Learn God’s Light
Easter 2027 · March 28 – May 16

A Catholic Guide to Easter

Christ is risen! What Easter means, how its date is set, the 2027 calendar from the Easter Vigil to Pentecost, and ways to live the fifty days of Easter joy.

Why Easter matters

“Why seek you the living with the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”Luke 24:5–6 (Douay-Rheims)

Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the center of the Christian faith. “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ” (CCC 638). St. Paul hands on what he himself received: “that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3–4).

The Resurrection confirms everything Christ did and taught (CCC 651). It is not a symbol or a return to ordinary earthly life: Jesus rose with His real body, now glorified (CCC 645–646). And it is the source of our own new life and future resurrection:

“For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.”Romans 6:4 (Douay-Rheims)

Easter is “not simply one feast among others, but the ‘Feast of feasts,’ the ‘Solemnity of solemnities’” (CCC 1169). Every Sunday is a little Easter. Why believe Jesus really rose?

How the date of Easter is set

Easter has no fixed date. Following the practice agreed at the Council of Nicaea (325), it falls on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (CCC 1170). The Church uses a fixed date for the equinox (March 21) and calculated “ecclesiastical” full moons, so Easter in the West always falls between March 22 and April 25.

Most Eastern Orthodox Churches calculate the same rule using the older Julian calendar, so their Easter is often later. In 2027, Catholics celebrate Easter on March 28 and the Orthodox on May 2. The Catechism notes the Church’s hope for an agreement to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection on a common date (CCC 1170).

Because Easter moves, so do Ash Wednesday (46 days before), the Ascension (40 days after Easter, counting Easter itself), and Pentecost (the 50th day).

Mark your calendar

Easter 2027 calendar

Dates for the dioceses of the United States, from the USCCB liturgical calendar for 2027. Sunday Gospels are from Year B.

  • Mar 27Saturday nightThe Easter Vigil in the Holy Night WhiteThe blessing of the new fire and the Paschal candle, the Exsultet, the Old Testament readings of salvation history, the return of the Gloria and the Alleluia, and the sacraments of initiation for the elect.
  • Mar 28SundayEaster Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord WhiteGospel: Jn 20:1–9, the empty tomb. The Easter Octave begins: each of these eight days is celebrated as a solemnity of the Lord.
  • Apr 4SundaySecond Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy) WhiteOctave day of Easter. Gospel: Jn 20:19–31, Jesus appears to Thomas. About Divine Mercy Sunday.
  • Apr 5MondayThe Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity) WhiteMoved from March 25 this year, because that date falls in Holy Week.
  • Apr 11SundayThird Sunday of Easter WhiteGospel: Lk 24:35–48.
  • Apr 18SundayFourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday) WhiteGospel: Jn 10:11–18. World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
  • Apr 25SundayFifth Sunday of Easter WhiteGospel: Jn 15:1–8, “I am the vine.”
  • May 1SaturdaySt. Joseph the Worker (Optional Memorial) WhiteSt. Joseph novena: Apr 22–30.
  • May 2SundaySixth Sunday of Easter WhiteGospel: Jn 15:9–17. (Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter, Pascha, on this day in 2027.)
  • May 6ThursdayThe Ascension of the Lord White Holy day of obligationCelebrated on Thursday, and a holy day of obligation, only in the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, and Philadelphia. Everywhere else in the U.S. it moves to Sunday, May 9. Gospel: Mk 16:15–20. The Novena to the Holy Spirit begins on Friday, May 7.
  • May 9SundaySeventh Sunday of Easter or the Ascension WhiteWhere the Ascension has been moved to Sunday, it replaces the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
  • May 16SundayPentecost Sunday RedThe Easter season ends. The Holy Spirit comes upon the Apostles gathered with Mary (Acts 2:1–11). Ordinary Time resumes on Monday, May 17.

After the Easter season come the Most Holy Trinity (May 23), the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (May 30), and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Friday, June 4; novena May 26 – June 3).

The fifty days of Easter

Easter is not one day but a whole season. “The fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated in joy and exultation as one feast day, indeed as one ‘great Sunday’” (Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 22).

  • The Alleluia returns, and white vestments are worn (red on Pentecost).
  • The Paschal candle, lit at the Vigil, burns at Mass throughout the season. Afterward it stands near the baptismal font and is lit at baptisms and funerals.
  • The Acts of the Apostles is read at Mass throughout the season, showing the risen Lord at work in the early Church.
  • The Regina Caeli replaces the Angelus from Easter Sunday through Pentecost. Pray the Regina Caeli.
  • The Easter duty: in the United States, Catholics are to receive Holy Communion at least once between the First Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday, which is May 23 in 2027 (CCC 2042; USCCA, p. 334).
Keep the feast

Living the Easter season

Lent had forty days of penance; Easter has fifty days of rejoicing.

  • Greet one another with the ancient Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!” “He is truly risen!” (cf. Lk 24:34).
  • Celebrate the whole Octave: go to Mass on a weekday, and keep feasting through Divine Mercy Sunday.
  • Read the Resurrection accounts in all four Gospels (Mt 28, Mk 16, Lk 24, Jn 20–21) and the Acts of the Apostles.
  • Pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
  • Remember your baptism: bless yourself with holy water, and renew your baptismal promises (as the whole Church does at Easter).
  • Welcome the newly baptized in your parish and pray for them as they continue their formation.
  • Prepare for Pentecost with the Novena to the Holy Spirit (May 7–15).
  • Share the good news: “being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you” (1 Pet 3:15).
“This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.”Psalm 117:24 (Douay-Rheims; Psalm 118:24 in modern numbering)

Sources

  • Catechism of the Catholic Church 638, 645–646, 651, 1169–1170, 2042.
  • Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar (1969), 22 (English text as published by the USCCB).
  • USCCB, Liturgical Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America, 2027; United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 334.
  • Scripture: Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (public domain). For each day’s Mass readings, see the USCCB daily readings.