Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Entrance Antiphon

I have risen, and I am with you still, alleluia.

You have laid your hand upon me, alleluia.

Too wonderful for me, this knowledge, alleluia, alleluia.

 

First Reading. Acts of the Apostles 10:34. 37-43. A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

We have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’

 

Responsorial Psalm: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

  1. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,

for his love has no end.

Let the sons of Israel say:

‘His love has no end.’ (R.)

  1. The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;

his right hand raised me up.

I shall not die, I shall live

and recount his deeds. (R.)

  1. The stone which the builders rejected

has become the corner stone.

This is the work of the Lord,

a marvel in our eyes. (R.)

 

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4. A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians

Look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is.

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

 

Sequence

Christians, to the Paschal Victim offer sacrifice and praise.

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;

and Christ, the undefiled,

hath sinners to his Father reconciled.

Death with life contended: combat strangely ended!

Life’s own Champion, slain, yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way.

The tomb the Living did enclose;

I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!

The angels there attesting;

shroud with grave-clothes resting.

Christ, my hope, has risen: he goes before you into Galilee.

That Christ is truly risen from the dead we know.

Victorious king, thy mercy show!

 

 

 

Gospel: Luke 24:1-12. A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Why look among the dead for someone who is alive?

On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, the women went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but on entering discovered that the body of the Lord Jesus was not there. As they stood there not knowing what to think, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side. Terrified, the women lowered their eyes. But the two men said to them, ‘Why look among the dead for someone who is alive? He is not here; he has risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee: that the Son of Man had to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day?’ And they remembered his words.

When the women returned from the tomb they told all this to the Eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them also told the apostles, but this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.

Peter, however, went running to the tomb. He bent down and saw the binding cloths, but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.

Communion Antiphon

1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, alleluia;

therefore let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread

of purity and truth, alleluia, alleluia.

 

REFLECTION by Nick Brodie

The joy of Easter, Pope Francis reminds us, is a call ‘to experience the risen Christ and to share the experience with others.’ Like the women finding the tomb empty and telling the disciples, or Peter running to the tomb when he heard the news, we are called to respond to the message with action! We are meant to become bearers and sharers of hope: He is Risen!

As the Pope suggests, sometimes this means that we have ‘to roll away the stone from the tomb where we may have enclosed the Lord.’ We need to be open to being changed.

‘A Christianity that seeks the Lord among the ruins of the past and encloses him in the tomb of habit’, the Pope declares emphatically, ‘is a Christianity without Easter.’ Every year, therefore, we should take up anew this opportunity to follow our Lord with joyful hope. Each Easter is an opportunity to proclaim Christ Risen in our own time and place.

‘Let us make Jesus,’ the Pope says, ‘rise again from all those tombs in which we have sealed him.’ Let us embrace this Easter opportunity for ‘encountering him today as the living God who desires to change us and to change our world.’ Let us proclaim the Resurrection by what we do next.