This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein!

Introit

Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom, alleluia: which hath been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Sing to the Lord a new song: sing to the Lord all the earth. ℣. Glory, etc. Come, etc.

In the Collect, the Church reminds her children that the feasts of the holy liturgy are a means of our coming to the eternal Feasts of heaven. It is with this truth and hope before us, that we have drawn up our Liturgical Year. We must, therefore, so celebrate our Easter of time as to deserve to be admitted into the joys of the eternal Easter.

Collect

O God, who by the yearly solemnity of the Resurrection of our Lord, fillest us with joy; mercifully grant, that, by these temporal festivals which we celebrate, we may at last come to the possession of those joys that are eternal. Through the same, etc.

Epistle

Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, chap. 3

In those days: Peter opening his mouth, said: You men of Israel, and you who fear God, give ear. The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and denied before the face of Pilate, when he judged he should be released. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. But the author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Be penitent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.

Today, again, we have the Prince of the Apostles proclaiming in Jerusalem the Resurrection of the Man-God. On this occasion, he was accompanied by St. John, and had just worked his first miracle, of curing the lame man, near one of the gates of the temple. The people had crowded round the two Apostles, and St. Peter preached to them; it was the second time he had spoken in public. His first sermon brought three thousand to receive Baptism; the one of today, five thousand. Truly did the Apostle exercise on these two occasions his office of fisher of men, which our Lord gave him when He first called him to be His disciple. Let us admire the charity wherewith St. Peter bids the Jews acknowledge Jesus as their Messias. These are the very men who have denied Him; and yet the Apostle by partially excusing their crime on the score of ignorance, encourages them to hope for pardon. They clamored for the death of Jesus in the days of His voluntary weakness and humiliation; let them, now that He is glorified, acknowledge Him as their Messias and King, and their sin shall be forgiven. In a word, let them humble themselves and they shall be saved. Thus did God call unto Himself those who were of a good will and an upright heart; thus does He also in these our days. There were some in Jerusalem who corresponded to the call; but the far greater number refused to follow it. It is the same now. Let us earnestly beseech our Lord that the nets of His fishermen may be filled, and the Paschal banquet be crowded with guests.

Gradual

This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
℣. The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me. Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. The Lord hath truly risen, and hath appeared to Peter.

Sequence

Let Christians offer to the Paschal Victim the sacrifice of praise.
The Lamb hath redeemed the sheep: the innocent Jesus hath reconciled sinners to His Father.
Death and life fought against each other, and wondrous was the duel: the King of life was put to death; yet now He lives and reigns.
Tell us, O Mary! what sawest thou on the way?
I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ; I saw the glory of Him that had risen.
I saw the Angels that were the witnesses; I saw the winding-sheet and the cloth.
Christ, my hope, hath risen; He shall go before you into Galilee.
We know that Christ hath truly risen from the dead. Do Thou, O conqueror and King! have mercy upon us. Amen. Alleluia.

Gospel

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John - Chap. 21
At that time: Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And he shewed himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter saith to them: I go a fishing. They say to him: We also come with thee. And they went forth, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: Children, have you any meat? They answered him: No. He saith to them: Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: It is the Lord. Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him, (for he was naked,) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship, (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: Come, and dine. And none of them who were at meat, durst ask him: Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. And Jesus cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish in like manner. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead.

Meditation

Jesus had shown Himself to all His Apostles on the Sunday evening; He repeated His visit to them eight days after, as we shall see further on. The Gospel for today tells us of a third apparition, wherewith seven of the eleven were favored. It took place on the shore of Lake Genesareth, which, on account of its size, was called the Sea of Tiberias. The seven are delighted beyond measure at seeing their divine Master; He treats them with affectionate familiarity, and provides them with a repast. John is the first to recognize Jesus; nor can we be surprised: his purity gives keen perception to the eye of his soul, as it is written: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Peter throws himself from the ship, that he may the more quickly reach his Lord. His natural impetuosity shows itself here as on so many other occasions; but in this impetuosity we see that he loved Jesus more than his fellow disciples did. But let us attentively consider the other mysteries of our Gospel.

The seven disciples are fishing: it is the Church working out her apostolate. Peter is the master fisherman; it belongs to him to decide when and where the nets are to be thrown. The other six Apostles unite with him in the work, and Jesus is with tham all, looking upon their labor and directing it, for whatever is got by it is all for Him. The fish are the faithful, for, as we have already had occasion to remark, the Christian was often called by this name in the early ages. It was the font, it was water, that gave him his Christian life. Yesterday, we were considering how the Israelites owed their safety to the waters of the Red Sea; and our Gospel for today speaks of a Passover, a passing from Genesareth’s waters to a banquet prepared by Jesus. There is a mystery, too, in the number of the fishes that are taken; but what it is that is signified by these hundred and fifty-three, we shall perhaps never know, until the day of Judgment reveals the secret. They probably denote some divisions or portions of the human race that are to be gradually led, by the apostolate of the Church, to the Gospel of Christ: but once more, till God’s time comes, the book must remain sealed.

Having reached the shore, the Apostles surround their beloved Master, and lo! He has prepared them a repast: bread, and a fish lying on hot coals. This fish is not one of those they themselves have caught; they are to partake of it, now that they have come from the water. The early Christians thus interpret the mystery: the fish represents Christ, who was made to suffer the cruel torments of the Passion, and whose love of us was the fire that consumed Him; and He became the divine food of them that are regenerated by water. We have elsewhere remarked that in the primitive Church, the Greek word for fish (Ikthus) was venerated as a sacred symbol, inasmuch as the letters of this word formed the initials of the titles of our Redeemer.

But Jesus would unite, in the same repast, both the divine Fish, which is Himself, and those other fishes, which represent all mankind, and have been drawn out of the water in Peter’s net. The Paschal Feast has the power to effect, by love, an intimate and substantial union between the Food and the guests, between the Lamb of God and the other lambs who are His brethren, between the divine Fish and those others that He has associated with Himself by the closest ties of fellowship. They, like Him, have been offered in sacrifice; they follow Him in suffering and in glory. Witness the great deacon Laurence, around whose tomb the faithful are now assembled. He was made like to his divine Master, when he was burned to death on his red-hot gridiron; he is now sharing with Him, in an eternal Pasch, the glories of Jesus’ victory, and the joys of His infinite happiness.

Communion

Christ rising from the dead, dieth now no more, alleluia: death shall no more have dominion over him. Alleluia, alleluia.

Postcommunion

Grant we beseech thee, O Lord, that being cleansed from the old leaven, the reception of thy venerable Sacrament may transform us into a new creature. Who livest, etc.

(Easter Wednesday ~ Dom Prosper Gueranger)