Pastoral Notes for Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, Year C
The Church encourages us to participate in the full Easter Triduum as much as possible. This includes the mass of Holy Thursday (sometimes called Maundy Thursday, from the Latin mandatum, because after the washing of the apostles’ feet, Jesus mandates His apostles to do for each other as He has done for them), Good Friday, and the first celebration of Easter at the Vigil (night) mass after sunset on Holy Saturday. These liturgical celebrations help us to enter into a fuller experience of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ Last Supper, cross, death, and resurrection. However, even if we cannot attend all of these liturgies, we can read the scriptures prayerfully and join the Church spiritually to celebrate these days.
The gospel proclamation is from St. John in the Mass of the Day for Easter Sunday morning. In the reading, it is very early in the morning; in fact, it is still dark when Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb of Jesus to perform the ritual washings and anointing of the body according to Jewish custom. The symbolism of the darkness of the early morning should not escape us, as Mary is still in the “darkness” of not knowing that Jesus is risen. Nor should we miss noticing it’s the first day of the week (that we call Sunday), which, biblically, would align with the first day of creation. The resurrection of Jesus will initiate the “new creation” being made by God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice for us and the whole world! Mary is shocked to see the tomb already open and the body of Jesus gone. She returns to alert the apostles, and Peter and John run to the empty tomb. St. John’s gospel then tells us that John, who had entered the tomb first, saw and believed.
Like Mary of Magdala, we are sometimes consumed by our concerns and sorrows. Even though we might mean well, we are “in the darkness” because the light of Jesus’ risen life has not yet dawned upon us. We need to “see to believe.” Mary of Magdala will see Jesus later in one of His appearances. However, St. John reminds us in another place, “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe.” Let us encounter the Risen Christ’s light in our love for one another.
Call to Action
- Easter Sunday masses are among the most attended throughout the Christian year. It is imperative that visitors and guests experience being welcome and wanted when they come to our community. Please have designated greeters at your masses and use your Pew Engagement Cards with your GC QR Code or Texting Phone Number clearly printed. Ensure you also have your “keyword” printed on the card. Finally, follow up with your guests and visitors within the following week.
- This is the Holy Year of Hope until the next Advent Season. Work to ensure that the parish’s liturgies, homilies, and special celebrations renew people’s sense of the Christian virtue of Hope. Remember, hope is one of the Theological Virtues, along with faith and love. Hope points us toward the horizon of the future, assuring us of God’s redeeming love at the end of our journey.
