Invitatory
V. O Lord, open thou my lips.
R. And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Invitatory Antiphon
Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us adore him. Alleluia.
Psalm 94
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. Today 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.
Invitatory Antiphon
Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us adore him. Alleluia.
Hymn
The Call of Morning
When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries: May Jesus Christ be praised. Alike at work and prayer To Jesus I repair: May Jesus Christ be praised.
The night becomes as day When from the heart we say: May Jesus Christ be praised. The powers of darkness fear When this sweet chant they hear: May Jesus Christ be praised.
Ye nations of mankind, In this your concord find: May Jesus Christ be praised. Let all the earth around Ring joyous with the sound: May Jesus Christ be praised.
In heaven’s eternal bliss The loveliest strain is this: May Jesus Christ be praised. Let air and sea and sky From depth to height reply: May Jesus Christ be praised.
Psalmody
Antiphon 1
The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia.
Psalm 42
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.
And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.
To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
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.
Antiphon 1
The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia.
Antiphon 2
All creation sings to the risen King, alleluia.
Canticle — Daniel 3
Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: O ye heavens, bless the Lord.
O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord: O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord.
O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord.
O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord.
O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord.
O ye dews and hoar frost, bless the Lord: O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord.
O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
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.
Antiphon 2
All creation sings to the risen King, alleluia.
Antiphon 3
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, alleluia.
Psalm 150
Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power.
Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness.
Praise him with sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.
Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord.
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.
Antiphon 3
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, alleluia.
Short Reading
John 16:7
But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go. For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Responsory
V. The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.
R. And hath appeared unto Simon, alleluia.
Benedictus Antiphon
If I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you, alleluia.
Benedictus
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:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
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.
Benedictus Antiphon
If I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you, alleluia.
Intercessions
Christ the Lord promised the Spirit to his Church. Trusting in that promise, let us pray:
R. Lord, send forth thy Spirit.
For the Church throughout the world, that she may proclaim the risen Christ with courage and joy, let us pray to the Lord.
R. Lord, send forth thy Spirit.
For those burdened with grief or uncertainty, that the Comforter may strengthen and console them, let us pray to the Lord.
R. Lord, send forth thy Spirit.
For workers, engineers, teachers, craftsmen, and all who labor this day, that their work may serve truth, beauty, and the common good, let us pray to the Lord.
R. Lord, send forth thy Spirit.
For our families, communities, and listeners of Chesterton Radio, that Easter joy may dwell in their homes, let us pray to the Lord.
R. Lord, send forth thy Spirit.
The Lord’s Prayer
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 those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Concluding Prayer
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of thy Son hast restored joy to the world, grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we may attain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Paradox of the Day
Christ leaves the world so that He may become nearer to it.
G.K. Chesterton Quote
“Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Chestertonian Reflection
The Apostles believed Christ’s departure meant abandonment. Like children watching a ship disappear over the horizon, they assumed absence meant distance. Yet Our Lord announces one of the great reversals in all Christianity: “It is expedient to you that I go.”
The world believes presence means visibility. If something cannot be seen, measured, or grasped, modern man assumes it has become unreal. But Christianity insists upon something stranger and more wonderful. Christ ascends not to leave the world behind, but to fill it more completely.
While He walked beside the Apostles, He could only be in one town at a time. But when the Holy Ghost descends, Christ enters the hearts of men across the whole earth.
God often appears to retreat precisely at the moment He is preparing a greater arrival.
The seed disappears into the ground before the field turns green. The sun vanishes before dawn remakes the world. The Cross itself looked like the victory of death moments before the Resurrection shattered history forever.
And so the Christian life repeatedly feels like loss before it reveals itself as gift.
Many people today live with a heaviness of spirit. We burden ourselves with anxieties, forecasts, statistics, and endless self-analysis. Chesterton understood that joy requires a kind of holy lightness. “Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.” The Apostles could not yet fly because grief had made them heavy.
But Pentecost was already approaching.
The frightened fishermen would soon become heralds. The locked room would become a launching point. The timid Church would become a civilization.
And all because Christ departed.
So if God feels hidden today, do not assume He is absent. The Holy Ghost often arrives under the appearance of silence before He remakes the soul in fire.
Chesterton Radio Sign-off
This is Chesterton Radio from Atchison, Kansas — where the bells still ring, the coffee is strong, and the old stories still remind us that Christendom was never truly old.
May the risen Christ fill your day with courage, humor, gratitude, and Easter joy.
Alleluia.