Showing posts with label Easter Sunday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter Sunday. Show all posts

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Happy Easter 2026

Another winter is over in the Western Hemisphere, and spring has arrived! We have persevered and overcome! Easter celebrates tenacity over trials with the hope of new beginnings! 
St. Paul the Apostle Church, a New York City Landmark, sits next to Lincoln Center. In early December, when Lincoln Center hosts its White Light Festival to celebrate the arts, the event turns into a big block party with live music, theater, and dance. St. Paul the Apostle Church participates by opening its doors with priests serving hot chocolate to the public. It’s a warm, welcoming chance to come inside out of the cold and walk around the church's majestic interior. Of course, Easter Sunday is a house of worship's biggest celebration. My friend, Carolyn, belongs to this church and sings in its choir, and her friend, Debbie, puts in a few appearances, usually for special events. The clergy is, without fail, welcoming and lovely to all who enter. They never ask you where you’ve been!😊
Talk about the Lamb of God, here’s an especially cute one!

Let's finish off with a joyful baby duckling who is wearing his Easter “bonnet" of rabbit ears.  

Happy Easter, Everyone!  

You may also enjoy:

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Happy Easter Sunday 2024

Noli me tangere by Simone Cantarini (1612 - 1648), an Italian painter who was born in Pesaro, the then Papal States 

Scholars of theology think Mary Magdalene was an influential figure in the early Christian Church. According to all 4 Gospels, she was one of the women who traveled with Jesus and supported his ministry from the beginning to the end. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John mention her by name 12 times, more than any other woman fellower, as well as, more than most of the apostles. Mary Magdalene was never a prostitute. Blame Pope Gregory IX for a sermon he gave in the 13th century for this wrong perception. According to the Gospels, she witnessed the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and was the first person Jesus appeared to after rising from the dead. Some theologians think she was a leader of the early church. She is declared a saint in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches. In 2016 Pope Francis elevated her status higher calling her the "Apostle of the Apostles." Theologians postulate the reason Mary Magdalene was the 1st person the risen Christ appeared to was due to how highly he regarded her. Some of the unauthorized (called non-canon gospels, the gospels of Thomas and Philip) portray Jesus and Mary as romantically close, which so far is impossible to confirm, but surely will continue to be the source of endless speculation. Easter, the most important date on the Christian calendar, celebrates hope, optimism, and human perseverance.
Enjoy the day and eat the chocolate.


You may also enjoy:

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Happy Easter People!

Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio

Leave it to one of my favorite Baroque painters, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) to depict a resurrected, incognito, very human Jesus eating a meal in the town of Emmaus with his clueless disciples who fail to recognize him ... until they do. Then Christ vanishes. (Khan Academy analysis here of the painting).

Once again we celebrate hope, optimism, and human perseverance in a flawed, limited, and sometimes challenging world. But, spring is here -- days are getting longer and warmer, and life is good.✝️🐣
Happy Easter! 



You may also enjoy: