Easter Sunday
Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, Verse 10
All the peoples of the earth will
see that the name of the Lord is proclaimed over you, and they will be AFRAID of you.
Christ
death on the cross was the fulfillment of the proclaiming of God’s name to all
the peoples of the world; for over His head was placed a notice: King of the
Jews.
It
is thought-provoking to contemplate that Pilate’s notice was printed in three
languages Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These three cultures in a sense represented
the characteristics of God. The Hebrew’s were God’s people and represented the good of man and brought
the idea that the person was created by God and is more valuable than the
universe. Latin the language of the
Romans brought the idea that truth
is the highest value, and the Greeks culture brought the idea of beauty being the greatest value.
In Christ’s death is represented all three values. That a good God died for
man; true to the end; and His shame was turned by love to beauty.
The
Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, also represent these three values
Michael the truth that angels and men are willing to fight for: Raphael the
good and Gabriel the beauty. On further reflection I can see these same three
attributes reflected in the preamble of the US constitution: Life (good); Liberty
(truth); and pursuit of happiness (beauty).
We
can also recognize that the Name of God which is goodness; truth and beauty is feared by evil men and women when they
are inspired by Satan and the demons to take away our life, liberty or our
pursuit of happiness.
Surely, it
is time for Christians to "rise from sleep," and to offer vigorous
resistance to the enemies of salvation. The weapons in this conflict are not
the arms of civil warfare, but the spiritual weapons of prayer and penance,
increased fidelity to the Commandments of God, and frequent reception of the
Sacraments. And surely, we can choose no better leader in this conflict than
the powerful captain who led the faithful Angels to victory.
Let us,
then, with confident trust, invoke the aid and the protection of this mighty
Archangel whose shield bears the inscription:
"Michael----Quis
ut Deus----Who is like unto God?"[1]
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[2]
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift
of the Holy Spirit
The first day of the week
22. In those early Christian times,
the weekly rhythm of days was generally not part of life in the regions where
the Gospel spread, and the festive days of the Greek and Roman calendars (8-day
week) did not coincide with the Christian Sunday. For Christians, therefore, it
was very difficult to observe the Lord's Day on a set day each week. This
explains why the faithful had to gather before sunrise. Yet fidelity to the
weekly rhythm became the norm, since it was based upon the New Testament and
was tied to Old Testament revelation. This is eagerly underscored by the
Apologists and the Fathers of the Church in their writings and preaching where,
in speaking of the Paschal Mystery, they use the same Scriptural texts which,
according to the witness of Saint Luke (cf. 24:27, 44-47), the Risen Christ
himself would have explained to the disciples. In the light of these texts, the
celebration of the day of the Resurrection acquired a doctrinal and symbolic
value capable of expressing the entire Christian mystery in all its newness.
Easter Sunday[3]
WHAT is the feast of
Easter?
The celebration of the day on which
Jesus Christ, according to the predictions both of Himself and the prophets, by
His almighty power, reunited His body and soul, and arose alive from the grave.
Why is Easter Sunday
sometimes called Pasch or Passover?
It is from the Latin Pascha, and
the Hebrew Phase, meaning “the passing over” because the destroyer of the
firstborn in Egypt passed over the houses of the Israelites who had sprinkled
the transom and posts of the door with the blood of the paschal lamb and
because the Jews were in that same night delivered from bondage, passing over
through the Red Sea into the land of promise. Now we Christians are by the
death and resurrection of Christ redeemed and passed over to the freedom of the
children of God, so we call the day of His resurrection Pasch or Passover.
How should we observe
the feast of Easter?
We observe the feast in such manner
as to confirm our faith in Jesus Christ and in His Church, and to pass over
from the death of sin to the new life of grace.
What is the meaning
of Alleluia, so often repeated at Eastertime?
“Alleluia” means “Praise God.” In the Introit
of the Mass of the day the Church introduces Jesus Christ as risen, addressing
His heavenly Father as follows “I rose up and am still with Thee, alleluia;
Thou hast laid Thy hand upon Me, alleluia. Lord, thou hast proved me, and know
me; Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up.”
Prayer.
