Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord--April 5, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen! Alleluia! Such good news! After the long season of Lent and the celebrations of Holy Week, we begin the Easter Season. Easter Sunday, the celebration of the day the Lord Jesus conquered sin and death by rising from the tomb, is filled with so much mystery that it cannot be contained into one day. Beginning today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Octave of Easter. This is an eight-day celebration of Easter Sunday. Each of the eight days are celebrated as if it were the very day of resurrection and the Gospel accounts will be of the day Jesus rose from the dead. The Octave ends next Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, as Jesus appears to the apostles and breaths on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” For fifty days we will celebrate the Easter Season and the fullness of the Sacramental Life of the Church that was born from the side of Christ on Good Friday. As blood and water came from the side of Christ, our sharing in the divine life of Jesus began. Let is keep our faith alive in our homes and in our hearts. As the Church celebrates the Sacramental life, daily and every Sunday, our first reading will be taken from the Acts of the Apostles. This New Testament book gives us the accounts of what happened after the resurrection of our Lord, as the Apostles learned what it meant to be sent, as the Son was sent by the Father. As Jesus sent them the Holy Spirit, they became bold witnesses of all that they had seen and heard from Jesus. This is our story of how the Church began and spread throughout the world. As many will be received into the Church and begin to live a sacramental life, they will become members of the Body of Christ – the Church. Just as we hear of the Church forming and its membership increasing and spreading, so too, the story is told by Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. When Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom to Peter, he was to give shape to the Bride of Christ, to bind and to loose. The Church begins to realize her role in the salvation that Jesus has won for us. Let us rejoice as we renew our Baptismal call as members of the Church, the Bride of Christ.

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

Fr. Steven Guitron