Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” March-April 2024

Easter Triduum – Resurrection of the Lord
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Mass of the Day and Evening Mass

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 anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all those under the power of the devil, because God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did in the region 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 granted that he 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 commissioned us to announce 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 the Lord.

Commentary on the First Reading

The text of the Acts of the Apostles reports Peter’s first sermon before the pagans. The Roman Cornelius had sent for him, and Peter sets out in a few words the content of the Christian proclamation: Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, traveled through the roads of Judea and Galilee doing good and driving out demons, died on the cross under an unjust sentence, and the Father raised him from the dead. Therefore Jesus is now alive, although beyond the earthly dimensions of space and time, and continues to act among people in his divine role of removing sins from the hearts of men. Therefore, the content is this: Jesus is true man and true God; he died for us but is now alive; his kingdom is not of this world, and one enters it from now on through conversion and a life of grace. Even today, after two thousand years and after so many reflections by saints and theologians, the substance remains the same. If something different is preached, the mission of Christ and the Church is betrayed. Jesus died for us and is now alive to bring us from darkness into light: this is what people must know.

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 earthly things. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God! When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you too will appear with him in glory. - The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the second reading

The Christian lives on two levels: the visible earthly level and the invisible inner level. On the first, we work, go grocery shopping, get married, and have children; on the second, we are in the company of Jesus, the saints, and the angels, already living the divine reality and having in our hearts nothing less than the Holy Spirit. These two levels coexist without disturbing each other, so we can continue to carry out the things “down here” calmly while having our hearts and minds on the things “above”; we can be ministers of State or Nobel Prize winners in physics and at the same time be hidden with Christ. Indeed, our life will increasingly consist in the fusion of these two worlds, until our death. The only black hole we can fall into is sin, which breaks this unity: then we will find ourselves solely in the world down here, which nevertheless decays and is not saved. If that happens, we will run immediately to Confession. The Easter proclamation is the joyful exhortation to turn our gaze upward and immerse ourselves fully in the life of the Risen One.

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 leavens the whole batch of dough? 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 the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the second reading

After Christ’s resurrection, everything changes. Saint Paul uses the example of yeast that has been consumed, stale, and shapeless, which no longer works. In the dough of our lives, we now put the new yeast, which is none other than the life of the risen Lord. We do not have to do anything, because the Lord does everything: then we will find ourselves perfectly risen into a mass of soft, fresh dough. The old yeast is called “malice” and “wickedness,” the new “sincerity” and “truth.” The remarkable thing is that everyone wants to be “sincerity” and “truth” in words, but they forget (or pretend to forget) to eliminate the old yeast, thinking that even if a little remains, it will do no harm. No: let us leave it to the “housewife” of Heaven, whose industrious hands work the dough. They are the hands of the Holy Spirit, who continually works on us through instruction, sacrifice, asceticism, obedience, doctrine, and acts of charity. What we need is docility, letting him work and, in the end, admiring the splendor of the divine work within us.

SEQUENCE

To the Paschal Victim, 
may the sacrifice of praise rise today.
The Lamb has redeemed his flock,
the Innocent One has reconciled 
us sinners with the Father.
Death and Life have engaged in battle 
in a wondrous duel.
The Lord of life was dead;
but now, alive, he triumphs.
“Tell us, Mary: 
whom you saw on the road?”
“The tomb of the living Christ, 
the glory of the risen Christ,
and his angels as witnesses, 
the shroud and his garments. 
Christ, my hope, is risen:
and he goes before his own into Galilee.” 
Yes, we are certain:
Christ is truly risen.
You, victorious King,
have mercy on us.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

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 the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them: “They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him!” Then Peter and the other disciple went out and went to the tomb. They were both running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down, saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not enter. Then Simon Peter arrived, following him, and entered the tomb and observed the linen cloths lying there, and the cloth that had been on his head - not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also entered, and he saw and believed. For they still did not understand the Scripture, that he had to rise from the dead. - The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

The first sign that astonishes the disciples is the empty tomb. Jesus had said several times that he would rise from the dead, and on the very third day, but they did not understand; they did not want to understand. They loved their Master very much and could not comprehend that he would have to die in such an atrocious way; moreover, they were unable to understand what would happen afterward. Rise from the dead... to do what? To live how? Everything was shrouded in mystery, but there was also still hardness of heart. They had their own ideas about what the Messiah should do and continued to think according to their own patterns. The empty tomb is therefore the first sign of this inner bewilderment of the disciples. Jesus was right: his body was not to know the corruption of the flesh, but where had it gone? Before appearing risen, Jesus disappears from the tomb. Before welcoming him in his resurrection, we must empty our minds of other ideas. We must welcome God as he presents himself, not as we would like him to present himself. Contemplating the empty tomb does us good. It is the death of our ego. We too, in that tomb, renounce ourselves in order to welcome the Risen One as he truly is.

In place of this Gospel, the one proclaimed at the Easter Vigil may be used

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 16:1-7)
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic oils so that they might go and anoint him. Very early, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another: “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had already been rolled back, although it was very large. On entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, dressed in a white robe, and they were afraid. But he said to them: “Do not be afraid! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter: ‘He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, as he told you.’” – The Word of the Lord.

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 eleven kilometers from Jerusalem, and they were conversing with each other about everything that had happened. While they were conversing 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 with each other as you walk?». They stopped, their faces downcast; one of them, named Cleopas, answered him: «Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? Do you 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; how the chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel; and yet, despite all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. But some women from among us have astonished us; they went to the tomb in the morning and, not finding his body, came back saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who declared that he is alive. Some of our companions went to the tomb and found things 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 to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. When they drew near to 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. When he was at table with them, he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. But he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other: «Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the way, when he was explaining the Scriptures to us?». And they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying: «The Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon!». Then they recounted what had happened on the way and how they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread. – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

The disciples walk along sadly and disappointedly because they had hoped that Jesus would free Israel, but he had not done so. We, too, often complain about things that are not going well, about what we have lost over the years, and even about the fact that God has not intervened as we would have wished. Jesus makes himself present and warms the hearts of the two disciples, opening their minds to understand the Scriptures. This is precisely what he does every day: he speaks to us continually through Scripture, the Magisterium, the Church, circumstances, creation, and the voice of the heart. Jesus accepts the invitation. If we invite him, he enters our home and sits down with us. Jesus loves us and offers us his Body and Blood. He is not content merely to instruct us, but wants to live our life, because love tends toward union. Thus, it is precisely in the Eucharist that we recognize him fully. The disciples rise from the table and immediately hurry to Jerusalem to say that they have seen him. They could have gone there calmly the next day, but they cannot wait. Those who have seen Jesus desire to share him and make him known. The return journey is filled with joy. Emmaus is thus the sign and symbol of Christian life.