THE BANQUET OF FAITH, THE WEALTH OF GOD’S MERCY

“Let everyone who loves God rejoice in this festival of light. Let the faithful servant enter the joy of the Lord. Let those who have borne the burden of fasting come now to reap their reward. Let those who have worked since the first hour, receive now their just wage. Let those who came after the third hour, keep this festival with gratitude. Let those who arrived only at the sixth hour, approach with no fear: they will not be defrauded. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him come in without hesitation. And let not the worker of the eleventh hour be ashamed: the Lord is generous.

He welcomes the last to come no less than the first. He welcomes into His presence the worker of the eleventh hour as kindly as the one who has worked since dawn. The first He fills to overflowing; on the last He has compassion. To the one He grants His favour; to the other pardon. He does not look only at the work; He sees into the intention of the heart.

Enter then all of you into the joy of your Lord. First and last receive your reward; abstinent and slothful celebrate this feast. You who have fasted, rejoice today. The table is laid: come all of you without misgivings. The fattened calf is saved, let all take their fill. All of you share in the Banquet of faith; all of you draw on the wealth of God’s mercy.”
– St John Chrysostom, 4th century

 

“HELP US TO LIVE AS NEW PEOPLE”

O Lord,
the Resurrection of Your Son
has given us new life and renewed hope.
Help us to live as new people
in pursuit of the Christian ideal.

Grant us the wisdom to know what we must do,
the will to want to do it,
the courage to undertake it,
the perseverance to continue to do it,
and the strength to complete it.
Amen.

 

THE IRRESISTIBLE QUALITY OF HOPE IN MEN’S HEARTS

“Let us lie still with our eyes closed a moment before dawn breaks on the day of the Resurrection.

It is yet night, but already someone is stirring in two or three houses in Jerusalem. Lamps are being lit, and women are hurriedly dressing and combing their hair. The Sabbath is over, and one incomparable star irradiates the upturned face of our first Sunday. The shoemaker’s cock prepares to take up the challenge flung at him by his friend on the other side of the Cedron.

It is no longer Passover; it is Easter! Look, listen: in the Hebraic stillness there takes place, at the joining of three roads, a meeting of veiled women who exchange questions in hushed voices. ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?’ (Mk 16:3). Who will take it away? The very fragrance they bear provides the answer. It is this irresistible quality of hope in their hearts, this emanation of mysterious ingredients prepared in the bosom of the night by the very hands of the dawn.

Stored up for centuries, slowly expanding, this sacred chemistry that just now rose from sleep advances to triumph over death.”
– Paul Claudel

 

PRAYER IN PRAISE OF CHRIST’S HUMANITY

O risen Lord, Your body was part of Your power, rather than You a part in its weakness. For this reason You could not but rise again, if You were to die – because Your Body, once taken by You, never was or could be separated from You even in the grave.

I keep Your most holy Body before me as the pledge of my own resurrection. Though I die, it only means that my life is changed, for I shall rise again. Teach me to live as one who believes in the great dignity and sanctity of the material frame that You have given to me. Amen.

 

“RISEN WITH JESUS, YOU MUST HATE EVERY TYPE OF PROFANITY”

If you want to be united with the Heart of Jesus risen from the dead, you must live a new life of grace, holiness and love. Just as Jesus lived a new life after the resurrection, a life above human misery, a heavenly, glorious and immortal life. Live always therefore, with the risen Christ, risen from darkness to light, from error to truth, from sin to grace, from death to life. If you have risen with Jesus you will be free of all chains, free from earthly affection, you will live not for earth but for heaven.

Having risen from the dead with Jesus, your heart must always live subject to your reason and your reason must be subject to faith: you must live with your body subject to your soul and your soul turned towards God. Risen with Jesus you must hate every type of profanity, think nothing of the good opinion of men, think nothing of the world and have no desire for earthly things, but only for the things of heaven. Having risen with Jesus you must work without fear, provide for your needs, but without anxiety, suffer, but without complaining, fight, but without dread.

Having risen with Jesus you must have a holy perseverance, without which the other virtues will not be worthy of an eternal reward. You will live a divine and supernatural life, full of celestial delights and of light, you will be a brother to the angels, a dove of paradise, a resplendent image of God himself.
– Mons. Nicola Tafuri

 

PRAYER FOR THE DEVOUT AND FAITHFUL; DIVINE MERCY NOVENA, DAY 3

I. Pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy

II. Additional Prayer:

Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us in the abode of Your most compassionate Heart and never let us escape from it. We beg this grace 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 lose 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.

 

EASTER SUNDAY, GOSPEL READING (JOHN 20:1-9)

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb”, she said, “and we don’t know where they have put him.”

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in.

Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

VICTIMAE PASCHALI LAUDES

Victimae paschali laudes
Immolent Christiani.
Agnus redemit oves:
Christus innocens Patri
Reconciliavit peccatores
Mors et vita duello
Confixere mirando:
Dux vitae mortuus
Regnat vivus.

Dic nobis Maria
Quid vidisti in via?
Sepulchrum Christi viventis
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis:
Angelicos testes
Sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Christus spes mea:
Praecedit suos in Galilaeam.
Scimus Christum
Surresisse a mortuis vere:
Tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere.
Amen.

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer sacrifice and praise.
The sheep are ransomed
By the Lamb;
And Christ, the undefiled,
Hath sinners to his Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
Combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
Yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary:
Say what thou didst see
Upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!
The angels there attesting;
Shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
He goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen
From the dead we know.
Victorious King, thy mercy show!
Amen.

 

EASTER SUNDAY, THIRD BIBLE READING (1 CORINTHIANS 5:6b-8)

You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be.

Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

EASTER SUNDAY, SECOND BIBLE READING (COLOSSIANS 3:1-4)

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.

Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.