Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

—1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (TNIV)

As a young man, and when my parents were alive, we would go to church every Easter and then gather as an extended family to have dinner. I also made it my custom to visit my grandparents’ graves after we ate our Easter meal. They were always poignant, joyous visits because while I missed (and miss) their physical presence, the Easter story was always fresh in my mind and that gave me great hope. Yes, death has separated us but our separation is only for a season, not forever. That made all the difference in the world for me.

Now that I am older, my parents are also dead. And because I am a priest, I am not able to get to Van Wert on Easter to visit their graves. But I remembered them yesterday and like those visits to my grandparents’ graves, it was a poignant and joyous memory. Even though I miss them dearly, my folks are reunited with their folks and are alive and well with the Lord who loved them and claimed them forever. And like my grandparents, the Easter Story reminds me I am only separated from my folks for a season, not forever. That too makes all the difference in the world for me, especially now that I am nearing the last season of my life.

Do you have a resurrection hope and faith? If you do, are you letting it sustain and empower you as you live your days?

O God, who by your only begotten Son has overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life, grant us, we ask you, that we who celebrate the solemnities of our Lord’s resurrection may by the renewing of your Spirit arise from the death of the soul, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—The Gelasian Sacramentary

Everyone who is devout and a lover of God, let them enjoy this beautiul and radiant Feast of Feasts [Easter]! If anyone is a wise servant, rejoice and enter into the joy of the Lord. If anyone has been wearied in fasting, now receive your recompense. Let no one fear Death, for the Savior’s death has set us free! He that was taken by Death has annihilated it! He descended into Hell, and took Hell captive! He embittered it when it tasted of His Flesh! And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, “Hell was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions.” It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains! It took a body, and face to face met God! It took earth, and encountered Heaven! It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen!

“O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?”

Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and Life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the tombs! For Christ being raised from the dead, has become the firstfruits of them that slept. To Him be glory and dominion through all the ages of ages!

—John Chrysostom, Easter Homily

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover. That mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Having a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen humanity upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt our destroyer, death, a fatal blow.

It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets. It is he who was made flesh of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven.

—Melito, Bishop of Sardis (ca. lat 2nd century), Easter Homily

The Day of Resurrection has dawned upon us, the day of true light and life, wherein Christ, the life of believers, arose from the dead. Let us give abundant thanks and praise to God, that while we solemnly celebrated the day of our Lord’s resurrection, he may be pleased to bestow on us quiet peace and special gladness; so that being protected from morning to night by his favoring mercy, we may rejoice in the gift of our Redeemer. Amen.

The purpose of God in the history of man was accomplished when Jesus breathed his last upon the cross. The cry “It is finished” was not a mere gasp of a wornout life; it was not the cry of satisfaction with which a career of pain and sorrow is terminated; it was the deliberate utterance of a clear consciousness on the part of God’s appointed Revealer that now all had been done that could be done to make God known to [humans] and to identify him with [them].

—Marcus Dods, Footsteps in the Path of Life