Two of my best friends, Christopher E. Stoley and Stephen L. Graeve, are getting ordained in five days! The Diocese of Lincoln is truly blessed this year, as on Friday evening, the Most Rev. James D. Conley will ordain eight men to the Diaconate, which means next year, eight will be ordained to the Holy Priesthood. Of course, the Church of Lincoln also rejoices in the ordination of the four deacons who will be ordained priests this Saturday by Bishop Conley. These are the men whose chief function will be to administer the Sacraments of Christ to the Church.
It is these Sacraments which make the Easter Season such a time of great rejoicing. Within this season of the Church year, it is a great action to meditate upon the Sacraments Christ has given to His Church.
From the first moments of the Easter Season we are presented with the first of the Sacraments, Baptism. Not only are the catechumens baptized at the Easter Vigil, but on Easter we also renew our Baptismal Promises with the Easter Water. The reminder of our dying and rising with Christ in Baptism is constantly brought before us through this season of the Resurrection.
In order to accomplish this, the Church recommends the use of the Sprinkling Rite in place of the Penitential Rite on Sundays through the season. Of course, anyone who pays attention at Mass will notice that even when the Sprinkling Rite is not used, the readings and prayers will constantly refer us back to Baptism. The Collect for today does this! "Almighty ever-living God, constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us, that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism may, under your protective care, bear much fruit and come to the joys of life eternal. Through our Lord..."
But Baptism is also a door to the other Sacraments. The Easter Season will conclude with the Solemnity of Pentecost, upon which we will commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and Who sealed us in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Of course, we saw most of the catechumens confirmed at the Easter Vigil, but it is also a common practice to administer this Sacrament during the Easter Season. I know this was the custom in the Diocese of Fargo, but due to the late date of Easter, they decided to do some in Lent this year.
Our union with Christ is clearly a primary part of this season, and the Blessed Sacrament is the final Sacrament of Initiation, and possibly the best Sacrament to meditate upon for this. We all know the joy of attending a First Communion, commonly in the Easter Season. All the boys in their suits and the girls in their white dresses, made to resemble the wedding dress, because this is the day they will first be "wedded" to Christ in the Sacrament.
"The wedding feast of the Lamb has begun...(Rev. 19:7)" Why is it that the Church always reminds us that going to Mass is going to a wedding? Because it is so important to remember!
Within any good marriage, there must be a giving and a receiving. This is certainly no less true in our Marriage to Christ! The Eucharist has a sacrificial and sacramental aspect for this reason. St. Thomas Aquinas said, "The Holy Eucharist is a sacrifice in as much as it is offered up; it is a sacrament in as much as it is received." We give ourselves to Christ in the sacrifice. We receive His grace in through the Sacrament.
In the Easter season, let us not lose sight of the ultimate end of our life - eternal life with the Risen Christ. Let us remember, especially at Mass, that we must join ourselves to the Offering of Christ on the Cross, so that we may more receive His graces, and have perfected within us what we first received in Baptism and had sealed in Confirmation.
Christus resurrexit sicut dixit! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
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