Lent 2025 is now complete and we celebrate the joyful season of Easter. Alleluia! The Easter season lasts for fifty days, ending on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 2025. The first week after Easter Sunday is called the Octave of Easter; the second Sunday of Easter is named Divine Mercy Sunday. On the Sundays of the Easter season, all of the first readings at Mass are from the Acts of the Apostles, rather than from the Old Testament, which is the usual source of the first readings on Sundays. The second readings this year are all from the Book of Revelation and the gospel readings are from the Gospel of St. John. Contemporary Catholics often find the Book of Revelation difficult to understand. You will find a brief explanation/summary of this highly symbolic book on the US Bishops’ website at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/0. For a somewhat longer and more detailed summary, you can go to the St. Mary’s Press website at https://bit.ly/SMPRevelation. The Book of Revelation reading on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, June 1, ends with the words “Come, Lord Jesus!”, words that we Catholics pray in earnest every day of the year.
On the Wednesday of the Octave of Easter (April 23) we hear the familiar story of the disciples who are on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). The resurrected Jesus joins them as they walk, though they do not realize who he is. Jesus talks with them about the passages in Scripture which relate to him, the Messiah, and he breaks bread with them. The disciples then recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread and note how their “hearts were burning” as he “opened the Scriptures” to them. Fr. Dan Horan, OFM, writes, in Not By Bread Alone 2025: Daily Reflections for Lent, that this story “reveals the ongoing and personal way Christ continues to draw near to us” (pp.98-99); he says that perhaps we are, at times, too preoccupied with other matters, to see this. So, Fr. Horan reminds us that we can experience Christ’s presence with us in our daily life, as well as at Mass where we hear the words of Scripture and receive his gift of himself in the Eucharist.
Tuesday, April 22 is Earth Day. This is an annual celebration of our common home; Pope Francis wrote of the earth in this way (our common home) in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, https://bit.ly/3sU7qsg. The theme for this year’s Earth Day is Our Power, Our Planet, “calling for everyone to unite around renewable energy so we can triple clean electricity by 2030” (https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2025/). Franklin celebrates Earth Day on Sunday,
April 27, with an event at the DelCarte Conservation Area on Pleasant Street. See the town calendar at https://bit.ly/DelCarteEarthDay for more information.
Note: While this addition to our parish Reflections and Resources page was being prepared, the Vatican informed us that Pope Francis had passed from this world to his heavenly home. Our pastor, Fr. Bob Poitras, has written about the pope’s passing, which is posted on our parish Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/StMaryParishFranklinMA. He has also invited us to pray for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul with the following words:
“O God, faithful rewarder of souls, grant that your departed servant Pope Francis, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of your Church, may happily enjoy forever in your presence in heaven the mysteries of your grace and compassion, which he faithfully ministered on earth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
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