EASTER

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Easter Proclamation (Exsultet)

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,

radiant in the brightness of your King!

Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!

Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!

The risen Savior shines upon you!

Let this place resound with joy,

echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

[My dearest friends, standing with me in this holy light,

join me in asking God for mercy,

that he may give his unworthy minister

grace to sing his Easter praises.]

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And also with you.

V. Lift up your hearts.

R. We lift them up to the Lord.

V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

R. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right

that with full hearts and minds and voices

we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,

and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,

and paid for us the price of Adam's sin

to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,

when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,

whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when first you saved our fathers:

you freed the people of Israel from their slavery

and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when the pillar of fire

destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night when Christians everywhere,

washed clean of sin

and freed from all defilement,

are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ

broke the chains of death

and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,

had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!

How boundless your merciful love!

To ransom a slave

you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,

which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God

to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:

"The night will be as clear as day:

it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night

dispels all evil, washes guilt away,

restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;

it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly

pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth

and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,

receive our evening sacrifice of praise,

your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,

a flame divided but undimmed,

a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven

and continue bravely burning

to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the morning Star which never sets find this flame

still burning:

Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,

and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,

your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

The Resurrection of the Lord

The Mass of Easter Sunday

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.”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

or:

R. 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:

R. 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:

R. 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:

R. Alleluia.

Reading 2

COL 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.

Or 1 COR 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.

Gospel

JN 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.

Or LK 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.

SAINT OF THE DAY

March 31

St. Stephen of Mar Saba (d. 794)

Stephen of Mar Saba was the nephew of St. John Damascene, who introduced the young boy to monastic life beginning at age 10. When he reached 24, Stephen served the community in a variety of ways, including guest master. After some time he asked permission to live a hermit's life. The answer from the abbot was yes and no: Stephen could follow his preferred lifestyle during the week, but on weekends he was to offer his skills as a counselor. Stephen placed a note on the door of his cell: 

"Forgive me, Fathers, in the name of the Lord, but please do not disturb me except on Saturdays and Sundays."

Despite his calling to prayer and quiet, Stephen displayed uncanny skills with people and was a valued spiritual guide.

His biographer and disciple wrote about Stephen: "Whatever help, spiritual or material, he was asked to give, he gave. He received and honored all with the same kindness. He possessed nothing and lacked nothing. 

In total poverty he possessed all things."

Stephen died in 794.

OFFICE OF READINGS

First Reading

Exodus 14:15-15:1

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me so? Tell the sons of Israel to march on. For yourself, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and part it for the sons of Israel to walk through the sea on dry ground. I for my part will make the heart of the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow them. So shall I win myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, of all his army, his chariots, his horsemen. And when I have won glory for myself, 

at the expense of Pharaoh and his chariots and his army, the Egyptians will learn that I am the Lord.’

Then the angel of God, who marched at the front of the army of Israel, changed station and moved to their rear. The pillar of cloud changed station from the front to the rear of them, and remained there. It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud was dark, 

and the night passed without the armies drawing any closer the whole night long.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea. The waters parted and the sons of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and to left of them. The Egyptians gave chase: after them they went, right into the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, 

his chariots, and his horsemen.

In the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and of cloud, and threw the army into confusion. He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway. 

‘Let us flee from the Israelites,’ the Egyptians cried. 

‘The Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’

‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,’ the Lord said to Moses, 

‘that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen.’

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its bed. The fleeing Egyptians marched right into it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the very middle of the sea. The returning waters overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s whole army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left. But the sons of Israel had marched through the sea on dry ground, 

walls of water to right and to left of them.

That day, the Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. Israel witnessed the great act that the Lord had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated the Lord; 

they put their faith in the Lord and in Moses, his servant.

It was then that Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song in honour of the Lord:

Canticle

Exodus 15

Hymn of victory after crossing the Red Sea

Let us sing to the Lord: glorious is his triumph.

I will sing to the Lord, for his triumph is glorious.

Horse and rider he has cast into the sea.

The Lord is my support and my strength, and he has saved me.

This is my God, and I will give him glory

This is my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior – ‘The Lord’ is his name!

Pharaoh’s chariots and army he has thrown into the sea;

the finest of his fighters have sunk into the Red Sea.

The deeps have covered them;

they have sunk to the bottom like a stone.

In your strength, Lord, show us the power of your right hand.

Your right hand, Lord, struck down the enemy.

You will lead your people in and establish them

on the mountain that is your inheritance,

your solid dwelling-place, which you made, Lord;

your sanctuary, Lord, which your hands made firm.

