Acts 10:34, 37-43

Peter proclaims the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to the Roman centurion Cornelius. Despite Jesus’ good deeds such as healing the sick, he had been arrested and put to death by the Roman authorities. But God raised him up on the first Easter day and allowed him to appear to chosen witnesses, including Peter himself. As proof that he was alive, the risen Jesus had even eaten a piece of fish in front of his apostles (Luke 24:43). As the One who has overcome death, he will be the judge of the living and the dead, but he calls people of every nationality to be saved. By believing in him, we receive his gift of forgiveness, just as the first apostles were forgiven by Jesus after deserting him.

Psalm 117(118)

This is the Easter psalm: “I shall not die,I shall live!” We celebrate what God has done, beyond human imagination or expectation. As Pope St John Paul II said: “We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!”

Col 3:1-4

We believe that Christ is not only risen from the dead but also ascended and seated in glory at God’s right hand. If our life’s goal is to be with Christ forever, we are called to seek our reward in heaven rather than on earth. Through baptism we have sacramentally died and risen with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). At the end of our earthly life, our hope is to share eternal life with him in his risen glory.

1 Cor 5:6-8 (alternative)

Since Christ died around the Jewish feast of Passover, it is natural for Paul to depict him as our Passover lamb. Before the Passover feast in Jewish households, the family would take care to remove any bread with yeast in it, in preparation for the eight-day feast of Unleavened Bread. Paul sees a spiritual meaning here in this ritual. We need to remove the leaven of evil, if we are to celebrate the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity.

John 20:1-9

When a bereavement happens, everyone is frequently in a state of grief. Once the burial has taken place, often the women who have tended the deceased person return to the grave to remember the loved one and be close to him or her. So today’s gospel describes Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb on Easter morning. She has not even waited for the dawn, because she just wants to be close to her Master who has suffered such a terrible death.

But amazingly the stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty, so she rushes back to tell Simon Peter and the beloved disciple. When they race to the tomb, it is Simon Peter who enters first and sees the grave cloths that had wrapped Jesus’ body, but the Master is not there. When the beloved disciple enters, he sees and believes. Wow!

Mary Magdalene has already seen the tomb empty. At first she thought that grave robbers had stolen the body, even though the burial cloths were still there. But her inner emptiness comes from Jesus’ absence – which will soon be put right when she sees the risen Lord nearby and recognises him, saying “Rabboni! Master!”

The same evening the disciples, now gathered in the upper room, will feel that emptiness because their crucified Master has gone from them. But suddenly their emptiness will be filled when they see the risen Lord and hear him say: “Peace be with you.”

The beloved disciple has already realised that the empty tomb is only the beginning of Jesus’ new mode of life as the risen Lord. No longer will he be walking around Galilee or Jerusalem. But he will come to his disciples spiritually – and he even comes to us. This is the good news bringing us joy.

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This is the greatest, the “Queen” (St. John Damascene) of all Christian festivals. The Introit for this most wonderful of all days is from Psalm 138(139). It’s a translation that we don’t find in the Grail Psalter, because it comes from an older Latin Psalter than the Vulgate. If you listen to the Latin Chant, you hear a wonderful sense of rest after struggle. All is well; the Lord is risen and still with us.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote about the custom of always making the congregation laugh at the Easter Sunday Mass. Laughter is a sign of relief and victory. “The strife is o’er, the battle done, Now is the Victor’s triumph won.”

The Collect sets out the motives for Easter rejoicing: the Lord has conquered death (that should shock us!) he has opened eternity to us (his life and ours now free from the constraints of time and space) and given us the Spirit as the engine of our perpetual renewal (what a challenge that is!).

St. Paul bids the Colossians (Col.3:2) to set their minds on things above, on Christ. We hear this at every Mass with the words Lift up your hearts/We lift them up to the Lord.

The Sequence (obligatory today) can be sung in English to the chant melody, there are several versions of this for singers to look at.

The Ambrosian Missal has a joyful Preface for Easter Day which echoes the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil:

‍It is truly right and just ..

Your Son Jesus Christ, though one with you in glory, accepted death on a cross

for our salvation.

‍This is the Passover foreshadowed long ago, in the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham’s beloved

Son, and prefigured in the offering of a Lamb without blemish, according to the law of Moses.

‍This is the Passover of Christ, acclaimed by the prophets as the One who was to bear the

sins of all and blot out their iniquity.

This day is our Passover feast, resplendent in the blood of Christ, a day of rejoicing and

‍gladness for all your faithful people.

‍O gracious gift, O gift beyond all telling! The feast to be honoured above all others!

For on this day our Saviour Jesus Christ brought us to freedom by freely giving up his life.

O death most truly blessed, which broke the bonds of death and vanquished the prince of

darkness, which drew us up from the depth of our fall and raised us joyfully to heaven!

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Intercessions: For all who walk in darkness, whether of sadness, loss or unbelief, that the risen Christ may be a light for them.

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Note: These hymns have been chosen from different sources.

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Christ the Lord is ris'n today (CFE112, l273, LHON199, TCH76)

Victimae paschali laudes (CFE760, L260, LHON703, TCH315)

He is risen, tell the story (CFE247, L276, LHON326)

The stone which the builders rejected (L258)

Thine be the glory (CFE728m, L287, LHON678)

Jesus Christ is risen today (CFE322, L267, LHON389, TCH79)

Key

CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone

L – Laudate

LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)

TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)              

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