The Resurrection of the Lord
The Mass of Easter Day
Readings for Easter Sunday[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 10:34a, 37-43
This is part of Peter’s speech to the Cornelius and his family (Gentiles). Peter (according to St. Luke) assumes the people know what has happened – namely that Jesus who was thought to be the Messiah, had proven that fact in the resurrection. Now he reminds them, before the creed was written that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Or Alleluia.
Psalm 118 is a song of thanksgiving emphasizing the fidelity of God. The final strophe gives a reminder that God’s only Son was rejected and, in the resurrection, revealed to all the word that he is the cornerstone of all creation.
Reading II Colossians 3:1-4
Paul gives assurance to the Colossians that they too have a home with Christ who now is seated at the right hand of the Father. In saying this, he points their aspirations to the things of heaven.
Or I Corinthians 5:6b-8
Paul calls the Corinthians to conversion with a metaphor. He uses the duel meaning or implication of leaven bread and the feast of the Passover to symbolize the new covenant. The traditional Passover meal or Seder is lamb and unleavened bread. Christ, the Lamb of God in the unleavened bread of the Eucharist is their meal.
Gospel John 20:1-9
In St. John’s account of the discovery of the “Empty Tomb” we hear how the disciple whom Jesus loved understood what had come to pass before Peter. Found also in Luke, this story furnishes the testimony that confirms Christ’s resurrection.
Reflection:
He is Risen!
The forty days of preparation have ended and we celebrate the greatest feast of the Church. Jesus Christ The Gospel of St. John tells the story of the foot race between St. Peter and another (much younger) disciple, probably St. John himself. They rush to the grave because Mary Magdala has told them something astonishing. She has been to the Tomb and it was empty!
They had to see for themselves. It had been three days and they could not have gone earlier because they were forbidden to make that journey on the Sabbath. What did they think as they ran? Were they fighting with their faith? Did they believe that what Jesus had been telling them all along had come to pass or could have been the Romans or even the Temple guards that took the body, still not prepared for proper burial to some other place, further humiliating the Lord after his death.
The truth of that event has come to be known. Centuries past and the debate raged. The Lord came to reveal the truth; that God loves us, created in His image, an impulse of his love. And when he saw that we did not understand, he sent his Son that we might come to see that he was not simply a parent who punished his children when they were in error. He was not simply, as the Jews had come to believe, a strict disciplinarian, rather he was a loving Father who cared deeply for his children and wanted to be with them always.
His Son came to us knowing that many would not accept the Love of the Father; knowing that they would reject him so violently that it would result in humiliation and horrible, painful death. Molding flesh in the Virgin Mary’s womb, Christ came to us with all of the frailties that make up a true man. What good would God’s sacrifice have seemed if his unending Godhead descended? He showed us with his actions the life God wanted for us; a life without contest, in harmony with one another and all creation. He gathered all Sacred Scripture to himself and showed us how it fit together – he was the Epiphany.
In the end, when he had shown us all the love he could, he took the path preordained. It was a path the man Jesus did not want. It was the path the God, Jesus, knew was necessary. It fulfilled the new covenant. The sacrifice was God himself, the seal of that covenant was his blood. And now, so we might not be like those who live in darkness and have no hope, He has Risen!
What do we believe and what does that mean for us? If we believe that Christ has risen as he told us repeatedly that he would, then we understand him the be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who as Paul and Luke both tell us, now sits at the right had of the Father in the seat of Justice. If that is our belief, first we celebrate that event joyfully today. Not just because our long fast has ended, but once more the Church proclaims throughout the world that salvation is there for the asking. The great “Alleluia” has sounded and we are called to echo that joyous sound that the world will know and come to believe, “For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Pax
The Mass of Easter Day
Readings for Easter Sunday[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 10:34a, 37-43
This is part of Peter’s speech to the Cornelius and his family (Gentiles). Peter (according to St. Luke) assumes the people know what has happened – namely that Jesus who was thought to be the Messiah, had proven that fact in the resurrection. Now he reminds them, before the creed was written that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Or Alleluia.
Psalm 118 is a song of thanksgiving emphasizing the fidelity of God. The final strophe gives a reminder that God’s only Son was rejected and, in the resurrection, revealed to all the word that he is the cornerstone of all creation.
Reading II Colossians 3:1-4
Paul gives assurance to the Colossians that they too have a home with Christ who now is seated at the right hand of the Father. In saying this, he points their aspirations to the things of heaven.
Or I Corinthians 5:6b-8
Paul calls the Corinthians to conversion with a metaphor. He uses the duel meaning or implication of leaven bread and the feast of the Passover to symbolize the new covenant. The traditional Passover meal or Seder is lamb and unleavened bread. Christ, the Lamb of God in the unleavened bread of the Eucharist is their meal.
Gospel John 20:1-9
In St. John’s account of the discovery of the “Empty Tomb” we hear how the disciple whom Jesus loved understood what had come to pass before Peter. Found also in Luke, this story furnishes the testimony that confirms Christ’s resurrection.
Reflection:
He is Risen!
The forty days of preparation have ended and we celebrate the greatest feast of the Church. Jesus Christ The Gospel of St. John tells the story of the foot race between St. Peter and another (much younger) disciple, probably St. John himself. They rush to the grave because Mary Magdala has told them something astonishing. She has been to the Tomb and it was empty!
They had to see for themselves. It had been three days and they could not have gone earlier because they were forbidden to make that journey on the Sabbath. What did they think as they ran? Were they fighting with their faith? Did they believe that what Jesus had been telling them all along had come to pass or could have been the Romans or even the Temple guards that took the body, still not prepared for proper burial to some other place, further humiliating the Lord after his death.
The truth of that event has come to be known. Centuries past and the debate raged. The Lord came to reveal the truth; that God loves us, created in His image, an impulse of his love. And when he saw that we did not understand, he sent his Son that we might come to see that he was not simply a parent who punished his children when they were in error. He was not simply, as the Jews had come to believe, a strict disciplinarian, rather he was a loving Father who cared deeply for his children and wanted to be with them always.
His Son came to us knowing that many would not accept the Love of the Father; knowing that they would reject him so violently that it would result in humiliation and horrible, painful death. Molding flesh in the Virgin Mary’s womb, Christ came to us with all of the frailties that make up a true man. What good would God’s sacrifice have seemed if his unending Godhead descended? He showed us with his actions the life God wanted for us; a life without contest, in harmony with one another and all creation. He gathered all Sacred Scripture to himself and showed us how it fit together – he was the Epiphany.
In the end, when he had shown us all the love he could, he took the path preordained. It was a path the man Jesus did not want. It was the path the God, Jesus, knew was necessary. It fulfilled the new covenant. The sacrifice was God himself, the seal of that covenant was his blood. And now, so we might not be like those who live in darkness and have no hope, He has Risen!
What do we believe and what does that mean for us? If we believe that Christ has risen as he told us repeatedly that he would, then we understand him the be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who as Paul and Luke both tell us, now sits at the right had of the Father in the seat of Justice. If that is our belief, first we celebrate that event joyfully today. Not just because our long fast has ended, but once more the Church proclaims throughout the world that salvation is there for the asking. The great “Alleluia” has sounded and we are called to echo that joyous sound that the world will know and come to believe, “For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Pax
Please Pray for Esther.
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture today is “The Resurrection” by Vecellio Tizano, 1542-44
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