Take Easter Home: bulletin inserts for the Easter season

One way to help your parish keep the Easter season going for the entire 50 days of Easter is to encourage parishioners to do some Easter activities at home. Below are some simple ideas you can put in your bulletins this Easter season.

Take Easter Home

ideas for celebrating the season at home

• Take an Easter Walk
  Sometime during the week after Easter Sunday, take a walk around your neighborhood, in your garden, at the park, or even at the local shopping center. Look for signs of new life all around you. Remember the neophytes—those who were baptized this Easter—who are “new plants” in the household of God.


• Do a Baptism search
  Search for photos and other mementos of your own baptism, for example, your baptismal gown or certificate. Place these in a prominent spot in your home during the season. Bring home some holy water from the parish baptismal font, and use it to make the sign of the cross each morning on your forehead.


• Wear white and dress up
  On Sundays during the season, try to wear lots of white or something more “Easter-y,” for example, a flower corsage on your wrist or lapel. If you don’t usually dress up for Sunday Mass, wear dressier clothes each Sunday of Easter. Each time you dress, remember that you have been “clothed in Christ.”


• Light candles
  Buy some nice candles for your home. Place them in your living room and on your dinner table. Light them at night and whenever you sit down to eat at home. Use a match to light them, and as you strike the match, say “Christ, our Light.”


• Dress up your dinner table
  Throughout the season, use a table cloth on your kitchen or dinner table if you don’t already. Use the nicer plates, utensils, and glasses that you save for special occasions. Commit to eating at least one meal at home on Sundays. Light candles, turn off the TV, and put on some nice music for these meals. Every time you eat, begin by saying, “Jesus, Lamb of God.”


• Make bathing a time of renewal
  Whenever you shower or bathe, remember your own baptism. Recall how the neophytes were bathed in the font. Make it a special time of prayer by saying, “Christ, the Water of Life” when you begin. Pamper yourself with soothing oils or lotions. Remember how you have been anointed with the Spirit of Christ.


• Let each day be a little Easter
  As you wake up each day, consecrate that day to God by saying, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This comes from the traditional psalm for Easter (Psalm 118). If you can, give yourself some quiet time before the busyness of the day. Sit in silence with your morning coffee, light a candle, and let God speak to you in that moment.


• Write a thank-you note, just because
  “Eucharist” means “thank you” in Greek. Each week of Easter (there are seven), write a thank-you note to someone you appreciate but don’t often get to thank. Send it to them, and say a prayer for them as you seal the envelope or click the “send” button.