Dear Students,
'TIS THE SEASON
No, not the Christmas Season - I don't have my holidays mixed up. I meant the Easter Season! Yes, it is a whole season in the Church year. I once read an article by a very misinformed Catholic who did not understand this fact. She had gone to a Protestant church with a friend on the Sunday after Easter. At this church they were celebrating "Butterfly Sunday" which she said was a beautiful reminder of the power of Resurrection, using the image of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. She really liked the service and suggested that the Catholic Church really ought to do something similar, to extend Easter beyond just Easter Sunday so we can give the Resurrection its fair due.
The writer identified herself as a Catholic, but her comments left me wondering how often she makes it to Mass. We certainly don't need "Butterfly Sunday" to help us extend the Easter holiday. For us it is a whole season, stretching from Easter Sunday itself for fifty days until Pentecost. More than that, the eight days from Easter until the next Sunday (the "Octave of Easter") are regarded really as one extended day in the liturgical calendar. To give an example, in the Liturgy of the Hours (the Divine Office) for Morning Prayer, the psalms and antiphons for each day this week are taken from the Easter Morning Prayer. It is the same day over and over again. But unlike "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray, we don't repeat the emergence of a rodent from a den, but the Risen Christ from the Tomb. We consider this such a seminal event in our faith that one 24 hour day just is not enough!
The Second Sunday of Easter in particular has been designated as Divine Mercy Sunday (far better than "Butterfly Sunday" in my book). The Divine Mercy devotion is rooted in the diary of a young polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, written in the 1930s. In it, she recounts many revelations she received about God's mercy. The message of mercy is that God loves us, no matter how great our sins. His mercy is stronger than our sins. If we trust in His mercy, we not only receive His mercy, but we allow it to flow through ourselves and spread to others. In short, we must ask for God's mercy, we must ourselves be merciful, and we must completely trust in Jesus.
If you are unfamiliar with the Divine Mercy devotion, or the chaplet, here is a great link to an EWTN mini-site with all sorts of information.
Butterflies are beautiful creatures of God - but if I have to choose between them and God's mercy, all I have to say is, "Jesus, I trust in You!"
God bless and have a great week!
Matt
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WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
(828)293-9374 | POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723
