Each day within the Octave of Easter is celebrated as a Solemnity of the Lord, meaning that each is regarded with the same liturgical solemnity as Easter itself. In this way, Easter Sunday continues to be celebrated throughout these first eight days, offering us a brief foretaste of that heavenly banquet that has no end. But today is Tuesday within the Octave of Easter, which means that if you were fortunate enough to have a day off from work or classes yesterday, you’re likely back to business today. And at Mass throughout the week, even though celebrated each day as a solemnity, you’re most likely not going to find all the smells and bells being brought out or the most elaborate choral pieces being sung. No, even at Mass we can only celebrate with the same magnitude of triumph as on Easter Sunday itself for a brief time.
So what now then? How do we continue to rejoice throughout this Easter season if the daily life of this world demands our attention once more? We have heard the Good News that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and freed us from our bonds to sin, and in response, we say with those from today’s first reading at Mass, “What are we to do, my brothers?” (Acts 2:37).
In the communion antiphon from the same Mass, we find an answer: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1). We who have been baptized in Christ have died to sin and been raised to new life with him. But although we’ve been raised with him, we still remain here on earth, enduring trials. Even after the resurrection, we face sickness and death. We may face challenging questions that test our faith, or maybe we struggle to overcome our own vices of anger, pride, jealousy, and many others. And yet we endure all of this and turn to the Lord each day in the hope that we will soon “receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas 1:12). Easter has indeed come, and we truly celebrate each day within the Octave with great joy, all the while knowing that this holy time points us to what is to come. It directs our hearts and minds to continue “to seek the things that are above.”
And to seek the things that are above demands an ongoing effort to turn away from the things that are below. It requires daily conversion. Although Lent serves as a time for a more intense focus upon this need for conversion (CCC 1438), nevertheless our Lord’s words call to us throughout Easter: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). It is this call for conversion, grounded in the resurrection of Christ, which we find the Apostles preaching in the readings taken from the Acts of the Apostles throughout this week. They do not preach conversion for its own sake, but in order that those who hear them might be freed from their sins and inherit eternal life with Christ (see Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19). Here is the cause of our unceasing joy this Easter season. While the world and our daily responsibilities demand our attention once more, we continue to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ and the fruit that it bears in our lives, namely the true freedom to live wholly for him.
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Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)
