Isn’t it glorious how God takes the Mass, Christ’s journey from the garden to the resurrection and takes that one hour event and stretches it out for us from the beginning of Holy Thursday through the Easter Vigil?
God does the same with Easter, that resurrection event, and stretches it for 8 days – called the Octave of Easter.
The Second Sunday of Easter is known as St Thomas Sunday, where we hear the story of Doubting Thomas. It’s also known as Quasimodo Sunday from the traditional Latin text of the Introit for this day, which begins “Quasi modo geniti infantes…”. Literally: “as if in the manner of newborn babies” from 1 Peter 2:2.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II designated the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. In 2005 on the vigil feast of Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope John Paul II died. In 2011, Pope John Paul II will be beatified on the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI.
