Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps l39:18..5-6
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.
Collect
O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life. Through our Lord
FIRST READING
“We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:34a.37-43)
In those days: Peter opened his mouth and said, “You know the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses to 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; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 118: I-2.15c- 17.22-23 (R. 24)
R/. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.
Give praise to the Lord, for he is good;
his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.” R/.
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty deeds;
his right hand is exalted.
The Lord’s right hand has done mighty deeds.”
I shall not die, I shall live
and recount the deeds of the Lord. R/.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the Lord has this been done,
a marvel in our eyes. R/.
SECOND READING
“Seek the things that are above, where Christ is.”
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians (Colossians 3:1-4)
Brethren: If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The word of the Lord.
Sequence (Latin text)
Victimæ paschàli laudes immolent Christiàni.
Agnus redémit oves: Christus innocens Patri reconciliàvit peccatôres.
Mors et vita duéllo conflixére miràndo: dux vitæ mörtuus regnat vivus.
Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via?
Sepùlcrum Christi vivéntis: et glöriam vidi resurgéntis,
Angélicos testes, sudàrium et vestes.
Surréxit Christus spes mea: præcédet suos in Galil”æam.
Scimus Christum surrexisse a môrtuis vere:
tu nobis, victor Rex, miserére.
Amen. Alleluia.
ALLELUIA 1 Corinthians 5:7b.8a
Alleluia. Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed; let us, therefore, celebrate the festival in the Lord. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
“He must rise from the dead.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 20:1-9)
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went towards the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
On being alerted by Mary Magdalene, Peter and John run to the Lord’s tomb to see if the body had been stolen by someone-a hypothesis that was ruled out by what they saw there. They re-read the event in a new way, in the light of Scripture.
The liturgical assembly on Easter day exults in realizing all the hopes of the messianic people of God-the hope of liberation, of entering into the Promised Land, of restoration of justice, of new earth and new heavens. The faithful of Christ have entered into this new reality and live and move in its light. The real newness is Christ who came into the world lived with humans, died and rose again and is ever present.
It is in him that the interior human being is renewed every day (2cor 4:6). The exterior man, the old reality, needs to be broken to open up the way for the birth of the new human reality, the fruit of redemption in Christ. “To put on Christ” is one of the many expressions coined by St Paul to present this mysterious reality of grace. To put on Christ means to enter into him and to live in him so that our life becomes hidden in him and with him in God. Thus, “anyone who is in Christ is a new creature. The Christian is dead to sin and risen with Christ to new life.