The Church celebrates Easter for fifty days, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday inclusive, but observes the Octave of Easter (octave means eight – from Easter Sunday through Second Sunday of Easter inclusive) with particular solemnity. This always serves as a great contrast to the secular society which, as it does with Christmas, throws away all reminders of the Feast the following day. Make sure you continue to make the Easter Season a festive time of celebrating our Savior’s Resurrection.

Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. (Matthew 28:5; Gospel for the Easter Vigil) Thus the evangelist records the words of the angel to the women who had come to the tomb on that Easter morn. The angel’s first words to the women were borrowed by our late Holy Father, Saint Pope John Paul II, when he was elected to the Papacy: “Be not afraid!” What is it that Man fears most? Is it not death, the ultimate destroyer of one’s identity and being?

The Holy Season of Lent culminates in the Church’s celebration of Holy Week. There is no more important observance in the Christian calendar than the celebration of the events of our salvation

The Gospels recount many of the miracles the Lord performed: restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, strength of limbs to the lame and palsied, multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed the hungry. Saint John, in his Gospel, does not call these great works of Jesus miracles; he calls them signs.

The last three weeks I have written about the Sacrament of Baptism. Today I would like to conclude with some comments on the rights and responsibilities of parents. Parents have the right to have their child baptized in the Church.