Readings

First Reading
Acts 10:34a, 37-43

We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Peter proceeded to speak and said:
“You know what has happened all over Judea,
   beginning in Galilee after the baptism
   that John preached,
   how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
   with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
   and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
   for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
   both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
   not to all the people, but to us,
   the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
   who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach 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,
   that everyone who believes in him
   will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. :

℟. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
   for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
   “His mercy endures forever.”

℟. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

“The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
   the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
   and declare the works of the LORD.”

℟. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

The stone which the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
   it is wonderful in our eyes.

℟. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

Second Reading
Col 3:1-4 or I Cor 5:6b-8

Seek what is above, where Christ is.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians

Brothers and sisters:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
   where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
   then you too will appear with him in glory.

The word of the Lord.

Or:

Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast,
   so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
   inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,
   not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,
   but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The word of the Lord.

Acclamation before the Gospel
Cf. 1 Cor 5:7b-8a

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed;
let us then feast with joy in the Lord.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 20:1-9 or Lk 24:1-12 or Lk 24:13-35

He had to rise from the dead.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
   while it was still dark,
   and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
   and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
   “They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
   and we don't know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
   and arrived at the tomb first;
   he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
   he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
   and the cloth that had covered his head,
   not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
   the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
   and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
   that he had to rise from the dead.

Or:

Lk 24:1-12

Why do you seek the Living One among the dead?

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

At daybreak on the first day of the week
   the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
   took the spices they had prepared
   and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
   but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold,
   two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said to them,
   “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
   that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified,
   and rise on the third day.”
And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
   and announced all these things to the eleven
   and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
   the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
   but their story seemed like nonsense
   and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
   bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
   then he went home amazed at what had happened.

Or, at an afternoon or evening Mass:

Luke 24:13-35

They recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

That very day, the first day of the week,
   two of Jesus’ disciples were going
   to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
   and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
   Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
   but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
   “What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
   “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
   who does not know of the things
   that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
   “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
   who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
   before God and all the people,
   how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
   to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
   and besides all this,
   it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
   they were at the tomb early in the morning
   and did not find his body;
   they came back and reported
   that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
   who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
   and found things just as the women had described,
   but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
   and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
   he interpreted to them what referred to him
   in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
   he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
   for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
   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 spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
   where they found gathered together
   the eleven and those with them who were saying,
   “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
   what had taken place on the way
   and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:

Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.

In Easter Sunday Masses which are celebrated with a congregation, the Priest addresses the faithful in these or similar words:

Dear brethren (brothers and sisters), through the Paschal Mystery
we have been buried with Christ in Baptism,
so that we may walk with him in newness of life.
And so, now that our Lenten observance is concluded,
let us renew the promises of Holy Baptism,
by which we once renounced Satan and his works
and promised to serve God in the holy Catholic Church.
And so I ask you:

Priest: Do you renounce Satan?
All: I do.

Priest: And all his works?
All: I do.

Priest: And all his empty show?
All: I do.

Or:

Priest: Do you renounce sin,
so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?
All: I do.

Priest: Do you renounce the lure of evil,
so that sin may have no mastery over you?
All: I do.

Priest: Do you renounce Satan,
the author and prince of sin?
All: I do.

If the situation warrants, this second formula may be adapted by Conferences of Bishops according to local needs.

Then the Priest continues:

Priest: Do you believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth?
All: I do.

Priest: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered death and was buried,
rose again from the dead
and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
All: I do.

Priest: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting?
All: I do.

And the Priest concludes:
And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit
and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins,
keep us by his grace,
in Christ Jesus our Lord,
for eternal life.
All: Amen.

The Priest sprinkles the people with the blessed water, while all sing:

Ant. I saw water flowing from the Temple,
from its right-hand side, alleluia;
and all to whom this water came were saved
and shall say: Alleluia, alleluia.

The Creed is omitted.