When is "the Easter season"?

[klm120861]

I’m not sure if this is in the right place, but I just need a little bit of information. In the Catechism, one of the precepts of the Church is “You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.” (CCC 2042) My question is, when is the Easter season? Does it begin on Easter Sunday and run up to the Ascension?
Thanks!
Kris

 

[marty1818]

The Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost.

 

[klm120861]

Thanks so much! I am blogging on the precepts (it’ll post in a couple of weeks) and couldn’t find the exact time frame anywhere.
Kris

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost.

That is for the Church as a whole. According to the Baltimore Catechism the Communion mandate extended from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. This was to accomodate the difficulty of travel in earlier times. I have not seen any notice, nor can I find, that that has been changed.

 

[SMHW]

According to the Baltimore Catechism the Communion mandate extended from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. This was to accomodate the difficulty of travel in earlier times. I have not seen any notice, nor can I find, that that has been changed.

I’ve wondered about this.

The wording in the CCC (at least in English) would seem to suggest the the Easter Season from Easter through Pentecost. But if it was intended there would be a significant reduction in the number of days that could be used to satisfy the obligation you’d think we’d have heard a lot about it.

 

[NovusAugustus]

I’ve wondered about this.

The wording in the CCC (at least in English) would seem to suggest the the Easter Season from Easter through Pentecost. But if it was intended there would be a significant reduction in the number of days that could be used to satisfy the obligation you’d think we’d have heard a lot about it.

We probably haven’t heard a lot about it because most people don’t understand the significance of it. In another time, people rarely received the Eucharist because they were taught not to go when they were in a state of mortal sin. Nowadays almost everyone goes regardless so the whole “obligation” is put by the wayside–it’s more of a habit to many.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I’ve wondered about this.

The wording in the CCC (at least in English) would seem to suggest the the Easter Season from Easter through Pentecost. But if it was intended there would be a significant reduction in the number of days that could be used to satisfy the obligation you’d think we’d have heard a lot about it.

I should have been clearer. The CCC statement is for the whole Church. The longer period in the Baltimore catechism is[was?] a special exception for the U.S.

 

[rf_2ner]

Our local seminary dean recently wrote in a column that with regard to the Easter Duty, the Easter Season extends through Penticost Sunday, but didn’t specify when it began. His information is not correct in regard to the United States.

My research turned up with this:
Page 1114 of the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (published in 2000) states in reference to Canon 920 (1983 code), “…The 1983 code retains the annual precept but with some changes.”
“One change is greater latitude in the time permitted for the fulfillment of the eucharistic precept. The coetus which prepared the original draft of this canon understood Easter time as the period from Palm (Passion) Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. The dioceses of the United States have an indult which allows the Easter duty to be satisfied from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday…” (it references the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, n. 257.)

That tells me very clearly that in the United States the time to fulfill the “Easter Duty” extends from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

That may be the time to fulfill the “Easter Duty” but the Easter Season is still Easter to Pentecost Sunday.

 

[rf_2ner]

You are correct. I should have been more specific, since the topic drifted back and forth from “Easter Season” to timeframe to fulfill the “Easter Duty.”

I would expect that the “liturgical” Easter “Season” starts with the Easter Vigil and extends to Pentecost Sunday. The Easter “time” for fulfilling the “Easter Duty” in the United States is from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday.