Resurrection, Ascension to Pentecost: the 50 days after Easter

The season of Easter is a joyous, celebratory season. It begins with celebrating Christ’s resurrection and ends by celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. Christ’s ascension into Heaven is celebrated just prior to Pentecost. The Easter season lasts through Pentecost.

Easter is really a fifty-day celebration, a celebration of great joy. Lent prepared us for this time of joy. The fifty days beginning with Easter is a time of Grace of all of us. A time of thanksgiving, ending with Pentecost.

Vigil and Easter Sunday
The celebration of the Easter Vigil is the beginning of the season of Easter. The Vigil and Easter Sunday are feasts of new birth, new beginnings, salvation renewed, and humanity restored to the Lord.

Divine Mercy
The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ Himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina. (see Feast of Divine Mercy )

Ascension
The Feast of the Ascension, 40th day of Easter, is a Holy Day of Obligation.  The Feast commemorates Christ's Ascension into Heaven from Mount Olivet 40 days after He rose from the dead.

Pentecost
Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day after Easter – counting both Easter and Pentecost. Pentecost commemorates the day (50 days after Jesus’ resurrection) when the apostles were gathered together and a flame rested upon the shoulders of the apostles and they began to speak in tongues (languages), by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As Secular Franciscans, we celebrate these fifty days by praying the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning and Evening, and other Hours as desired. Let us pray attentively and with the Joy of the 50 days. For those using the four-volume set of books, the Office of Readings covers informative and joyful readings from Holy Scripture.

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