"How come Easter is so early this year. It seemed like we hardly finished Celebrating Christmas and it was Ash Wednesday. why don't we celebrate Easter the same date every year like Christmas?" these were comments I've heard, as well as others noting that it will be a long time before we celebrate Easter this early. In point of fact since the early days of the Church, there has been great controversy about when to celebrate Easter. In the East, Easter was celebrated on Passover, but since most wanted Easter to be celebrated on a Sunday, the day on which the disciples discovered the empty tomb, they celebrated on the Sunday after Passover. However, for Roman Catholics and other Christians of the West, the Council of Nicea in 325, determined that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. As a result, Easter could be celebrated as early as March 22, or as late as April 25. This year it is March 23.

However, the reality of Easter, is not determined by a date on a calendar, or a cycle of the moon or because a preacher proclaims it or the choir chants Alleluias. Easter becomes a reality when each of us who are believers makes our life a source of light for our fellow men and women; when our words heal, when our hearts understand, when lesser values die in us for the sake of greater realities. The Paschal Mystery transcends space and time. Though Jesus suffered his betrayal, agony, rejection, and violent death on the cross once in time, yet, because in Him the Word of God became flesh, the pain, suffering and death of each person in every age is joined to that of Christ who said, "whatsoever you do or fail to do to the least of My brethren, you have done or failed to do to Me (Mt. 25).  It follows that not only those who walked the earth 2000 years ago, but each one of us are called to be witnesses to Jesus' resurrection. When we offer the results of our Lenten fast to help the poor, Jesus lives! When we bring communion to a neighbor whose illness isolates them from community, Jesus lives! When we advocate on behalf of those treated unjustly, Jesus lives! When we break the chains of oppression and misery, Jesus lives! When we reach out to someone whose despair is as deep as the darkest night, Jesus lives! When we comfort those whose journey has come to an end and offer them our gentlest care as they pass from our sight, Jesus lives!
            Christ is risen alleluia!
                       He is truly risen alleluia!
                                  Happy Easter,