Friends, our Easter Gospel is John’s startlingly concise account of the Resurrection.

The Easter declaration, properly understood, has always been and still is an explosion, an earthquake, a revolution. For the Easter faith—on clear display from the earliest days of the Christian movement—is that Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jew from the northern reaches of the Promised Land, who had been brutally put to death by the Roman authorities, is alive again through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Once we’ve come to some clarity about the Resurrection claim itself, we can begin to see why it still matters so massively. If the Resurrection is only a bland symbol or a projection of our desires, then tyrants have nothing to fear from it. But if it is a fact of history, an act of the living God in space and time, then sinners have real cause to repent.

A second great implication of the Resurrection is that heaven and earth are coming together. The hope of ancient Israel was not a jailbreak, not an escape from this world, but precisely the unification of heaven and earth in a great marriage. Recall a central line from the prayer that Jesus bequeathed to his Church: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The bodily Resurrection of Jesus—“the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”—is the powerful sign that the two orders are in fact coming together.

Lent Reflections

Daily Lent Reflections from Bishop Barron

Holy Week

Sunday

April 9

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Easter

Holy Week

Saturday

April 8

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Holy Saturday

Friday

April 7

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Good Friday

Thursday

April 6

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Holy Thursday

Wednesday

April 5

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Tuesday

April 4

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Monday

April 3

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Sunday

April 2

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Palm Sunday

5th week of Lent

Saturday

April 1

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Friday

March 31

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Thursday

March 30

Read

Wednesday

March 29

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Tuesday

March 28

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Monday

March 27

Read

Sunday

March 26

Read

4th week of Lent

Saturday

March 25

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Annunciation

Friday

March 24

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Thursday

March 23

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Wednesday

March 22

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Tuesday

March 21

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Monday

March 20

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St. Joseph

Sunday

March 19

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3rd week of Lent

Saturday

March 18

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Friday

March 17

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Thursday

March 16

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Wednesday

March 15

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Tuesday

March 14

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Monday

March 13

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Sunday

March 12

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2nd week of Lent

Saturday

March 11

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Friday

March 10

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Thursday

March 9

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Wednesday

March 8

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Tuesday

March 7

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Monday

March 6

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Sunday

March 5

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1st week of Lent

Saturday

March 4

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Friday

March 3

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Thursday

March 2

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Wednesday

March 1

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Tuesday

February 28

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Monday

February 27

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Sunday

February 26

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Week of Ash Wednesday

Saturday

February 25

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Friday

February 24

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Thursday

February 23

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Wednesday

February 22

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Ash Wednesday