Easter Day - sermons and commentary

THE ANTHEMS.
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast,
   Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness: but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.    1 Cor. 5. 7.
   Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over him.
   For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
   Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin: but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6. 9.

   Christ is risen from the dead: and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
   For since by man came death: by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
   For as in Adam all die: even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. 15. 20.

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.

THE COLLECT.
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen

The Canadian 1962 BCP revised the Collect as follows:

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

THE EPISTLE. Colossians 3. 1.
IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked yourselves when ye lived in such things. But now you must put it all off: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and filthy talk out of your mouth; lie not to one another; cast off the old self with its evil deeds, and put on the new, which is being refashioned unto knowledge according to the image of its creator; in whom there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian or Sythian, bond or free, but Christ is all in all.

THE GOSPEL. S. John 20. 1.
THE first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together; and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre; and he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

INTROIT.
1st Celebration
Ps 139:1-5, 18,19
O LORD, thou hast searched me out and known me: / thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thoughts from afar.
2 Thou art about my path and about my bed, / and art acquainted with all my ways.
3 For lo, there is not a word in my tongue, / but thou, O LORD, knowest it altogether.
4 Thou hast beset me behind and before, / and laid thine hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me: / I cannot attain unto it.
Ant. How dear are thy counsels unto me, O God! / O how great is the sum of them!
18 If I count them, they are more in number than the sand: / when I wake up, I am present with thee.
Glory be. Repeat Antiphon.

INTROIT.
Second Celebration
Ps 30:1-5
I WILL magnify thee, O Lord, for thou hast set me up : and not made my foes to triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee : and thou hast healed me.
Ant. Thou, Lord, hast brought my soul out of hell : thou hast kept my life from them that go down to the pit.
4 Sing praises unto the Lord, O ye saints of his : and give thanks unto him for a remembrance of his holiness.
5 For his wrath endureth but the twinkling of an eye, and in his pleasure is life : heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Glory be. Repeat Antiphon.

GRADUAL.
Ps 118:22-25
22 THE same stone which the builders refused / is become the head-stone in the corner.
23 This is the Lord's doing, / and it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; / we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia, All. Help us now, O Lord: / O Lord, send us now prosperity. All.

Additional Propers for Eucharistic Devotions