“He is risen!” Easter Reflections
Easter reflections:
Short films reflecting on Psalm 22, Easter and prayer, from the Church of England Just Pray project
See what a morning (Keith and Christine Getty)
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Easter Sermon
The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the reality of the Gospel, by Albert Mohler
The surprise of the Resurrection, by Ian Paul, Psephizo
Archbishop of Canterbury writes Easter Sunday message in wake of Brussels terror attacks, MailOnline
EASTER SUNDAY – Feast of the Resurrection, by Kevin Francis Donlon
Psalm: am: 148, 149,150; pm: 113, 114
OT: am: Exod 12:1-14, pm: Isa 51:9-11
Epistle: Colossians 3:1-4
Gospel: am: John 1:1-18; pm: John 20:19-23
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: One of the great hymns of Easter is the anthem by Richard Hillert entitled the Festival Canticle but better known as “This is the feast of victory of our God. Alleluia!” The words of that hymn beautifully tell of the struggles, hopes and desires we have which have found their ultimate meaning in the fact that the tomb is empty and sin and death do not have the final say in our lives.
Thus Easter is the pinnacle of all feasts of the Church year, which began with Advent, or the expectation of the coming of the Messiah, sent by God to provide the means for our Salvation. The culmination of the entire liturgy is the Easter feast. Families who attend Mass on Easter Day join millions of Christians all over the world — past and present — in joyous affirmation of our redemption through the love of Christ, our hope of salvation, and our faith in the resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to
come.
MEDITATION FOR THE DAY: In order to fulfill the scripture, the true word of God in the Bible, God sent his only son to earth. This Son, Jesus, took on our nature–he was both a human being and yet God’s son. He lived among us, yet did not sin. Truly, humiliatingly, shamefully having died as a man and Son of God that he was, Jesus was laid in a tomb. He was not whisked off the cross into heaven. His body was not stolen from the tomb. The Lamb rose in victory. Since the payment for sin was accepted by God, death no longer had a claim on him. He rose to life again in glory. That is proof of his purchase and of his victory which he allows us to share in and become part of this victory celebration.
PRAYER OF THE DAY : 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. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
ANCIENT WORDS : “Christ went down into the deepest abysses…when he went into the lowest Hell to fetch forth the souls of his elect. Before this, this depth was a prison, not a way…But God made of this abyss a road” —St. Gregory of Nyssa
Easter Discipline : On Easter Eggs: Two legends exist around Christ and this symbol1) Simon of Cyrene, who helped carry Christ’s cross to Calvary, was by trade an egg merchant. (Upon returning from the crucifixion to his produce farm, he allegedly discovered that all his hens’ eggs had miraculously turned a rainbow of colors; substantive evidence for this legend is weak.) Thus, when the Church started to celebrate the Resurrection, in the second century, it did not have to search far for a popular and easily recognizable symbols2) St. Mary Magdalen went to Rome and met with the Emperor Tiberius to tell him about the Resurrection of Jesus. She held out an egg to him as a symbol of this, and he scoffed, saying that a man could no more rise from the dead than that egg that she held could turn scarlet. The egg turned deep red in her hands, and this is the origin of Easter eggs, and the reason why Mary Magdalen is often portrayed holding a scarlet egg.Because of these legends and all of the egg’s symbolism, as well as the fact that they were once forbidden during Lent, Christians make great use of them on this day, eating them, decorating them, and decorating with them At the dinner table, today with family and friends give each person at table their own egg. The first person turns to the person next to him and they strike their eggs against each other. When hitting the eggs together, the eggs can only touch rounded end to rounded end; they can’t make contact from the side. The person whose egg cracks, which symbolizes the breaking open of Christ’s tomb, yells the Easter greeting mentioned above, “Alleluia Christ is Risen!”. The person with the intact egg responds, ” The Lord is risen indeed alleluia!” and then goes to the next person and repeats the egg smashing. And so it goes around the table, with the survivor of each round turning to the next person in line and trying to crack his next opponent’s egg. If your egg cracks, you’re out. The person who remains at the end with the intact egg will be blessed for the year.
Our grateful thanks once again to Fr Kevin Francis Donlon and the people of the Church of the Resurrection, in Tampa, Florida, for these Meditations. We wish them, and all our readers, a joyful and blessed Easter.
This Joyful Eastertide – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
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