While you're planning your celebration, let's talk about the history of Easter.

Even though Easter is our holiest of Holy Days, when Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, it actually comes from a pagan festival. All the good ones did: Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Easter, which celebrates the beginning of spring.

When is Easter? First Sunday of April? Sometimes. Last Sunday of March? Maybe. This year, Easter is on April 9, which is also four days after the start of Passover 2023. Last year, Easter was on April 17.

It’s like a holiday playing hide & seek. You have to check the calendar every year to figure out when to buy your Easter bonnet.

What’s the formula for figuring out the date? That’s an easy answer. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.

So the date falls anywhere between March 22 and April 25. That’s a big spread. So it could snow on Easter, or be sunny and bright. You just don’t know.

Mary Magdalene and Easter Eggs

     How many know the true story of Mary Magdalene? And don’t say she was married to Jesus because you read it in that Dan Brown book, The Da Vinci Code? In which section of the bookstore can you find that book? That’s right. Fiction! Jesus was a bachelor!

     Mary Magdalene was a friend of Jesus, a follower, yes, possibly a “professional girl.” Technically, she should have been an apostle. She’s the first person to see Jesus when He walks out of the tomb.

     You know the story. She sees the big rock has rolled away from the opening and she thinks somebody has robbed the grave. But instead she’s the first to see His resurrection. Legend has it she carried a basket of eggs to the tomb. And when Jesus appeared, all the eggs turned red. Can you imagine the egg salad?!

     And then He left her and went to visit the Apostles. She ran into town to say that Christ had risen. And she carried her Easter basket. So now you know why we have eggs on Easter morning.

     Here’s a Lenten quiz: If the hamburger was the first sandwich invented at McDonald’s, what was the second one? Yes, the Filet-o-Fish.

     Back in 1962, there was a McDonald’s franchise owner in Cincinnati named Lou Groen. On Fridays, his sales were way down, like $75 for the whole day. Why? Because Cincinnati was really Catholic and everybody was going over to the local Big Boy franchise and getting a fish sandwich. So he came up with the idea for the Filet-o-Fish and brought the idea to Ray Kroc, who owned McDonald’s.

     Now Ray Kroc had his own sandwich idea: the Hula Burger. It was a sliced of grilled pineapple with some cheese, served on a cold bun. Who wants to eat that?

     Ray Kroc hated the idea of a fish sandwich, but he made a deal. Whichever sandwich sold the most would be on the menu. Since you’ve never heard of the Hula Burger, you know which one was the winner.

     Today McDonald's makes like $300 million a year off Catholics and, well, anybody who wants a fish sandwich. And Lou, the guy who invented it, got bupkis, nothing! Not a single cut of those sales!

     Don’t feel too bad. Lou did okay. He ended up saving his own franchise and opened 42 more!