Easter Sunday The Resurrection of the Lord -
The Mass of Easter Day
Readings for the Mass of Easter Day[i][ii]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[iii]
Reading 1: Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Peter proceeded to speak and said:
"You know what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness,
that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
R. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or:
Alleluia.
The Mass of Easter Day
Readings for the Mass of Easter Day[i][ii]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[iii]
Reading 1: Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Peter proceeded to speak and said:
"You know what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness,
that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or:
Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or:
Alleluia.
"The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD."
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or:
Alleluia.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or: Alleluia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
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.
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Reading II: Colossians 3:1-4
Brothers and sisters:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.
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Commentary on Col 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.
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Or: I Corinthians 5:6b-8
Brothers and sisters:
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast,
so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,
not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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Commentary on I Cor 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.
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Gospel: John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don't know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
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Commentary on 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.
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Or: Luke 24:1-12
At daybreak on the first day of the week
the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold,
two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said to them,
“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”
And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
but their story seemed like nonsense
and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
then he went home amazed at what had happened.
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Commentary on Lk 24:1-12
This is the first of five parts of the resurrection story taking place nearly simultaneously in St. Luke’s Gospel. The three Maries arrive at the tomb to find it empty and encounter two angels. The announcement of the resurrection comes in the form of a question; “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.” The great promise has been fulfilled.
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Or, at an afternoon or evening Mass: Luke 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus' disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
"What are you discussing as you walk along?"
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?"
And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"
They said to him,
"The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?"
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, "Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
"The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 24:13-35
This story of the disciples of the road to Emmaus is only found in Luke’s Gospel. There is a mention in Mark (Mark 16;12) that is vague but probably refers to this event. The actual location of Emmaus is not known but it is estimated that it was between 7 and 18 miles from Jerusalem. The focus of the story is the unrecognized Jesus (similarly in John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene thought he was a gardener) interprets scripture and then his recognition in the breaking of the bread (the Eucharistic reference).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
What would you do if, a day after you buried your best friend someone ran up to you and told you they had just gone out to put flowers on the grave and found it empty? In this day and age you might think perhaps the cemetery workers had needed to exhume the casket; perhaps a mistake had been made. You might think that grave robbers had done something heinous. It is highly unlikely, no matter how spirit filled your best friend may have been, that you would think “Oh, they must have risen from the dead.” What ever your thoughts might be, we can bet you would have them while rushing to the graves side.
That is essentially the picture painted by St. John in his Gospel story today. Further, thoughts about officials having moved the body or grave robbers having stolen the body were most likely the thoughts Peter and John were thinking as they ran toward the tomb after Mary Magdala told them she found it open.
And when they arrived and saw the tomb empty, we can only imagine the heart stopping shock they felt. It was as Mary had said and things were even stranger than that. They feared; that the Temple Guards had hired vandals to steal the body (No Jew would have defiled themselves during the Passover by touching a dead body), or perhaps the Romans had wanted to somehow discredit Jesus by taking his body away. But if they had done that, why leave the burial cloths in the tomb? And even stranger, why roll up the covering of the head and place it in a different place? It would be like us arriving at the disappearance of our best friend and finding they had taken the body but left the clothing.
To understand how confounding this event must have been, we need to understand what these disciples of Jesus believed about him and about death. First, and we must be clear about this, they absolutely knew Jesus was dead. They saw him die and they saw the guard shove a lance into his chest to make sure. The Romans were experts at killing, there was no question Jesus was dead.
Jews of Jesus day were divided about what happened after death. The Sadducees and most conservative Jews believed that when you died – that was it – you ended completely. We find this expressed in the Psalms where we hear the psalmist pleading with God to continue his physical life because once he has returned to dust he can no longer praise God. Others believed in some murky existence in a place called Sheol. A place of the dead, not quite hell as we know it but an unhappy place. Others still at the time of Christ, notably some of the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the just, at the end of the age – the end times.
The disciples of Jesus were likely believers in this final view – that at the end of time, Jesus would be raised up with the rest of the Just. In their wildest dreams they did not suspect that what they found at the tomb pointed to Jesus resurrection. The Gospel even says so. We hear at the end of St. John’s Gospel “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
In this Easter therefore, the disciples would have been facing a huge mystery. It would not be until later when Jesus actually appeared to them and invited them to inspect his wounds, to let them know he was not a ghost. It was only then that the magnitude of what had taken place would strike them. This revelation would send them scattering across the known world proclaiming the Good News. That is the Easter Proclamation – Jesus is risen from the dead and that was done for us.
