading up to Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.

Pentecost Sunday, which marks the end of the Easter Season, will be observed on May 19 this year.

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