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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Seventh Sunday of Easter

Reading I : Acts 7:55-60

Jesus, receive my spirit.

The first reading describes the death of the first martyr.
Stephen’s preaching angered his listeners.
The description of his death parallels and contrasts Luke’s description of the trial and death of Jesus.

Reading II : Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20

Come, Lord Jesus!

The reading from Revelation mirrors the vision from the beginning of the book.
Again, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
In the final paragraph of the Book of Revelation, a chorus of voices cries out “Come”; and the One who gives witness at the price of his blood answers “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Gospel : John 17:20-26

That they may be one.

The Gospel of John stresses the importance of believing that God the Father sent Jesus.
In today’s passage, Jesus’ prayer for his followers is that they may be one in love, as he and the Father are one.
Jesus had revealed God to them and now they must bear witness to the world.