Invitatory
V. Lord, open my lips.
R. And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Antiphon: The Lord is 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.
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.
Antiphon: The Lord is risen, alleluia.
Hymn (Easter Cycle — Fixed)
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
Psalm 62 (63)
Antiphon: At daybreak, be merciful to me, O Lord, alleluia.
O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day.
For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways!
In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water:
so in the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory.
For thy mercy is better than lives: thee my lips shall praise.
Thus will I bless thee all my life long: and in thy name I will lift up my hands.
Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness:
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.
If I have remembered thee upon my bed, I will meditate on thee in the morning:
because thou hast been my helper.
And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings:
my soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me.
But they have sought my soul in vain, they shall go into the lower parts of the earth:
they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be the portions of foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God, all they shall be praised that swear by him:
because the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things.
Canticle — Daniel 3:57–88, 56
Antiphon: All creatures, bless the Lord, alleluia.
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: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye dews and hoarfrosts, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye light and darkness, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye mountains and hills, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye sons of men, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Bless the Lord, O Ananias, Azarias, Misael: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost: let us praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Blessed art thou, O Lord, in the firmament of heaven: and worthy of praise, and glorious, and exalted above all for ever.
Psalm 149
Antiphon: Let Israel rejoice in him who made them, alleluia.
Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the church of the saints.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: and let the children of Sion be joyful in their king.
Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with timbrel and psaltery.
For the Lord is well pleased with his people: and he will exalt the meek unto salvation.
The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds.
The high praises of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands.
To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people:
To bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles of iron.
To execute upon them the judgment that is written: this glory is to all his saints. Alleluia.
Short Reading — Full Text
Acts 4:33
And with great power did the apostles give testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord: and great grace was in them all.
Responsory
V. This is the day which the Lord hath made, alleluia.
R. Let us be glad and rejoice therein, alleluia.
Benedictus — Full Text (Luke 1:68–79)
Antiphon: Jesus stood on the shore and said: Peace be with you, alleluia.
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.
Intercessions
Christ, rising from the dead, gives life to all creation. Let us ask him:
— Lord Jesus, hear us.
You are the cornerstone rejected by the builders:
— make us living stones in your Church.
You overcame death and the grave:
— strengthen us against fear and despair.
You appeared to your disciples in their doubt:
— guide those who seek truth.
You bring peace where there was fear:
— establish your peace in our homes and work.
Our Father — Full Text
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 — Full Text
O God, who by the paschal mystery hast redeemed the world, preserve in thy grace those whom thou hast saved, that they may rejoice in the perpetual gift of the resurrection. 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 Resurrection does not remove the wounds—it makes them shine.
G.K. Chesterton Quote
“I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else.”
Reflection (Chestertonian Style)
There is something almost mischievous about the Resurrection. It does not tidy up the world; it untidies it gloriously.
If Christ had merely escaped death, we might have called it a miracle. But He did something far stranger—He returned with the marks of it. The nails were not erased. The wound was not hidden. Eternity itself seemed to insist on remembering.
This is the great contradiction that becomes the great comfort: that what is broken is not discarded, but redeemed; what is wounded is not concealed, but crowned.
We spend much of our lives trying to manage our difficulties—to minimize them, explain them, or at least keep them out of sight. But Easter is not interested in management. It is interested in transformation.
The apostles do not become fearless because danger has vanished. They become fearless because they have seen something stronger than danger. Death, which seemed the most final of all facts, has been reduced to a defeated habit.
And so the Christian lives not as one who has solved the problem of suffering, but as one who knows that suffering is no longer the final authority.
The stone was rolled away not merely from the tomb—but from the imagination of man.
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