Eight Sundays, one great feast — how to celebrate every Sunday of Eastertide

Easter can often feel like it’s over almost as soon as it begins.

After weeks of Lent, Easter Sunday arrives with joyful liturgies, family meals, and celebration. However, within a few days, life often slips back into ordinary routines.

The Church, however, has something much richer in mind.

Easter is not just a day — it’s a 50-day celebration stretching from Easter Sunday all the way to Pentecost. The Church even describes this season as one great Sunday, a continuous feast celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death.

During these weeks, the “Alleluia” returns to the liturgy, flowers fill the sanctuary, and the Gospel repeatedly proclaims the astonishing truth: Christ is risen.

For families trying to live the liturgical year more intentionally, the eight Sundays of Eastertide offer a beautiful opportunity. Each Sunday reveals another dimension of the Resurrection story — from mercy, to mission, to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

With a simple prayer, activity, or special meal, each Sunday can become its own little feast. Here’s how to celebrate. 

1. Easter Sunday – the feast of feasts

Everything begins here.

Easter Sunday is the greatest celebration of the Christian year. Christ has conquered death, and the empty tomb changes everything.

Ways to celebrate

• Light a special Easter candle at dinner that you’ll use each Sunday of the season.
• Sing an Easter hymn before the meal.

Family activity

• Create a Resurrection garden with flowers and a small empty tomb.

Feast idea

Celebrate with a festive Easter dinner and a joyful dessert:

• Lamb-shaped cake
• Lemon bars or spring fruit tart

This first Sunday sets the tone: the celebration has only begun.

2. Divine Mercy Sunday — a feast of mercy

The second Sunday of Easter reminds us that the risen Christ pours out mercy upon the world.

The feast was promoted by Pope John Paul II and inspired by the visions of St. Faustina Kowalska, whose message emphasized the limitless mercy of Jesus.

Ways to celebrate

• Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 PM.
• Display a Divine Mercy image in your home or visit one at your parish.
• Receive the Sacrament of  Reconciliation if possible.

Family activity

Choose one work of mercy together for the week:

• Donate food.
• Visit someone lonely.
• Pray for someone in need.

Feast idea

• Serve a red and blue themed dessert (blood and water) or heart-shaped cookies, symbolizing Christ’s merciful heart.

3. Third Sunday of Easter — recognizing the Risen Christ

The Gospel reading on this Sunday focuses on the disciples encountering Jesus after the Resurrection. Typically this covers the road to Emmaus story, Christ appearing to the Apostles in the Upper Room, or when He cooks breakfast for them on the beach. 

The message is simple and powerful: Christ is present, even when we do not immediately recognize Him.

Ways to celebrate

• Read the Emmaus Gospel story together.
• Talk as a family about how Jesus meets us in the Eucharist and provides for our everyday needs, such as temporal food.

Family activity

• Take a family walk, imagining the journey to Emmaus and talking about where you see God at work in daily life.

Feast idea

• Make breakfast for dinner inspired by the Gospel story where Jesus cooks for the apostles.
• Make homemade bread to remember how the disciples on the road to Emmaus finally recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

4. Good Shepherd Sunday 

The fourth Sunday of Easter focuses on Jesus as the Good Shepherd Who guides and protects His people.

It is also the Church’s World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Ways to celebrate

• Pray for priests, seminarians, and religious vocations.
• Write a thank-you card to your parish priest.

Family activity

• Read Psalm 23 together.
• Visit a farm or petting zoo.

Feast idea

• Serve shepherd’s pie or lamb for dinner.

5. Fifth Sunday of Easter — abide in Christ

Around this point in Eastertide, some years the Gospel for this Sunday includes Jesus’ comforting words to His disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled… I am the way and the truth and the life.”

The disciples are anxious about Jesus leaving them. But Christ reminds them that they are not lost. He Himself is the way that leads to the Father.

For families, this Sunday can become a moment to reflect on trust, guidance, and the journey of faith.

Ways to celebrate

• Talk about what it means that Jesus is the “way.”
• Share stories about moments when God helped guide your family through uncertainty.
• Pray together for trust in God’s plan.

Family activity

• Take a family walk or short hike and talk about how every journey needs a path.
• Make a simple treasure hunt with clues, emphasizing how following the right path leads to the destination.

Feast idea

Lean into the journey theme with comforting foods:

• A favorite family meal
• A layered cake, symbolizing the many steps of our journey toward heaven.

6. Sixth Sunday of Easter — love and the commandments

As Pentecost approaches, the Easter message begins to overflow outward. Jesus’ command becomes the focus: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The Gospel typically focuses on the themes of loving one another, following the law of God, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the advocate. We too are called to love and are sent forth by the Spirit. 

Ways to celebrate

• Invite friends or neighbors for dinner.
• Reach out to someone who may feel forgotten.

Family activity

Write thank-you notes to people who have shaped your life:

• Teachers
• Grandparents
• Parishioners 
• Mentors

Feast idea

• Host a backyard picnic or barbecue celebrating friendship and hospitality.

7. Seventh Sunday of Easter or Ascension weekend

Near the end of the Easter season, the Church celebrates the Ascension of the Lord, when Jesus returns to the Father after His Resurrection.

Traditionally the feast occurs 40 days after Easter, on a Thursday. In many dioceses — including most of the United States — it is celebrated on the following Sunday instead.

Either way, the Church enters a brief but meaningful moment in the story of Eastertide: the time when the apostles wait in prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Ways to celebrate

• Read the Ascension story together from the Gospel and talk about the Christian hope of heaven.
• Begin a family novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost.

Family activity

Celebrate the upward movement of the Ascension by going outside and:

• Flying kites.
• Blowing bubbles.

Feast idea

Keep the theme light and celebratory with something “heavenly” for dessert:

• Angel food cake, cloud-like meringues, whipped cream and berries
• Make homemade pizza or flatbread together at your kitchen table, symbolizing the Apostles gathered together in the Upper Room waiting for the Holy Spirit.

8. Pentecost Sunday — the birthday of the Church

Fifty days after Easter, the season reaches its joyful climax.

The Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles, filling them with courage and sending them out to proclaim the Gospel.

Ways to celebrate

• Wear red to Mass.
• Talk about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Family activity

• Decorate the house with red or candles.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide your family.

Feast idea

• Serve red foods like strawberries, red velvet cake, pasta with red sauce.
• Consider cooking dishes from different cultures, symbolizing the Gospel reaching every nation.
• Enjoy a birthday cake for the Church.

One long “Alleluia”

The Easter season is meant to be a time of overflowing joy.

Yet without intention, these weeks can pass quietly by. By celebrating each Sunday — even in small ways — you can keep the joy of the Resurrection alive throughout the entire season.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate. A family prayer, picnic, or a dessert shared together can remind us to keep celebrating the truth that changed the world. 

Christ is risen!