Easter

The 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as are feast days, or better as one “Great Sunday.” St. Augustine says: “We are Easter people; Alleluia is our song.”  Alleluia is one of those words that needs to be sung. We’ll sing it over and over again this Easter season. What exactly does it mean?  Literally, the word is a short form for the sentence: “God’s people praise God!” But it’s one of those words that defies translation, like “Hooray!” Even the instructions in our liturgical books say that if the Alleluia cannot be sung, it should be omitted.  So whether the liturgy is celebrated in a cathedral or a catacomb, in a parish church or in the domestic church of the home, “Alleluia” is our song.