Dear Friends in Christ, Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti! These Greek acclamations mean “Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!”, and in the Christian East — both Catholic and Orthodox — these acclamations replace the usual greetings of hello and goodbye during the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, the liturgical season of Easter or Eastertide.…

Dear Friends in Christ, Last night, at the beginning of the Easter Vigil, priests all over the world prepared the Paschal Candle which will burn before every altar of the Church throughout Eastertide and at every font during each Baptism in the coming year. In preparation for the lighting of the Paschal Candle, a symbol…

Dear Friends in Christ, Holy Week includes the last of the 40 Days of Lent, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, and Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord. These are the holiest days of the year and the annual celebration of the sacred mysteries through which we are saved from sin and death and restored…

Dear Friends in Christ, With this Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Church enters the final part of Lent: Passiontide. From today until the Vigil of the Resurrection in the night of Holy Saturday, crosses and statues are veiled and the sacred liturgy of each day takes us more deeply into the heart of the Paschal…