Fifty years or so ago, it was popular to teach that every Sunday is a “Little Easter.” Today, after several decades of intense liturgical reform, it is more proper to think of today as a “Big Sunday.” On every Sunday of the year, the Church is obliged to assemble, keeping the day holy. In most places, we hardly attain the goal of gathering all who are in Christ by baptism. Look around today and see what a Big Sunday looks like!
Our tradition speaks of remembering, anamnesis, as the antidote to “amnesia,” the tragic forgetting of who God is and who we are as God’s most beloved creation. On this Easter day, we are at our very best. We remember who God is, and we remember who we are in God’s eyes: beloved sons and daughters, reborn to eternal life in baptismal waters. We rekindle our candles and reclaim our baptismal promises.
As a “Big Sunday,” today also reflects the character of festivity and leisure that should mark every Lord’s Day. We wear “Sunday best” today, and we may take some time, especially in the northern states, to stroll through a budding garden. It is truly a “Big Sunday,” and how different our lives would be if we took its values and traditions forward into all the Sundays of our lives.
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