Easter Sunday The Resurrection of the Lord

 Lectionary: 42

Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! 
Amen. Alleluia.

Those who did not attend the Easter Vigil and Mass might notice today only a small difference from the Masses of every other Sunday. On this particular day the celebrant invites everyone to rise and respond in the affirmative to certain questions. 

1. Do you renounce Satan?
2. And all his works?
3. And all his empty show?
4. Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
5. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God? 
6. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? 

The congregation, standing, will answer, "I do!" to each question. 

The second three questions recall Jesus's final command as we hear in Saint Matthew's Gospel: 

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

On Easter Sunday, using this abbreviated creed, we again swear that we believe in the Revelation of the Holy Trinity. We should recall how this mystery was first revealed over the course of many centuries. 

1. The Father spoke to Abraham and his descendants, beginning in the second millennium before Christ, approximately 1800 b.c.e. There followed a long, complex history with names like Moses, David, Bathsheba, Judith, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the family of the Maccabees. Abraham's descendants would be known as tribes, slaves, citizens, and finally as refugees, when they were dispersed throughout the world.   
2. Jesus, whom worship as the Son of God and Son of Mary, lived, died, and was raised up when Israel was subject to the Roman Empire. 
3. And shortly after Jesus's death, the Holy Spirit appeared in the enthusiasm, courage, and wisdom of his disciples. 

The documents of the New Testament, which were written between 60 a.d. and 125 a.d., implicitly recognize each person as God, although that doctrine was not defined until the fourth century. And yet the Church insist with our Jewish ancestors that God is one and there is no other. 

As important as this three-part history of revelation is, the history of our keeping the faith these many centuries is equally important. That is one story with many chapters! 

We believe as Jesus taught. Our faith is apostolic, meaning the Apostles believed and announced the same faith. The Church has never deviated from the faith. The Holy Spirit sees to that! The Gospel was never lost and forgotten and then mysteriously recovered by one of the Church's many reformers. No one discovered the DNA of this dinosaur and spawned a new monster out of it. Rather, the Church has continued throughout its long history to fly like a pterodactyl and to lumber like a brontosaurus. 

We are the people who knew the Lord from his birth of the Virgin until his ascension into heaven. We are the people who believe he resides with us, especially in the Blessed Sacrament. If I was not born yet when Jesus walked the earth, that is beside the point. I was baptized into this faithful communion, and I believe as we have always believed. 

I swear it again, under oath, on Easter Sunday, and I affirm it every Sunday, as we always have since that first evening when he appeared in the Upper Room. We have never missed a Sunday Mass; we have kept the faith.