O God, who this
day didst open to us the approach to eternity by Thy only Son victorious over
death, prosper by Thy grace our vows, which Thou dost anticipate by Thy
inspirations.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. v.
7, 8.
Brethren:
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened.
For Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed. Therefore, let us feast, not with the old
leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
Explanation. The Apostle selected the leaven
as a type of the moral depravity from which the Christian community and every
individual Christian should be free. Let us, therefore, purge out the old
leaven of sin by true penance, that we may receive our Paschal Lamb, Jesus, in
the Most Holy Eucharist with a pure heart.
GOSPEL. Mark xvi.
1-7.
At that time:
Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that
coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of
the week, they came to the sepulcher, the sun being now risen. And they said
one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the
sepulcher?
And looking, they
saw the stone rolled back: for it was very great. And entering into the
sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white
robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted: you seek
Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here: behold the
place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth
before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him, as He told you.
Why did the holy women desire to
anoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices?
The
women wanted to anoint Jesus’ body out of love for him. This love God rewarded
by sending to them an angel, who rolled back the great stone from before the
mouth of the sepulcher, comforted them, and convinced them that Christ was
really raised from the dead. From this we learn that God always consoles those
who seek Him. The angel sent the holy women to the disciples to console them
for Christ’s death, and in order that they might make known His resurrection to
the world. St. Peter was specially named not only because he was the head of
the apostles, but because he was sadder and more dispirited than the others on
account of his denial of Our Savior.
How did Our Savior prove that He
was really risen from the dead?
Our
Lord proved Himself risen by showing Himself first to the holy women, then to
His disciples, and finally to five hundred persons at once. His disciples not
only saw Him, but ate and drank with Him, not once only, but repeatedly, and
for forty days.
It
was through combat and inexpressible sufferings that Our Savior gained victory.
So also, with us we gain heaven only by labor, combat, and sufferings shall we
win the crown of eternal life; though redeemed by Christ from the servitude of
Satan and sin, we shall not be able to enter the kingdom of Christ unless,
after His example and by His grace, we fight till the end against the flesh,
the devil, and the world; for only he that perseveres to the end shall receive
the crown (n. Tim. ii. 5).
Easter Calendar[4]
Read: Easter does not just last for a
day! Take time to read about the span of the Easter season today.
Reflect: Take extra time with the readings
today practicing lectio divina. . . .
Pray: 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 Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns
with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect,
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord, Mass During the Day, Roman Missal, Third Edition, International
Commission on English Liturgy)
Act: Christ is Risen! Spread the Good
News!
Paschaltide[5]
This is the day the Lord hath made;
let us be glad and rejoice therein. - Ps. 117.24
With
this antiphon, the Church proclaims Easter Sunday the greatest day of the year.
For the Christian believer every day is, of course, a celebration of Jesus
Christ's resurrection from the dead, as is every Mass. Yet daily rejoicing
pales in comparison to that of the Sunday Mass, since Sunday is the day that
the resurrection took place, the "eighth" day of the week signifying
a new creation and a new life. And these Sundays of the year, in turn, are
dwarfed by Easter, the Feast of Feasts celebrated in the newness of the vernal
moon and in the rebirth of springtime. Easter is the Christian day par
excellence.
The
commemoration of our Lord's physical resurrection from the dead provides not only
the crucial resolution to the Passion story, but to several liturgical themes
stretching back over the past two months.
·
Easter
ends the seventy days of Babylonian exile begun on Septuagesima Sunday by restoring the Temple that was destroyed on Good
Friday, i.e. the body of Jesus Christ.
·
It
ends the forty days of wandering in the desert begun on Ash Wednesday by giving us the Promised Land of eternal life.
·
It
ends the fourteen days of concealment and confusion during Passiontide
by revealing the divinity of Jesus Christ and the meaning of His cryptic
prophecies.
·
It
ends the seven days of Holy Week
by converting our sorrow over the crucifixion into our jubilance about the
resurrection.