The Lord will reign, to eternity and beyond!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Let us sing to the Lord: glorious is his triumph.

O God, through the light of the New Testament you have revealed to us the meaning of the miracles you performed in the earliest times.

The Red Sea was a symbol of the baptismal font,

and the people freed from servitude prefigured the sacraments of the Christian people.

Grant that all nations who have receive Israel’s privileges as a reward for their faith

may be regenerated by sharing in your Spirit.

Through Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Second Reading

Ezekiel 36:16-28

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘Son of man, the members of the House of Israel used to live in their own land, but they defiled it by their conduct and actions; to me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s menstruation. I then discharged my fury at them because of the blood they shed in their land and the idols with which they defiled it. I scattered them among the nations and dispersed them in foreign countries. I sentenced them as their conduct and actions deserved. And now they have profaned my holy name among the nations where they have gone, so that people say of them, “These are the people of the Lord; they have been exiled from his land.” But I have been concerned about my holy name, which the House of Israel has profaned among the nations where they have gone. And so, say to the House of Israel, “The Lord says this: I am not doing this for your sake, House of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord–it is the Lord who speaks– when I display my holiness for your sake before their eyes. Then I am going to take you from among the nations and gather you together from all the foreign countries, and bring you home to your own land. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances. You will live in the land which I gave your ancestors. 

You shall be my people and I will be your God.

Psalm 41 (42)

Longing for the Lord and his temple

Like a deer that yearns for running streams, 

so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

Like a deer that longs for springs of water,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, the living God:

when shall I come and stand before the face of God?

I remember how I went up to your glorious dwelling-place

and into the house of God:

the memory melts my soul.

The sound of joy and thanksgiving,

the crowds at the festival.

Send forth your light and your truth;

let them lead me away,

let them lead me up your holy mountain,

up to your sanctuary.

I shall go in to the altar of God,

to the God of my gladness and joy.

I will sing out to you on the lyre,

O God, my God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Like a deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light,

look kindly upon your sacrament that is the Church in this world,

and carry through the work of salvation smoothly according to your eternal plan.

May the whole world see and experience how

what is fallen is stood upright once more;

what was corrupted by age is once more made new;

and how all things are made whole through Christ, to whom they owe their creation,

who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

Third Reading

Romans 6:3-11

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, 

we too might live a new life.

If in union with Christ we have imitated his death, we shall also imitate him in his resurrection. We must realise that our former selves have been crucified with him to destroy this sinful body and to free us from the slavery of sin. 

When a Christian dies, of course, he has finished with sin.

But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him: Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, 

so his life now is life with God; and in that way, 

you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 117 (118)

A cry of rejoicing and triumph

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,

and his kindness is for ever.

Now let Israel say, he is good

and his kindness is for ever.

“The Lord’s right hand has triumphed!

The Lord’s right hand has raised me up.

I shall not die, but live,

and tell of the works of the Lord.”

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the corner-stone.

It was the Lord who did this –

it is marvellous to behold.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

Fourth Reading

Matthew 28:1-10

After the sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre. And all at once there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow. The guards were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men. But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, ‘There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him.” Now I have told you.’ 

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, 

‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’

Canticle

Te Deum

God, we praise you; Lord, we proclaim you!

You, the Father, the eternal –

all the earth venerates you.

All the angels, all the heavens, every power –

The cherubim, the seraphim –

unceasingly, they cry:

“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts:

heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory!”

The glorious choir of Apostles –

The noble ranks of prophets –

The shining army of martyrs –

all praise you.

Throughout the world your holy Church proclaims you.

– Father of immeasurable majesty,

– True Son, only-begotten, worthy of worship,

– Holy Spirit, our Advocate.

You, Christ:

– You are the king of glory.

– You are the Father’s eternal Son.

– You, to free mankind, did not disdain a Virgin’s womb.

– You defeated the sharp spear of Death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to those who believe in you.

– You sit at God’s right hand, in the glory of the Father.

– You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.

And so we ask of you: give help to your servants,

whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.

Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.

Bring your people to safety, Lord, and bless those who are your inheritance.

Rule them and lift them high for ever.

Day by day we bless you, Lord: we praise you for ever and for ever.

Of your goodness, Lord, keep us without sin for today.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us.

Let your pity, Lord, be upon us, as much as we trust in you.

In you, Lord, I trust: let me never be put to shame.

Let us pray.

On this day, Lord God,

you opened for us the way to eternal life

through your only Son’s victory over death.

Grant that as we celebrate the feast of his resurrection

we may be renewed by your Holy Spirit

and rise again in the light of life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.