Easter

The sound of Alleluias fills the 50 days of Easter Sunday to Pentecost as we give thanks for the gift of our salvation. The Easter Triduum recalls the passion and resurrection of Christ in the sacred journey from Holy Thursday to Easter Vigil. "Dying he destroyed our death. Rising he restored our life."

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

Reading I : Acts 2:14a, 36-41

You must reform and be baptized.

In today’s first reading, Peter poses some important questions about the meaning of life to the Jews assembled in Jerusalem.
From Peter’s perspective, those who had yet to recognize that “Jesus was both Lord and Christ” were a corrupt generation.
In asking the Jews to believe that Jesus was “Lord and Christ,” Peter was really saying that Jesus is God and Messiah.

Reading II : 1 Peter 2:20b-25

By his wounds you were healed.

The reference to Isaiah’s Suffering Servant in today’s first reading, points to the example of Christ.
Jesus Christ was truly innocent and when he suffered, he did not oppose with force.
This message was important for the Christians who were suffering persecution at the time for living as followers of Jesus.

Gospel : John 10:1-10

I am the gate.

The Gospel today portrays Jesus as the gateway through which we enter the Church.
Besides drawing on a common image from everyday life at the time of Jesus, today’s Gospel evokes several passages from the Hebrew Scriptures.
In Ezekiel 34, the prophet reveals that God is the shepherd of the sheep. The author of today’s Gospel understands that God has become the shepherd in Jesus.