Pastor’s Letter: April 5, 2026 – Easter

Pastor’s Letter: April 5, 2026 – Easter

3 Apr 2026 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessed Easter! Christ is risen, Alleluia! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! What a wonderful gift to celebrate together that Christ has conquered sin and death and that the gates of Heaven are thrown open for the faithful! Some of you might remember that last year I reviewed through how we understand the three days that Jesus was in the tomb…I recently had two people ask me if we could review that again. Since it has been a full week, I thought I would rework that bulletin column to answer those folks…and hopefully provide a good review for everyone else. As I have shared before, we celebrate on Easter that Jesus has kept His promises, fulfilled His mission, and opened the door for our reconciliation to God. We also recall that Jesus has fulfilled the many prophecies of old…as well as many that He gave us Himself.

One of those prophesies is specifically about the reference to “three” days in the tomb—most of us would likely say that sounds familiar. We certainly do hear it often in the Gospels—did you know that Jesus said something (or a reference is made to what Jesus said) about being in the tomb three days at least 11 times in the Gospels! If you are interested in a mediation on these prophecies, check out any of the following: Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 23:19, 27:63; Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34; and Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 24:46. For now, here is one:  “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Mt 16:21).

From these passages, it is clear that Jesus saw this coming…and that He fulfilled it perfectly…Amen! Alleluia! However, for some, a practical question might remain…all those Scripture passages say Jesus will be in the tomb for three days…we remember His death and burial on Good Friday, but we celebrate His resurrection on Saturday night. To many of us, that might only seem like one day…or a day and a half if we stretch. So a big question: how does the timeframe we observe fulfill what the Scriptures say about three days in the tomb?

The three days actually make perfect sense if we add in some background from Jewish culture. In our reckoning of time, each day begins at midnight…when the clock strikes twelve we move from Friday night to Saturday morning. The Jewish people, however, reckoned time in a different way. For them, the next day begins at sunset (I always thought it was interesting to think about beginning a new day with a nice long sleep/rest! (= ).  So, if we take the days with a Jewish understanding of time…Jesus died around 3pm on Good Friday and was placed in the tomb soon after (Friday is the 1^st day). At sundown on Friday, the next day (Saturday—the 2^nd day) begins. Jesus remains in the tomb all during the day Saturday and then at sundown the 3^rd day (Sunday) begins. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at the Easter Vigil (which begins at sundown) because it is the soonest moment we arrive at three days in the tomb.

I continue to be struck with great joy to think about the time of Jesus in the tomb in that way–He is only in the tomb the shortest amount of time possible to fulfill the prophecy. Said another way, death could only hold Him the shortest amount of time possible to fulfill all the Scriptures! Now that is worth celebrating this Easter! Know that all of you are in my prayers and that I look forward to continuing our Easter celebration in the weeks ahead: Christ is risen, Alleluia! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

I will be away for a family visit this coming week, but know of my blessing! Thanks to Fr. Albert for covering everything while I am away!

In Christ,
Father Luke

P.S.  For those of you planning ahead…the celebration of Divine Mercy for our area will be at St. Vincent’s Parish…confessions beginning at 2:30pm and sung Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm. There will be many priests available for confessions for those who wish to receive the special Divine Mercy graces!