Christ The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!

Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Mr. Pablo Cuadra

Religion Class
 Scripture
1 Corinthians 15: 14,17
• “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is
vain, your faith also is vain. And if Christ has not been
raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins”
 The Season of Easter
• Easter is the “Solemnity of
Solemnities”. The principal feast of
the liturgical year.

• Pope Leo I calls Easter the

“Festum festorum”, the “Feast of
Feasts”. “Christmas,” he says, “is
celebrated only in preparation for
Easter”.

• Easter, “The Great Sunday”, is

one of the five liturgical seasons of
the Church cycle or year. These
season are: Advent, Christmas,
Ordinary time, Lent, and
“EASTER”.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Matthew 28:6
 What does Easter celebrate?
• "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?
O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?“
1 Corinthians 15:55

• The most glorious season of Easter celebrates

the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from
dead.

• This great event, for Christians, occurred on

the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion around
A.D. 33.

• The early church perceived his resurrection as

the central witness to a new act of God in
history and the victory of God in vindicating
Jesus as the Messiah.

• The resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone

upon which faith is built, the connecting link
between the Old and New Testament’ witness
of God’s redeeming works.

• This event marks the central faith confession of

the Church and was the focal point for Christian
worship, observed on the first day of each
week since the first century (Acts 20:7)
 The Resurrection and the Life of
the World to Come
• Catechism of the Catholic Church # 646
“Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with
the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus'
daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus.
These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously
raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular
moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially
different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another
life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with
the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state,
so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven".
 Scripture
• "If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most
miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the
dead ...
even so in Christ shall
all be made alive."
1 Corinthians 15:19, 20, 22
What is the meaning of the word
Easter?
• The term Easter is derived
from “Eastre” an old Anglo-
Saxon word dating prior to 899
A.D.

• The word Eastre relates to

Estre, the goddess of the rising
light of day and spring, an
important deity in Germanic
paganism and folklore.

• Easter is the English

equivalent for the official Latin
term for the resurrection which
is “Pascha resurrectionis”.
 Did you know?
• In all Romance languages such as:
Rumanian, Spanish, French, Italian,
and Portuguese, the name of the
Easter festival is derived from the
Greek name, “Pascha” which is itself
derived from Pesach, the Hebrew
festival of Passover.
 When does the season of Easter
begin?
• The season of Easter is a movable feast, it does
not have a fix date. It falls at some point between
late March or April each year.

• Easter Sunday is calculated the following way.

The Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal
or spring equinox, using the Jerusalem meridian
as the basis for reckoning.

• Easter begins following the forty days of Lent that

culminate with the Sacred Triduum, the three
holiest days of the Church’s year. These days are:
Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
These days are observed from dusk to dusk.

• The celebration of the Easter season begins with

the Easter Vigil at sundown on Holy Saturday.

• This service is the first official liturgy of Easter

Sunday, the glorious celebration of Jesus’
resurrection from the dead.

• To calculate the Easter date for coming years you

can use the following link and enter the year for
which you need the precise date:

http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ec-cal.html
 Did you know?
• The Easter Vigil is also called the
Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of
Easter.

• The Easter Vigil begins at

Sundown on Holy Saturday and it
is composed of four sections:

• 1. The service of Light

(blessing of the fire).

2. The Liturgy of the word (the

history of salvation readings).

3. Christian Initiation and the

renewal of Baptismal vows.
(Baptism and Confirmation).

4. Holy Eucharist (Holy

Communion).
 How long is the Easter Season?
• The glorious season of Easter last
for fifty days. From the Easter
Vigil (The first celebration of
Easter Sunday) to the Feast of
Pentecost Sunday.

• The word Pentecost is derived

from the Greek word “pentekoste”,
meaning fiftieth day.

• The feast of Pentecost marks the

end of the glorious season of
Easter and the beginning of the
second half of Ordinary time.
 Did you know?
• Easter is not one day or
one solemnity. It is a fifty
day celebration.

• The fifty days from Easter

Sunday to Pentecost
Sunday together comprise
what the General
Instructions of the Roman
Missal terms “The Great
Sunday”.
 Did you know?
• Prior to the liturgical reforms of Vatican
II, the Easter season known as
Eastertide lasted for forty days.

• From Easter Sunday until the feast of

the Ascension of the Lord. It was on
this day that the Paschal candle was
traditionally extinguished.

• This feast of the Ascension is still

celebrated on the fortieth day of the
Easter season which is a Thursday.
This feast is a holy day of obligation.

• The liturgical reforms of Vatican II

expanded the celebration of Easter
from forty to fifty days to highlight the
theological significance of Pentecost
as part of the resurrection experience
and the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of
the sending of the Holy Spirit.
 The Octave of Easter
• The first week of Easter begins on
Easter Sunday and continues for eight
consecutives days known as the Octave
of Easter.

• In the liturgical sense an Octave has two

main purposes: In the first sense, it is an
eight-day extension of a major
solemnity.

• In the second sense, an octave is the

eight day following the major solemnity.
Each of the days in the Octave of Easter
are celebrated with the rites proper to
Easter Sunday.

• This is done to highlight the great

importance of the glorious Easter
season.
 Did you know?
• Pope John Paul II declared in 2000 the
second Sunday of the Easter Season as
“Divine Mercy Sunday”.

• In a decree dated 23 May 2000, the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments stated that
"throughout the world the Second Sunday
of Easter will receive the name Divine
Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to
the Christian world to face, with
confidence in divine benevolence, the
difficulties and trials that mankind will
experience in the years to come."

