Easter Joy and Marian Devotion

Happy Easter, brothers and sisters. Again, we continue the 50-day celebration of Easter. We're in the fourth week of Easter, and so we have two other important feasts to celebrate this week. Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared in 1917 to three children at a time when the world was at war.

Russia was under Communist rule at the beginning of the socialist revolution.

Mary called for prayer and the conversion of hearts—our hearts and those in Soviet Russia. She also called for the restoration of the practice of praying the Rosary.

We see the fruit of that call today, as many people throughout the world pray the Rosary and conclude each decade with the Fatima Prayer.

Today is a fitting day to pick up a rosary—to pray five decades or even one decade—in memory of and in celebration of Mary's presence in our lives and her call for us to be men and women of prayer, faithful to the Lord, and to announce His Resurrection with our lives.

Another important feast this week is on Wednesday. We celebrate the feast of Saint Matthias, who was elected to replace Judas so that the Twelve Apostles would be whole again.

Matthias was appointed an apostle because he was a witness of Jesus's ministry and was present during the resurrection appearances of Christ. He not only experienced the Risen Lord but was also sent to proclaim that message—and he bore fruit.

He was sent to proclaim the message we celebrate today: that Christ is indeed Risen. And that is a cause for joy.

So again, Happy Easter this week!