Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” March-April 2025
Resurrection of the Lord
Proper
FIRST READING
From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:34a, 37-43)
In those days, Peter began to speak and said: “You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism preached by John; how God consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to be revealed, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God, to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to proclaim to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness: everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” - The word of God.
Commentary on the First Reading
Peter is proclaiming the Christian message to Cornelius of Caesarea and summarizes Jesus’ work by saying that he is the one who, consecrated “in the Holy Spirit and with power… went about doing good and healing all.” Doing good and healing, then, are the verbs that sum up Jesus’ work, “and we are witnesses of all that he did,” Peter adds. If the apostles have the courage and enthusiasm to bear witness to all this, it is because “they put him to death by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him on the third day… And he commanded us to proclaim to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead… everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” At the center of Peter’s preaching is Jesus, with his death on the cross and resurrection. These are not fables or mere ideas, but realities: “We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Starting from this essential core, we too are invited to believe and rediscover the courage for clear and courageous witness because - as we sing in the psalm - “his love is forever.”
SECOND READING
From the letter of Saint Paul the apostle to the Colossians (Col 3:1-4)
Brothers and sisters, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God! When Christ, your life, is manifested, then you too will appear with him in glory. – The Word of the Lord.
Or:
From the first letter of Saint Paul the apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 5:6b-8)
Brothers and sisters, do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough ferment? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed! Therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with the old yeast, nor with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. – The Word of the Lord.
Commentary on the second reading
The apostle Paul invites us to set our gaze above, “where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” In this way Paul distinguishes two planes: here below and above. Up in heaven Jesus is “at the right hand of the Father,” and for this reason he then adds, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,” because “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God!” In Jesus we are already in heaven, but for us it has not yet been fulfilled because we are waiting to arrive there as well. In any case, we are already in heaven, and it is from the things above that we are invited to let ourselves be guided on our journey through life: perhaps not everything will be understood by human eyes, but when Christ, our life, is manifested, then we too will appear with him in glory. As we said on Good Friday, when commenting on the first reading, as it was for the servant of Yahweh, so it was for Jesus and so it will be for us: only in the end will God’s plan be understood, and those who criticize and oppose today will recognize the truth.
Or:
The encounter with Jesus Christ, the risen one, announced in the first reading, calls for consequences in daily life, Paul writes: “Remove the old yeast, so that you may be a new dough.” Paul refers to the practice of burning the old yeast before the feast of Passover, so that it would not contaminate the new yeast. Taking his cue from this, he says: “Christ has been sacrificed! Let us celebrate the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Let us burn/remove - Paul writes - the old yeast “of malice and wickedness” and live as those who have risen: Baptism, in fact, makes us be reborn in the risen Christ, making us “a new dough,” purified by Christ’s sacrifice.
GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 20:1-9)
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him!” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down, saw the burial cloths lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter arrived, following him, and went into the tomb and observed the burial cloths lying there, and the head cloth that had been over his head - not lying there with the cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture, that he had to rise from the dead. - The Gospel of the Lord.
In place of this Gospel, the one proclaimed at the Easter Vigil may be used. Where the evening Mass is celebrated, the following Gospel may be proclaimed:
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 24:13-35)
And behold, on that same day, [the first day of the week,] two [of the disciples] were on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about everything that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are these matters you are discussing as you walk along?”. They stopped, their faces downcast; one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there in these days?”. He asked them, “What things?”. They replied, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one who would set Israel free; and, with all this, three days have passed since these things happened. But some women from among us have astounded us; they went to the tomb in the morning and, not finding his body, came back to tell us that they had also seen a vision of angels who say that he is alive. Some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see”. And he said to them, “How foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and so enter into his glory?”. Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. As they came near the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over”. So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was at table with them, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him. But he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us?”. So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem, where they found gathered together the Eleven and those who were with them, who said, “The Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon!”. Then they recounted what had happened on the road and how they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread. – The word of the Lord.
Gospel Commentary
The Gospel text begins with the expression: “The first day of the week,” to make us understand that Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of a new era. The first to go to the tomb is Mary Magdalene, who “came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.” Faced with the stone removed from the tomb, she runs and goes “to Simon Peter and the other disciple.” The announcement of the empty tomb, so unexpected, prompts the two to run toward the tomb. The resurrection sets things in motion, even where it may not be understood immediately, because seeing is not enough if one does not then believe: “The two were running together… Peter arrived… entered the tomb and observed the burial cloths lying there, and the cloth that had covered his head… Then the other disciple also entered… and he saw and believed.” If it is the heart that urges one to run, as it was for Mary and the other disciple, it is equally true that faith is also necessary to understand what is happening. It has been so from the beginning, and today it is our task to run and bring others the announcement that Jesus, the Lord, is alive, has risen, and is with us to help us see and believe in the signs that he himself places along our path.
Or:
On that same day which, as we have seen (Lk 24:1), is the first day of the week, two disciples are traveling to a village called Emmaus when “Jesus himself drew near and walked with them.” They do not recognize him, but their hearts are so full of discouragement that they confide everything to him: “We were hoping… But some women from our group have astounded us… he is alive.” Jesus rebukes them for being “foolish and slow of heart” and “explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” This first phase is followed by the breaking of the bread at the inn. These three elements - companionship, the word, and broken bread - enable the disciples to recognize that: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was conversing with us on the way, while he was explaining the Scriptures to us?” This experience will lead them to set out “without delay” and “return to Jerusalem.” The structure of this passage recalls the structure of the Eucharist: we gather together, listen to the Word, share the Bread, and then set out running to testify that we have encountered the Lord, the Risen One. Learning to do as he did: to love.