• On this day Catholics reflect, in a very

special way, on the abundant, unending,
healing mercy of God.

• On this Sunday, many parishes offer the

opportunity for sacramental confession.
The remission of all temporal punishment
due to sin is one of the many graces
bestowed by the resurrected Lord upon all
the penitents who approach the
sacrament of reconciliation on this special
day of Mercy and forgiveness.
 Pope Benedict XVI’s Message Urbi et Orbi 2008 (excerpt)

“The astonishing event of the resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of

love: the Father’s love in handing over his Son for the salvation of the world;
the Son’s love in abandoning himself to the Father’s will for us all; the
Spirit’s love in raising Jesus from the dead in his transfigured body. And
there is more: the Father’s love which “newly embraces” the Son, enfolding
him in glory; the Son’s love returning to the Father in the power of the Spirit,
robed in our transfigured humanity. From today’s solemnity, in which we
relive the absolute, once-and-for-all experience of Jesus’ resurrection, we
receive an appeal to be converted to Love; we receive an invitation to live by
rejecting hatred and selfishness, and to follow with docility in the footsteps of
the Lamb that was slain for our salvation, to imitate the Redeemer who is
“gentle and lowly in heart”, who is “rest for our souls” (cf. Mt 11:29)”

• To read the entire message go to the following link:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/urbi/documents/hf
_ben-xvi_mes_20080323_urbi-easter_en.html
 What are the symbols of Easter?
• The symbols and sacramentals
used during the Holy season of
Easter are:

• A. Fire (symbol of the Holy Spirit)

• B. Paschal Candle
• C. Water (Baptism)
• D. Alleluia (proclamation)
• E. Liturgical Color (white)
• F. Oil (for baptism and confirmation)
• G, Blessings (Easter baskets)
 Did you know?
• The Paschal candle is a sacramental
that symbolizes the Resurrected Lord.

• The paschal candle is one of the major

symbols used during the Easter Vigil. It
is made of pure wax and replaced
each year.

• The Paschal candle has a place of

prominence in the sanctuary of the
Church during the glorious fifty days of
the Easter season.

• The Paschal candle is blessed during

the service of the light at the Easter
Vigil and used for the blessing of the
baptismal water on this solemn night.

• The Paschal candle is used two times

in the life of every Catholic Christian.
The day of our baptism and the day of
our funeral. To highlight our dying and
rising in Christ.
 Easter and The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA)
• At the Easter Vigil the
Catechumens receive the
sacraments of Initiation: Baptism,
Confirmation, and Eucharist.

• The Catechumens enter into the

Period known as “Mystagogy” or
“Period of Post-baptismal”
Catechesis, that last for the 50
days of Easter.

• The community of faith welcomes

the neophytes (newly baptized)
assisting them to enter more fully
into the spirit of the Paschal
Mystery celebrated during the
Easter season.
 Easter 2008
• Easter this Year 2008 is
celebrated from Easter Sunday
March 23 to Pentecost Sunday
May 11.

• Future Easter Dates 2009-2016

2009 April 12
2010 April 4
2011 April 24
2012 April 8
2013 March 31
2014 April 20
2015 April 5
2016 March 27
 Easter Traditions
• Blessing of Food:
Eastern and Latin rite Catholics
both have the custom of blessing
the food that is going to be
consumed on the Easter Sunday
dinner. This blessing usually takes
place in the morning of Holy
Saturday.
• House Blessings:
On the eve of Easter the homes
are blessed in memory of the
passing of the angel in Egypt and
the signing of the door-posts with
the blood of the paschal lamb.
 Easter
“An invitation to New Life, a call to conversion”
St. Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection” Philippians 3:10
The following story illustrates the importance of conversion
“About eighty years ago a man picked up the morning paper and, to his horror, read his own obituary!
The newspaper had reported the death of the wrong man. Like most of us, he relished the idea of
finding out what people would say about him after he died. He read past the bold caption which read,
“Dynamite King dies”, to the text itself. He read along until he was taken aback by the description of
him as a “merchant of death”. He was the inventor of dynamite and had amassed a great fortune
from the manufacture of weapons of destruction. But he was moved by this description. Did he really
want to be known as a “merchant of death’? It was at that moment that a healing power greater than
the destructive force of dynamite came over him. It was his our of conversion. From that point on, he
devoted his energy and money to works of peace and human betterment. Today, of course, he is
best remembered, not as a “merchant of death,” but as the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize—Alfred
Nobel. [Sower’s Seed of Encouragement]
 Reflection
Easter is the season of life and hope. The life and hope only the
resurrected Christ can bring. The same life and hope that strengthened
the faith of the frightened disciples after the crucifixion.
That same life and hope reminds us that the trials and misfortunes of
our present life are nothing compared to the unending glory of the life to
come. Easter is the celebration of life eternally transformed by love, “life
beyond life”, “love beyond love”.
Easter is the celebration of hope in the midst of a world often
submerged in doubt and despair. It is this Easter faith, faith in the Lord’s
resurrection, that becomes the sustaining force that directs our steps
with courage into the challenges of everyday life, into the question
marks of the unknown, and the uncertainty of the future.
It is this Easter faith in the resurrected Lord that reminds us that we do
not walk alone in life. Like on the road to Emmaus, the resurrected
Lord is walking with us, in us, and through us - leading us to the life that
never ends and the love that never fades away. The Lord is Risen!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Have a happy and blessed Easter season!
Pablo A. Cuadra
 The End

For more presentations please visit:

http://www.slideshare.net/pcuadra/slideshows