Sunday of the Resurrection / Easter Sunday - 31 March 2024
31st March 2024
“Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” - St John Chrysostom
A reflection on the Resurrection by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"The Cross had asked the questions; the Resurrection had answered them.
"The Cross had asked the question: How far can Power go in the world? The Resurrection answered: Power ends in its own destruction, for those who slew the foe lost the day.
"The Cross had asked: Why does God permit evil and sin to nail Justice to a tree? The Resurrection answered: That sin, having done its worst, might exhaust itself and thus be overcome by Love that is stronger than either sin or death.
"Thus there emerges the Easter lesson that the power of evil and the chaos of any one moment can be defied and conquered, for the basis of our hope is not in any construct of human power, but in the Power of God Who has given to the evil of this earth its one mortal wound - an open tomb, a gaping sepulchre, an empty grave.
"If the story of Christ ended with that cry of abandonment on the Cross, then what hope have we that bruised Goodness and crucified Justice will ever rise triumphant over the massed wickedness of men?
"If He Who died to give us the glorious liberty of the children of God could not break the chains of death, then what hope is there that the enslaved peoples of Europe will ever rise from the slavery of their graves to a freedom where a man can call his soul his own?
"If there be no Power of God that can raise to the newness of life Him Who said, 'I am the light of the world,' then in broken-hearted misery must we say to our soldiers: 'Out, out brief candle' there shall be no light again.
"If there be no Power of God to bring back to life the Redeemer of our sins, the Teacher of our minds, then the pathos of man’s mortality is deepened and the riddle of human existence darkened forever, as the prison doors of death are everlastingly shut by the Jailer whose name is Black Despair.
"You say the Resurrection contradicts science and human experience; I say to you that the rotting in the grave of Supreme Truth would contradict it a thousand times more.
"I can accept a universe where Goodness is crucified by Power, but I cannot accept one where there is no higher Power to raise it to justification. I can accept a world where Evil has its hour … but I cannot accept a world wherein Goodness does not have its Easter Day to sing triumphant on the wings of victory."
(The Crisis in Christendom)
Easter Blessing Prayer for Families
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. 🙏💖💐