The question we must ask ourselves as we rejoice once more in this knowledge is what does this event mean for us? In what way does it affect us and the way we live our lives? To answer those questions we must answer this one – Why did Jesus, the only Son of God, come to earth as man and endure the suffering and death at the hands of a people he came to save? It is a question that we each must answer for ourselves because it is only then that the answer will affect the way we live and our ultimate disposition at the end of time. If we believe that he did this so that each of us might enjoy the rewards of the peace and love of God in this life and in the next, then it should be the most important thing in our life. If we have not yet come to that conclusion that Jesus’ sacrifice is supremely important in our lives, that decision will show as well, and the benefits of faith will also be less evident.
Today we cry out rejoicing – He is Risen! From this hour forward his gift is once more in our hands; it is up to us what we do with it.
Pax
[i] ALTRE
[ii] The picture used today is “Resurrection of Christ” by Gerard Seghers, c. 1620
[iii] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or, at an afternoon or evening Mass: Luke 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus' disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
"What are you discussing as you walk along?"
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?"
And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"
They said to him,
"The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?"
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, "Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
"The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 24:13-35
This story of the disciples of the road to Emmaus is only found in Luke’s Gospel. There is a mention in Mark (Mark 16;12) that is vague but probably refers to this event. The actual location of Emmaus is not known but it is estimated that it was between 7 and 18 miles from Jerusalem. The focus of the story is the unrecognized Jesus (similarly in John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene thought he was a gardener) interprets scripture and then his recognition in the breaking of the bread (the Eucharistic reference).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
What would you do if, a day after you buried your best friend someone ran up to you and told you they had just gone out to put flowers on the grave and found it empty? In this day and age you might think perhaps the cemetery workers had needed to exhume the casket; perhaps a mistake had been made. You might think that grave robbers had done something heinous. It is highly unlikely, no matter how spirit filled your best friend may have been, that you would think “Oh, they must have risen from the dead.” What ever your thoughts might be, we can bet you would have them while rushing to the graves side.
That is essentially the picture painted by St. John in his Gospel story today. Further, thoughts about officials having moved the body or grave robbers having stolen the body were most likely the thoughts Peter and John were thinking as they ran toward the tomb after Mary Magdala told them she found it open.
And when they arrived and saw the tomb empty, we can only imagine the heart stopping shock they felt. It was as Mary had said and things were even stranger than that. They feared; that the Temple Guards had hired vandals to steal the body (No Jew would have defiled themselves during the Passover by touching a dead body), or perhaps the Romans had wanted to somehow discredit Jesus by taking his body away. But if they had done that, why leave the burial cloths in the tomb? And even stranger, why roll up the covering of the head and place it in a different place? It would be like us arriving at the disappearance of our best friend and finding they had taken the body but left the clothing.
To understand how confounding this event must have been, we need to understand what these disciples of Jesus believed about him and about death. First, and we must be clear about this, they absolutely knew Jesus was dead. They saw him die and they saw the guard shove a lance into his chest to make sure. The Romans were experts at killing, there was no question Jesus was dead.
Jews of Jesus day were divided about what happened after death. The Sadducees and most conservative Jews believed that when you died – that was it – you ended completely. We find this expressed in the Psalms where we hear the psalmist pleading with God to continue his physical life because once he has returned to dust he can no longer praise God. Others believed in some murky existence in a place called Sheol. A place of the dead, not quite hell as we know it but an unhappy place. Others still at the time of Christ, notably some of the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the just, at the end of the age – the end times.
The disciples of Jesus were likely believers in this final view – that at the end of time, Jesus would be raised up with the rest of the Just. In their wildest dreams they did not suspect that what they found at the tomb pointed to Jesus resurrection. The Gospel even says so. We hear at the end of St. John’s Gospel “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
In this Easter therefore, the disciples would have been facing a huge mystery. It would not be until later when Jesus actually appeared to them and invited them to inspect his wounds, to let them know he was not a ghost. It was only then that the magnitude of what had taken place would strike them. This revelation would send them scattering across the known world proclaiming the Good News. That is the Easter Proclamation – Jesus is risen from the dead and that was done for us.
The question we must ask ourselves as we rejoice once more in this knowledge is what does this event mean for us? In what way does it affect us and the way we live our lives? To answer those questions we must answer this one – Why did Jesus, the only Son of God, come to earth as man and endure the suffering and death at the hands of a people he came to save? It is a question that we each must answer for ourselves because it is only then that the answer will affect the way we live and our ultimate disposition at the end of time. If we believe that he did this so that each of us might enjoy the rewards of the peace and love of God in this life and in the next, then it should be the most important thing in our life. If we have not yet come to that conclusion that Jesus’ sacrifice is supremely important in our lives, that decision will show as well, and the benefits of faith will also be less evident.
Today we cry out rejoicing – He is Risen! From this hour forward his gift is once more in our hands; it is up to us what we do with it.
Pax
[i] ALTRE
[ii] The picture used today is “Resurrection of Christ” by Gerard Seghers, c. 1620
[iii] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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