The resurrection of Jesus on Easter offers people a chance to reset their clocks to God’s time, Cardinal Wilton Gregory said at Easter Sunday Masses on March 31, 2024 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. and at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The noontime Mass at the basilica also marked a special milestone in the National Shrine’s history.
The Easter Sunday Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at St. Matthew’s opened with the Schola Cantorum choir, accompanied by a brass quintet and the cathedral’s organist, leading the singing of the joyful hymn, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.”
In his homily that morning at the cathedral’s Easter Mass, Cardinal Gregory noted how John’s gospel is very specific about detailing how Mary Magdalene discovered the stone rolled away from Christ’s empty tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week, Sunday.
“The first day of the week, the very day on which God started His creation in the first place – in darkness before the sun rose – the true Son rose,” the cardinal said. He added that, “Easter resets all the clocks and calendars in our lives and in our futures. Easter is the first day of the new creation. Everything that God had initially created and at the time had judged to have been very good has now been made perfect on Easter.”
Cardinal Gregory said that on Easter, man was made new, and more like God. “All the flaws and all the imperfections that had found their way into creation were set right on Easter Sunday – the new first day of the week, and the Son that rose that day will never set – darkness is forever banished because of this new day of creation,” he said.
The cardinal said that in a time-conscious world where many people depend on various devices to keep track of time, Easter offers a reminder that “everything is made new in the light of Christ’s resurrection.”
The evening before in a joyous Easter Vigil at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Cardinal Gregory baptized 14 men, women and children, who joined nine other people in receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. They were among an estimated 1,350 people in parishes across The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who came into full communion in the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil.
Those newly baptized Catholics who receive new life in Christ at the Easter Vigil offer witness to how Christ makes all things new, the cardinal said, noting that Easter “is the dawn of a new world and the beginning of a new era” that invites people “to begin living in a new way.”
Later that day as the cardinal celebrated an Easter Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception marking the Solemnity of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in his opening prayer he noted that on a day when the Father raised His Son, God “promises to raise us to new life.”
As the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Gregory serves as the chairman of the basilica’s Board of Trustees.
Msgr. Walter Rossi, the National Shrine’s rector, welcomed people to the Easter Sunday Mass, and noted that day marked a special anniversary for the shrine.
“Easter is central to our faith. For us here at Mary’s Shrine, this Easter Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the first Mass being celebrated in the shrine in what is now the Crypt Church on Easter Sunday in 1924. Mass was celebrated in the midst of the (shrine’s) construction,” Msgr. Rossi said. “Since that day 100 years ago, over 800,000 Masses have been celebrated here in Mary’s Shrine, including the ordination Mass for over 7,000 men.”
To mark the anniversary, Cardinal Gregory at the Easter Sunday Mass used the crosier of the first rector of the National Shrine, Bishop Thomas Shahan, and he used the same chalice that was used at the shrine’s first Mass 100 years ago.
In his homily at the Easter Mass at the National Shrine, Cardinal Gregory also reflected on how Jesus’s resurrection at Easter offered a new day for humanity.
“As we celebrate once again this primary feast of the Christian calendar, we are reminded to change our clocks – not just to advance them one hour forward or backward – not merely to add another leap day to the calendar so that we are in sync with the sun – not even to add a leap second or two so that our time devices are more accurate – but to anticipate living in a new moment of perfection because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead,” the cardinal said.
Concluding his homily, Cardinal Gregory encouraged people to “reset your watches, your clocks and your calendars, not simply to have them be more precise but to have them remind us all that a new day has dawned, and we are destined to live forever – in God’s time! Amen! Alleluia!”
After Communion at the Easter Mass, the National Shrine’s choir sang the stirring “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. As people left that Easter Sunday Mass at the National Shrine, the Knights of Columbus serving as ushers gave them a memento card depicting Our Lady of Washington.
“This is a lost image at this point, but this was the first image of the National Shrine which was placed behind the tabernacle in the Crypt Church from 1924 until 1927,” Msgr. Rossi said. Concluding his earlier words of welcome, the priest said, “May this Easter prayer fill all of us with new life (and) with hope. May Our Lady of Washington, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray with us before her risen Son. Happy Easter to you all.”
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