The following information was taken from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

The word "Easter" comes from Old English, meaning simply the "East." The sun, which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world. The Paschal Candle used during the Easter Vigil is a central symbol of this divine light, which is Christ. It is kept near the ambo throughout Easter Time and lit for all liturgical celebrations.

The Easter Vigil is the "Mother of All Vigils" and Easter Sunday is the greatest of all Sundays. The season of Easter is the most important of all liturgical times, which Catholics celebrate as the Lord's resurrection from the dead, culminating in his Ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. The octave of Easter comprises the eight days which stretch from the first to the second Sunday. It is a way of prolonging the joy of the initial day. There are 50 days of Easter from the first Sunday to Pentecost. It is characterized, above all, by the joy of glorified life and the victory over death expressed most fully in the great resounding cry of the Christian: Alleluia! All faith flows from faith in the resurrection: "If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, is your faith." (1 Cor 15:14)

"What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;… So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. So, too, it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being," the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one." (1 Cor 15:36-37, 42-49)

Dear Friends in Christ,

Before the proclamation of the gospel at the Easter Vigil liturgy, there is a deeply powerful and moving moment. It is the joyous triple Alleluia. It not only signals the end of our penitential observances but it expresses our passage with the Lord through his passion, death, and burial. Alleluia is our joyful shout of triumph for as Christ rises from the dead, so do we.

Yet, we may find that our Easter joy has been dampened this year in the face of the daunting challenges of war, the upheavals experienced by migrant families, the great turbulence and polarization in our political life, and the myriad uncertainties about our future and the future of our children. Can we sing Alleluia and mean it?

Experiencing those sentiments myself I am drawn to Saint Paul’s words to the Thessalonians. In a moment of suffering loss, confusion and grief he wrote: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” (1Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Listen carefully to Paul’s words. He tells the Thessalonians that they can grieve and that they can experience struggle and loss. But they must not grieve or suffer as those who have no hope, as those who do not believe that Jesus died and rose and will take us to himself. Like the hessalonians, we do not ignore or deny the suffering and grief we are experiencing, but we are not held captive to this moment nor to this world. We hold fast to Christ our hope who draws us into a future defined and shaped by his Resurrection.

So, sisters and brothers, let’s not hold back our shouts of joy. Let us sing with gusto our Alleluia for it bears witness to our enduring hope in Christ’s Resurrection. It inspires us to do what we can to allow his risen life to take hold of and shape our lives and to empower us to reach out to our wounded world. A blessed Easter to all of you and your loved ones.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Cardinal Blase Cupich
Archbishop of Chicago

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