·
And
it ends the three days of awesome mystery explored during the sacred Triduum by
celebrating the central mystery of our faith: life born from death, ultimate
good from unspeakable evil. It is for this reason that all the things that had
been instituted at one point or another during the past penitential seasons
(the purple vestments or the veiled images) are dramatically removed, while all
the things that had been successively suppressed (the Alleluia, the Gloria in
excelsis, several Gloria Patri's, or the bells) are dramatically restored.
The
Easter season (or Paschaltide, as it is traditionally known) is not an
undifferentiated block of joy but one that consists of several distinct stages.
The first is the Easter Octave, lasting from Easter Sunday to the former "Low"
Sunday which is now Divine Mercy Sunday. These eight days comprise a prolonged
rejoicing in our Savior's victory over death and in the eternal life given to
the newly baptized converts. In fact, Christian initiates used to receive a
white robe upon their baptism on Holy Saturday night and would wear it for the
rest of the week. They would take off these symbols of their new life on the
following Sunday, which in Latin is called Dominica in albis depositis as a
result of this practice. (The English name, Low Sunday, was used as a contrast
to the high mark of Easter). For centuries the first Sunday after Easter was
also the day when children would receive their first Holy Communion, often with
their father and mother kneeling beside them. So meaningful was this event that
in Europe it was referred to as the "most beautiful day of life."
(Significantly, both customs are encapsulated in Low Sunday's stational church,
the basilica of St. Pancras (see Station Days):
St. Pancras, a twelve-year-old martyr, is the patron saint of children and
neophytes).
Paschaltide
Customs
The Easter Kiss and Greeting. The day that the risen Christ appeared to
His apostles, breathed the Spirit on them, and wished them peace is the day
that Christians greet each other with special fraternal affection. Early Latin
Christians embraced each other on Easter with the greeting, Surrexit Dominus
vere ("The Lord is truly risen"). The appropriate response is Deo
gratias ("Thanks be to God"). Greek Christians, on the other
hand, say, Christos aneste ("Christ is risen"), to which is
answered, Alethos aneste ("Truly He is risen"). The mutual
kiss and embrace last throughout the Easter Octave.
Blessings.
There was a time
in both the Eastern and Western churches that no one would dream of eating
unblessed food on Easter. Priests would either visit families on Holy Saturday
night and bless the spread made ready for the following day, or they would
bless the food brought to church after the Easter Sunday Mass. The old Roman
ritual attests to this tradition by its title for Food Blessings: Benedictiones
Esculentorum, Praesertim in Pascha - "The Blessings of Edibles,
Especially for Easter".
New
Clothes & the Easter Parade. Most
people are familiar with the old-fashioned images of ladies bedecked in crisp
new bonnets and dapper escorts during the annual Easter parade. What at first
blush appears to be no more than a spectacle of vanity, however, is a
combination of two deeply religious practices. The first is the custom of
wearing new clothes for Easter. This stems from the ancient practice
of newly baptized Christians wearing a white garment from the moment of their
baptism during the Easter Vigil until the following week. The rest of the
faithful eventually followed suit by wearing something new to symbolize the new
life brought by the death and resurrection of Christ. Hence an old Irish
saying: "For Christmas, food and drink; for Easter, new clothes."
There was even a superstition that bad luck would come to those who could
afford new clothes for Easter but did not buy them. The second practice is the Easter
walk, in which the faithful (mostly couples) would march through
town and country as a part of a religious procession. A crucifix or the Paschal
candle would often lead the way, and the entourage would make several stops in
order to pray or sing hymns. The rest of the time would be spent in light
banter. This custom became secularized after the Reformation and thus became
the "Easter parade" so popular before the 1960s.
Easter
Eggs. Two kinds of
activities (besides eating) surround this famous feature of Paschal
celebration. The first is the decoration of the egg, a custom
that goes back to the first centuries of Christianity. Colored dyes are the
easiest way this is done, though different customs from various cultures
sometimes determine which colors are used. The Chaldean, Syrian, and Greek
Christians, for example, give each other scarlet eggs in honor of the most
precious blood of Christ. Other nations, such as the Ukrainians and Russians,
are famous for their beautiful and ornate egg decorations. Egg games are
also a familiar part of Easter merriment. Most Americans are familiar with the
custom of Easter egg hunts, but there are other forms as well. Egg-pecking
is a game popular in Europe and the Middle East (not to mention the White
House lawn), where hard-boiled eggs are rolled against each other on the lawn
or down a hill; the egg left uncracked at the end is proclaimed the
"victory egg."
