“We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.” This quote from St. John Paul II epitomizes the joy of the Easter Season for all Catholics. Easter brings new life, is our ultimate fulfillment and gives us profound joy because it is the day our hope was made complete – the day Jesus conquered sin and death on our behalf to reconcile us back to God.
This year as we continue to deal with the uncertainty of life caused by the pandemic, the Easter Season is particularly poignant as it brings us calm amid chaos and gives us an abiding sense of peace and joy.
The Easter Season is a great feast that lasts fifty days. It begins with Easter Sunday, includes Divine Mercy Sunday (Sunday after Easter), Ascension Thursday (forty days after Easter), and concludes on Pentecost Sunday, the official birthday of the Church.
The resources offered here will help you gain a new understanding and appreciation of the beauty of the Easter Season. Learn about the significance of each event of the Easter Season, and find inspiration for establishing your own traditions whether you are single or married.
Read these great articles:
Read this article that explains the various elements of the Easter Season
Watch these great videos:
Great Prayers for the Easter Season:
The vocation to a single life is a true vocation in the Catholic Church and can be a fulfilling way to serve God and others. In an article entitled “Flying Solo: Life as a Single Catholic,” the author speaks from her own experience as a single adult Catholic:
“The greatest gift the church offers to single people is a place to belong. God calls us and takes us as we are, and singles need to be reminded that our presence among the body of Christ is sufficient on its own. For single people in particular, there is great comfort in knowing that God beholds the entirety of our lives. We each bring a unique set of gifts, passions, personal history, and a myriad of relationships. There is so much more to a single person than their state in life. Our belonging to God, our holiness, is certainly not dependent upon our marital status.”
“Discovering one’s vocation is more than deciding whether to get married, join the seminary, or enter a religious community. Finding one’s vocation in life answers the question, ‘How is God using my life to share love with others?’“
By their baptism, God calls all Catholics to holiness regardless of their state in life. For single adult Catholics, belonging to a Catholic faith community enables them to respond to this universal call in ways that can make their lives more meaningful. With fewer family commitments, single adults typically have more time to serve. Through their service and parish involvement, they find companionship from people of all ages. With more time alone they can develop a rich prayer life, and can take advantage of the plethora of adult faith formation opportunities offered by the Church. All in all, Catholic single adults are tremendously important for life of the Church.
Launching children and moving on, this “empty-nester” stage brings important new tasks into the marital relationship. Couples must renegotiate their marital partnership – once again it is just the two of them. Often it’s a time to rediscover each other – a beautiful new beginning. As adult children marry and gain in-laws, new family members become part of the family system. If blessed with grandchildren, these couples may have a major influence on their grandchildren’s lives, and may take a major role in passing on the Catholic faith.
This is an ideal time to increase involvement in the parish, become a student of the Catholic faith through adult faith formation opportunities, and begin serving others out of their lived experience through parish marriage ministry or by serving on a local parish Pre-Cana team.