Christendom celebrates Easter Sunday on April 9, the high point of the 40-day Lenten Season that began on Ash Wednesday and the culmination of the Holy Week.
Considered as the foundation of the Christian faith, Easter Sunday is the greatest feast that renders complete the mystery of man’s salvation and redemption, Church leaders said.
In Rome, Italy, the Holy Father’s much-awaited Easter Sunday Mass at the Saint Peter’s Square at 10:15 a.m. (Rome time) is considered as the most well attended Eucharistic celebration.
With the ease in Covid-19 restrictions and with people allowed to travel again, the Easter Sunday Mass is expected to gather together thousands of Catholics of different nationalities. The mass will also be viewed live on television by millions more across the world.
Pope Francis, who was recently hospitalized for bronchitis, 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 marks the
end of the Easter Season.
Meanwhile, Archdiocese of Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula called on the faithful to follow the example of Jesus.
“Jesus is our Messiah and king, not riding a warrior’s horse, but atop the humble ass, not seated on a high throne, but lifted hanging on a cross, not crowned with gold and laurels, but his head pierced with thorns, not displaying arrogance and dominion, but embracing passion and showing compassion. Let us learn from our Lord Jesus, who is our exemplar for experiencing and sanctifying our passion and pain. Let us learn from Him three lessons: feeling our pain, sharing our pain, and offering our pain,” His Eminence said.