Eastertide, Paschaltide (The Great Fifty Days) -- From Easter Eve sundown until Pentecost

Eastertide is the 50-day celebration that flows from the Triduum. It is the church's most ancient and most beautiful season. These are springtime days of blossoming orchards, of open windows, of the great gladness of the awakening earth.

Fifty days are a "week of weeks," seven times seven, with a day added so Eastertide has eight Sundays-a mystical sign of eternity. Each week we have a Lord's Day. And each year we have Eastertide-50 days to sing alleluia, 50 days to live as if God's rule of justice and peace were fully with us.

In times past another word for Eastertide was "Pentecost." Now we use that word to mean the last day of Eastertide, but "Pentecost" can mean "fifty days" or "fiftieth day." The Ascension of the Lord and the sending of the Holy Spirit are celebrated on two solemnities of the season, but they also are celebrated throughout Eastertide. We cannot really separate these wonders. The Lord's incarnation, epiphany, passion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and the gift of the Spirit are one mystery, called the "paschal mystery," mystery of the Passover of the Lord.

We can expect to meet the risen Christ in bird songs each dawn and dusk, in renewing our friendships with neighbors, in the aroma of a crabapple tree, in the teamwork necessary for our Eastertide activities. Like the Lord's Day each week, Easter time is for recreation that "re-creates" us.

During Eastertide the church reads through the Acts of the Apostles, which is the sequel to Luke's gospel. This book is a kind of family history of the first Christians. John's gospel is also read during Eastertide. In this gospel Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, the Gateway, the Vine, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Throughout these 50 days, the paschal candle burns brightly in church. The candle is a symbol of the risen body of Christ and the fire of the Spirit. During the rest of the year the candle is kept near the baptismal font. It is lit during baptisms. The newly baptized receive candles lighted from the paschal candle. During funerals the paschal candle is put near the coffin. That way, throughout the year, the light of Easter shines on the dead.

(Adapted from Companion to the Calendar by Mary Ellen Hynes for Liturgy Training Publications).