Fourth Sunday of Easter
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	The reception of Holy Communion at Sunday Mass is such an expected feature of the Mass these days that it is surprising to realize that for many centuries, receiving Communion was a relatively rare event in the life of a faithful Christian. “Easter duty” means that Catholics must celebrate reconciliation if aware of serious sin, and receive Holy Communion during the Easter season. For a while, this was a requirement of Easter week, and later extended to the whole season of fifty days, and even beyond that by a few weeks. For the majority of people long ago, this meant Communion was a once-a-year moment. A rather complex bureaucracy grew up around this rule in the Middle Ages. Amazingly, people received a kind of token at confession admitting them to Communion in their home parish, which then kept careful records and reported them to the bishop.
	Surviving records can tell us a great deal about our ancestors. In fact, people were encouraged to journey to the church of their baptism in order to fulfill their duty, and therefore the Easter duty includes in its origins a grateful pilgrimage to the font in which you were first embraced by Christ. If your “Holy Mother Church” is within a drive, why not make a pilgrimage to that font be a feature of your Easter celebration of these fifty days?
—James Field