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The Easter Cycle
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein” (Gradual). The
Lord leads us by means of baptism to a land flowing with milk and honey. “May the law of the
Lord be always in your mouth” (Introit); that is, announce all the great things which God has
done to you, especially that He has led you to believe in Christ.
“The Lord is risen and hath appeared to Peter” (Communion). Christ appears to us today
in the form of Holy Communion. With Peter, in whose house we celebrate today’s mysteries,
we are now witnesses of the resurrection. We shall bear witness to this resurrection by word of
mouth, by our lives, and if it should be necessary, even by our blood.
Prayer
O God, who by the paschal solemnity hast blessed the world with remedies, pour forth Thy
heavenly gifts, we beseech Thee, on Thy people, that it may deserve to attain perfect liberty and
advance toward life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
During this period the Church is greatly concerned that the neophytes and the faithful be filled
with efficacious faith in the risen Christ. “If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. . . . Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”
(1 Cor 15:14, 18).
Christ is indeed risen. We hear the glad news today from the mouth of the Apostle of the
Gentiles, in whose sanctuary we celebrate the sacred liturgy. He speaks to his brethren
of the race of Abraham. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did not recognize Christ as the
Messias; although they could find no fault in Him, they demanded His death. “But God
raised Him up from the dead the third day; who was seen for many days by them who
came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who to this present time are His witnesses
to the people” (Epistle).
The apostles were among the first to whom Christ appeared. The evening of Easter Sunday,
“Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples and saith to them: Peace be to you. It is I, fear not. But
they, being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them: Why
are you troubled, and why do your thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see Me to have.
And . . . He showed them His hands and His feet” (Gospel). The apostles are full of amazement
and joy, and yet they do not fully believe. Then He consumes food before their eyes and gives
them to eat from what remains of the fish and the honeycomb. He reminds them that He had
already spoken to them about His passion and resurrection when He was still with them. Then
He explains to them the Scriptures: “Thus it is written; and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise again from the dead the third day; and that penance and the remission of sins should
be preached in His name unto all nations.”
The risen Christ stands in our midst today in the celebration of the Eucharistic mysteries.
He salutes us, “Peace be to you.” We are allowed to see Him, to touch His glorified body, and
to take it in our hands to offer it to the Father. He is our pure, unspotted victim. He opens our
understanding that we may comprehend the Scriptures, wherein we see that it was prophesied
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