Most people, including probably most Christians, think of Easter as a one-day celebration, just as we tend to think of Christmas as a one-day event. Actually, when the church began developing the liturgical calendar in its early centuries, it came to view the year as centering upon two major "cycles," both of which began with a period of penitence and preparation and concluded in a season of joy.

"The Christmas Cycle" begins with Advent, moves to Christmas Day, and then, the Christmas Season of Twelve Days follows, ending on the evening before Epiphany (January 6).

"The Easter Cycle" begins with Ash Wednesday and the Forty Days of Lent, moves to Easter Day, and then the "Great Fifty Days" of the Easter season follows, ending on the eve of Pentecost.

The early church called Easter "Pascha", a word derived from the Hebrew for Passover; it was much later that the word Easter, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess, Eostre, came to denote the celebration of Christ's resurrection. The Great Fifty Days of Easter is the oldest festival of the church year, older than either Lent or Advent. Originally the Fifty Days were considered more important than the Forty Days of Lent; only in the Middle Ages did the emphasis switch to the Lenten Season, as the Church came to focus more upon the human predicament than the divine redemption wrought in the resurrection.

Since the day of Jesus' resurrection was Sunday, the early church, in a sense, broke the fourth Commandment and changed their Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week. Every Sunday, then, is a "little Easter," celebrating the victory of Christ over death. The six Sundays within Lent are not, strictly speaking, part of the Lenten season, which is why, if you count the days between Ash Wednesday through the Saturday before Easter, you come up with 46 rather than 40 days -- you have to subtract the six Sundays, which are designated "Sundays in Lent," not "Sundays of Lent."

What does all of this mean?

First that Easter is more than one day. We can celebrate every Sunday as Easter...we can reclaim the Great Fifty Days and extend our Easter celebration to Pentecost. But even more than these, we can understand Easter to be a continuing reality, since it changes everything...everyday. Easter gives us a new perspective for viewing all of life, and its message may break through to us in our feelings of deadness at any time -- especially at unexpected times.

The story of the two disciples making their way on the road of broken hope toward Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) is instructive for us. The risen Christ may become real for us when we least expect it...when our dreams and hopes are battered if not shattered. Perhaps at first, like them, we do not recognize it to be Christ who is with us on our roads of heaviness and heartbreak.

Life is visited by many "little deaths" -- times when the future seems blocked, or held prisoner by forces that would undo us; times when the world says "no" to us that call into question our worth and dignity. But Easter is not confined to one day -- the message of Easter is Life breaking out of any confines. There are "little Easters" as well, when the Resurrection that is God's final word reaches back into life and lifts us above Emmaus-like despair and releases us from prisons that have been imposed on us or that we have created for ourselves.

One day...Fifty Days...Fifty-two Sundays...and all the other days are arenas of God's resurrecting love. May you know its presence just when you need it most.