Step Into the Light
The Mercy That Exposes Is the Mercy That Saves
“The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
— G.K. Chesterton
Invitatory
Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Antiphon: The Lord is truly risen, alleluia.
Psalm 94 (95)
Come let us praise the lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways:
So I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Hymn (Week II Cycle)
Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia,
Who did once upon the Cross, Alleluia,
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia.
Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia,
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia,
Who endured the Cross and grave, Alleluia,
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia.
But the pains which He endured, Alleluia,
Our salvation have procured; Alleluia,
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia,
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia.
Psalmody
Antiphon 1
The waters saw thee, O God; thou didst lead thy people through the sea. Alleluia.
Psalm 76 (77)
I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.
In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted:
I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away.
My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.
I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years.
And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.
Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?
Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation?
Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies?
And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High.
I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.
And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.
Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God?
Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations:
With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph.
The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.
Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass:
The voice of thy thunder in a wheel.
Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled.
Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known.
Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Glory be to the Father...
Antiphon 2
The Lord bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again. Alleluia.
Canticle — 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 2:1–10
My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God...
Antiphon 3
Light is risen for the just, and joy for the right of heart. Alleluia.
Psalm 96 (97)
The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice...
Glory be to the Father...
Short Reading — Romans 6:8–11
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ:
Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him.
For in that he died to sin, he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God:
So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Short Responsory
The Lord is risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia.
For our sake he hung upon the tree, alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia.
Glory be to the Father...
The Lord is risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia.
Benedictus Antiphon
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. Alleluia.
Benedictus — Luke 1:68–79
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us...
(continue full Benedictus exactly as above through “way of peace”)
Glory be to the Father...
Intercessions
That we who have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light may see his mercy clearly this day,
R. Glorify us, Lord, with the glory of Christ.
That thy Holy Spirit may strengthen and purify the hearts of men,
R. Glorify us, Lord, with the glory of Christ.
That our daily labor may be offered in charity for the good of our neighbor,
R. Glorify us, Lord, with the glory of Christ.
That from the first light of morning our hearts may be filled with thy praise,
R. Glorify us, Lord, with the glory of Christ.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Concluding Prayer
O Lord, year by year thou dost renew in thy Church the paschal mystery, by which man’s fallen dignity is restored and the hope of resurrection is reborn. Grant that what we celebrate now in faith, we may possess forever in love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Paradox of the Day
The men in the Gospel flee the light because it reveals them; the Christian runs toward the light because it remakes him.
Reflection
Easter does not merely announce that Jesus escaped death. It announces something much stranger and more practical: that life itself has changed its center.
The Gospel today says that men preferred darkness to light, not because darkness was stronger, but because darkness was easier. Light tells the truth. Light names things. Light shows us not only Christ in glory, but ourselves in need of glory.
And yet that is the mercy.
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. The light that exposes is the very light that heals. The resurrection is not a divine scolding; it is a divine sunrise.
St. Paul presses the point farther than sentiment. If Christ is risen, then Christians are not merely admirers of a miracle long ago. We are men and women who must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God.
Easter is not decorative. It is demanding.
The stone rolled away from the tomb is also meant to roll away from the heart.
The light does not flatter us.
It frees us.
Chesterton Radio Sign-Off
From Chesterton Radio in Atchison, Kansas:
keep the faith, keep your sense of wonder, and step into the light.