When is Easter this year?????

Hello Friends!

[In an article in The Christian Century, history professor Steve Ware asks the question, “When Is Easter this year?”

For those of you who didn’t learn this in confirmation class, the date of Easter corresponds to the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Seriously!?

In his article, Ware explains how this came to be. Here’s the short version of the story: In 325 A.D., Constantine, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, convened the Council of Nicea. Among the business before the council was to establish a uniform date for Easter. Out of the discussion and debate came the “Easter Rule,” setting Easter, as I said, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. As is often the case with church councils, the decision was not unanimous. The Eastern bishops wanted to schedule Easter in conjunction with the Jewish Festival of Passover since, after all, Jesus went to Jerusalem, in the first place, to celebrate Passover. The Western bishops preferred a date corresponding with the beginning of spring, because that was the time already established for a lot of pagan celebrations, and they figured to capitalize on the momentum. This is why, to this day, we have such things as the Easter Bunny and colored eggs associated with Easter. Well, on this, and other issues, the church eventually split. To this day, we, who are descendents of the Western line of Christendom, use a different calendar than the Eastern Orthodox churches. Sometimes our celebration of Easter falls on the same day, and sometimes it varies by as much as five weeks!]

So when is Easter this year? Easter always comes as a surprise to us. Just as Mary and the other women were surprised at the empty tomb, God surprises us with Easter when we least expect it. Some of us may be dealing with the news of a loss of a job, or having to move, or bad news from the doctor, or the words “I don’t love you any more!”, or deployment, or a host of other crucifixions that we may be dealing with. Easter happens when God surprises us with hope and joy even in the most difficult of all circumstances. Easter happens when we see that we are loved more by God even when we feel dirty and unloved. Easter happens when we know God’s forgiveness and peace. The light at the end of the tunnel is when Easter happens. Easter happens when we realize that Christ really does feed us with His life at Eucharist. Easter happens each time that we are encouraged to pray “Oh Lord! I am not worthy!”

Let us each be open to Easter every time it comes to us this year!

Paz,
Fr. Chuck