Easter Monday, traditionally a Bank holiday in the UK and Ireland, is in some places a holy day of obligation (Poland, I think). We see the whole of Easter week, or the Easter octave, as a continuation of Easter day, with some of the same psalms and hymns in the daily office, and at Mass we say the ‘Gloria’ every day. As in Holy Week, we don’t really mark saints’ days this week either.
At weekday Mass in the Easter season we make our way through the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading. So today, at the very beginning of the book after the disciples have received the Holy Spirit (2: 14, 22-23) we listen to St Peter’s early testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. Acts is about the growth and life of the early Church, following on from Luke’s gospel: and for the apostles the event of the resurrection, which has changed their lives, is also an argument for the truths of Christian belief.
In Easter week we hear different extracts from the gospels detailing the appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples. Today’s gospel (Matthew 28:8-15) follows on from the account in Matthew we heard this year at the Easter Vigil of the finding of the empty tomb. Jesus greets his disciples – in Matthew this is the only appearance of Jesus after his rising until the Ascension; it’s also only in Matthew that the disciples are told to go to Galilee, and only Matthew has the bribing of the soldiers.
In the current climate, today doesn’t really feel like a bank holiday at all, but I hope you have a good and restful day if you can.
God bless and take care
Fr Ashley