Tag: Easter

On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

It’s more than one day: Pope Francis reminds us to continue to share Easter joy

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

In our fast-paced world, it seems as if one holiday is barely done and we’re starting to get ready for the next one on the horizon.

This is especially true in the greeting card sections of our stores. The Mother’s Day cards have been on display for a few weeks (even though Mother’s Day was a month away at the time), and the graduation cards are on the racks. Before we know it, the Halloween cards will be making their appearance!

We should have time to savor each special day in our lives and not be rushing past any of the religious or secular holidays.

Continue to celebrate Easter

However, Easter should be the definite exception to our quick celebrations. That’s because Easter is more than just one day, as Pope Francis reminded thousands of visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Monday. In fact, he told them to celebrate Easter all through the week — and beyond.

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On
Sr. Margie Lavonis

Living the paschal mystery with hope

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ and is the most important feast of the Church.

At Easter we renew our faith and welcome new members into the Church.

It is the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil) that is the high point of the Church year.

Paschal mystery

Easter is the fulfillment of the paschal mystery — the suffering, death, and rising of Jesus. This mystery is not a one-time historical event. As members of the body of Christ, we live this mystery throughout our lives.

We entered the paschal mystery at baptism. We were baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. This means that we share in Christ’s suffering, death, and rising throughout our lives.

The paschal mystery assures us that the “pain and dying” we experience in our daily lives ultimately leads to resurrection.

It is our Christian belief that God can and does bring good out of evil and suffering.

Jesus’ life is the greatest example of this. God did not leave Jesus in his pain. God raised him from the dead. Death had no power over him.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Seeing Easter through children’s eyes

Seeing Easter through children’s eyes can open windows of wonder and love that we busy adults sometimes keep closed.

A mother experienced this when she overheard Danny, her five-year-old son, talk with his friend Jeremy whose father recently died.

“Where did your dad go when he died?” asked Danny.

“My mom said that he went to Heaven,” replied Jeremy.

“What’s Heaven?” asked Danny.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Czech Catholic Heritage tour

MADISON — In 863 AD, SS. Cyril and Methodius first arrived in Great Moravia (which included the present Czech Republic).

To celebrate the 1,150th anniversary of this event, Fr. Frederick Janecek, a priest of the Orthodox Church of America currently attached to SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in Milwaukee, plans to visit the archeological sites of churches, museums, and burials in the center of Great Moravia in and near Velehrad in the Czech Republic.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Focusing on death, life, and mercy
This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

“Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal.”

“Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!”

(Easter Sequence – Roman Missal, 1964 translation).

I choose those two lines to focus upon in this Easter Season, because they are exactly reflective of the themes that our Holy Father, Pope Francis struck during many of the early days of Easter. He has asked the question and raised the issue from Scripture, “why do you seek the living among the dead (Lk 24:5)?”

“Death and life have contended,” and life won out, so, the Holy Father asks, echoing the message of the angel, “why do you seek the living among the dead?”

A second point that the Holy Father has focused upon is reassuring us, once again, that no one with a good and open heart is outside the bounds of the mercy of Jesus Christ, won by His death on the Cross, and confirmed by His Resurrection.

And so, we’ve got two words, or groups of words: “death and life,” and “mercy,” on which we should meditate in this Easter season.

Where is mercy in the world?

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Christ died that there might be mercy. Let’s calmly look at our world today, and let’s look around for mercy.

 

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Let the splendor of holiness shine out
This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear friends,

I have in my hands a vocation pamphlet from 1965, and on the cover we have Bishop O’Connor ordaining a priest, and the overall title of the pamphlet is, “The Hands of Christ.” The truth on the cover of the pamphlet is stated simply this way: “Christ works today through His bishops, whose hands are those of the priests’.”

Thank you so much, dear brother priests, for coming out in such good numbers, so that we can celebrate and manifest the bond of the priesthood. God knows we don’t all have to be alike, but we all have to be bonded together by the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s seal on our soul, forging us together in an alliance that — as long as we’re open to grace — no human reality can obstruct.

Alliance between bishop and priests

So, the alliance of the priest with his bishop is like the alliance of the bishop with his own hands, as that pamphlet from 1965 says it so well, and it hasn’t changed. That’s the way it was, that’s the way it is, that’s the way it’s been since the time of Jesus. So, dear priests, thank you so very much for doing your best to be the hands of the bishop. Thank you so very much for doing your very best to allow the Holy Spirit to forge among all of us that unbreakable alliance which has as its root none other than that priestly seal of the Holy Spirit upon our souls. So, I’d invite all of us to offer our expression of gratitude to our priests.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Holy Week and protecting true marriage

Dear friends,

As we make our way through Holy Week to Easter, one of the most remarkable things we encounter is a startling oxymoron, a seeming contradiction, in terms of Jesus’ death on the Cross as ugly and tortuous, and yet beautiful.

It’s one of the most tremendous mysteries of our faith — horrible ugliness and tortuousness, behind which is concealed the most beautiful Truth in all of human history.

Holy Week itself maintains the juxtaposition of these two realities. Our liturgies for Holy Week open with beauty on Palm Sunday, with the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem.

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Sacrament of Reconciliation prepares us to celebrate Easter

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes, a column by Fr. Donald Lange

Somerset Maugham, the famous British novelist, once remarked, “I have done things that I am unable to entirely forget. If I had been fortunate enough to be Catholic, I could have delivered myself of them at confession, received absolution, and put them out of my mind forever.”

His statement makes us realize how blessed we are to have the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

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