THE LORD HAS RISEN! ALELUIA!

EASTER SUNDAY - Acts 10:34, 37-43

The Jewish Passover was the first great feast of liberation. Every year, the people of Israel celebrated the great action of God that set them free, constituting them as the People of God. The lamb's sacrifice and the Passover meal were at the centre of the celebration. However, that liberation and the feast that celebrated it were prophecies and prefigurations of a greater liberation brought about by Christ, the Messiah, who offered himself in sacrifice as the Lamb of God who takes away the world's sins. It’s by his blood shed for us that we are set free from the slavery of sin. He died for us and overcame death by his resurrection. Being one with Him, we become whole, and God’s glory may shine on us again.  If we share in his death, we will share in his resurrection. In communion with the Son, we become God’s children and are given the right to enter his kingdom and sit at his table.

During the celebration of the Easter Vigil, we are called to give thanks and praise to God because the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;

though you have no money, come!

Buy corn without money, and eat,

and, at no cost, wine and milk.

Why spend money on what is not bread,

your wages on what fails to satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat

and rich food to enjoy.

Pay attention, come to me;

listen, and your soul will live. 

With you I will make an everlasting covenant

out of the favours promised to David. (Is 55:1-3)

You may listen to the song composed by the group of students doing the spiritual year in preparation for the promise to commit themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel.

1- The Lord has risen from the dead

As he announced

Let us rejoice

For he reigns forever

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

2- Christ came down from heaven

To rescue the people

He stripped himself of his greatness

With a kind heart

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

3- Rejoice, peoples of the earth

Christ lives forever

Christ reigns over humanity

His kingdom is one of peace.

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

May the words of Peter taken from the first Easter Sunday reading find echo in our hearts:

“They killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’” (Act 10:37-43)