The Dancing Sun. There is an old legend that the sun dances for joy or
makes three cheerful jumps on Easter morning. In England and Ireland families
would place a pan of water in the east window to watch the dancing rays
mirrored on it. Other "sun" customs involve some kind of public
gathering at sunrise. Greeting the daybreak with cannons, gunfire, choirs, or
band music was once very popular, as was holding a prayer service, followed by
a procession to the church where Mass would be offered.
"Sacred" Theater. According to some scholars the beautiful
sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes sung during the Easter Mass in the
traditional Roman rite is the inspiration for the development of medieval religious drama.
The poem's dialogic structure, with its question and answer format, became the
foundation on which more lines were added until a separate play was formed.
This play, in turn, inspired the composition of the other medieval
"mystery" plays held on Christmas, Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and so
on. Solemn vespers and benediction were a traditional part of every Sunday
afternoon in many parishes, but especially so on Easter. Perhaps one reason for
this was the medieval custom of Easter
fables where, prior to the service, the priest would regale the
congregation with amusing anecdotes and whimsical yarns. This served as a sort
of antidote to the many sad or stern Lenten sermons of the previous weeks.
The
Easter Octave. The
entire Octave of Easter constitutes an extended exultation in Christ's victory
over death. Obviously, the two most important days of this Octave are the two
Sundays. As mentioned elsewhere, Low Sunday was once the day that
the neophytes took off their white robes and resumed their lives in the daily
world, and it was also the traditional time for children to receive Holy
Communion. Other days of the Octave, however, also had distinctive customs of
their own.
·
Easter
Monday was
reserved as a special day for rest and relaxation. Its most distinctive feature
is the Emmaus walk, a leisurely constitution inspired by the Gospel
of the day (Luke 24.13-35). This can take the form of a stroll through field or
forest or, as in French Canada, a visit to one's grandparents.
·
Games
of mischief dating to pre-Christian times also take place on Easter
Monday and Tuesday. Chief among them are drenching customs,
where boys surprise girls with buckets of water, and vice versa, or switching
customs, where switches are gently used on each other.
·
Easter
Thursday in Slavic
countries, on the other hand, was reserved for remembering departed loved ones.
Mass that day would be offered for the deceased of the parish.
·
Finally,
Easter
Friday was a favorite day for pilgrimages in many parts of
Europe. Large groups would take rather long processions to a shrine or church,
where Mass would be offered.
Divine Mercy Novena[6]
Third Day - Today Bring Me All Devout and
Faithful Souls.
Most
Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in the
great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most
Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by that
most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so
fiercely.
Eternal
Father turn Your Merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of
Your Son. For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and
surround them with Your constant protection. Thus, may they never fail in love
or lost the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of
Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages.
Amen.
The Mass[7]
The
Mass was the center of life for the disciples of Jesus, and so it has ever
been. The first Christians were Jews, living in a Jewish culture, steeped in
Jewish forms of worship. The liturgy of the new covenant had been foreshadowed
in the rituals of the old. The Mass is explicitly connected with the Passover
meal. There are also parallels between the thank-offering
or todah and the Mass.
A todah sacrifice would be offered by
someone whose life had been delivered from great peril, such as disease or the
sword. The redeemed person would show his gratitude to God by gathering his
closest friends and family for a todah
sacrificial meal. The lamb would be sacrificed in the Temple and the bread for
the meal would be consecrated the moment the lamb was sacrificed. The bread and
meat, along with wine, would constitute the elements of the sacred todah meal, which would be accompanied
by prayers and songs of thanksgiving, such as Psalm 116.[8]
The
Talmud records the ancient rabbis’ teaching that, when the Messiah has come,
“All sacrifices will cease except the todah.” In fact, Greek scriptures
rendered the word todah as eucharistia, the word from which we get
“Eucharist.”
Daily Devotions
·
Today in honor of the
Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no
shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 6
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 7 day 5
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
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