Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to Sunday's Scripture Readings

This Sunday is Easter! We have come to the climactic conclusion of our forty days of Lenten preparation and our Holy Week liturgies. This is considered the most joyous and most sacred liturgy of the year.

Our Christ, who had come to live among us, suffered and died for our sins, and rose from the dead. Thus, He broke the bonds of death and leads the way for all of His faithful back to the Father.

There are two liturgies for our Easter celebration—Saturday Vigil and Easter Morning.

The Vigil Mass on Saturday night features numerous Old Testament readings that highlight many of the key moments in salvation history beginning with our first reading of the creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:2). In our second reading comes the story of God parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape their slavery in Egypt (Exodus 14:15 - 15:1). Our third reading is the prophesy of the Prophet Isaiah near the end of the Israelite's exile in Babylon. It is an invitation to God’s grace and blessings (Isaiah 55:1-11). In our fourth reading, the Prophet Baruch (Bar 3:9-15, 32—4:4), writes on the importance of Wisdom. She is seen as being very close to God.

In our Epistle reading (Romans 6:3-11), St. Paul teaches us that as we also died with Christ, so too, we will receive new life in Christ.

The Easter Sunday morning readings are shorter and focus more succinctly on Jesus' resurrection. The first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:34, 37-43) and is an excerpt of St. Peter's speech in Caesarea where he boldly proclaimed the risen Christ.

Our Second reading (Colossians 3:1-4) is a short reminder of what we should be doing—always focused on Christ, seek what is above, instead of the things of the earth.

Our Gospel reading (John 20:1-9) is John's telling of the events on Easter morning. Mary of Magdala was the first to see the tomb empty and ran to get Simon Peter and the others.

Easter Vigil: bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041925.cfm

Easter Sunday: bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042025.cfm