21st April 2019 - Easter Sunday

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA !!!! 
CHRISTUS RESURREXIT, 
RESURREXIT VERES 
ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!!
 CHRIST IS RISEN, 
HE IS RISEN INDEED, 
ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!

"Let everyone share this feast of faith; let everyone enjoy the riches of goodness. Let none lament their poverty; for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let none mourn their sins; for forgiveness has dawned from the grave. Let none fear death; for the Saviour's death has set us free"

- St John Chrysostom

Welcome to this weeks SacredSpace102fm and to the celebration of Easter Sunday - the highpoint of the Christian year; the reason why we call ourselves Christian. We have a reflection with Martina Leehane-Sheehan on Resurrection. We have a reflection on the Sunday gospel and other bits and pieces. 

You can listen to the full programme podcast HERE.

Reflecting on Resurrection in everyday life

On this week's programme SS102fm team are joined by Martina Lehane Sheehan who gives us a beautiful, thought-provoking reflection on Easter. Martina reflects on Resurrection, Transformation and Hope. She points out that the resurrected Jesus meets us in our wounded-ness and brings about transformation. Resurrection brings hope and the availability of the abundant life as well as expansion and growth. We are called to look for the light and to be the light. Real faith is believing that there is light even though there is still dark.

You can listen to Martina's reflection excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Alleluia!

With great joy we welcome back the Alleluia! We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!

Victimae paschali (Easter Sunday, Sequence)

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

offer sacrifice and praise.

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;

and Christ, the undefiled,

hath sinners to his Father reconciled.

Death with life contended:

combat strangely ended!

Life’s own Champion, slain,

yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary: 

say what thou didst see 

upon the way.

The tomb the Living did enclose;

I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!

The angels there attesting;

shroud with grave-clothes resting.

Christ, my hope, has risen:

he goes before you into Galilee.

That Christ is truly risen

from the dead we know.

Victorious king, thy mercy show!

Gospel - John 20:1-9

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Easter Traditions

Colours associated with Easter are white- purity - and gold - glory. Peacocks are an ancient symbol of the Resurrection and in the USA lilies are symbols of Easter and new life. During Eastertide (Easter Sunday to Pentecost) the Angelus is replaced by the Regina Caeili. 

Diego Velázquez - Coronation of the Virgin

Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia:

For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia,

Has risen as He said, alleluia.

Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.

R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray: O God, who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, granted joy to the whole world: grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

Of course one of the big traditions associated with Easter is the Easter Egg. The egg is seen by followers of Christianity as a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it. In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolized the sealed Tomb of Christ—the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead. Easter eggs are blessed by the priest at the end of the Paschal Vigil, and distributed to the faithful. Each household also brings an Easter basket to church, filled not only with Easter eggs but also with other Paschal foods such as paskha, kulich or Easter breads, and these are blessed by the priest as well. During Paschaltide, in some traditions the Paschal greeting with the Easter egg is even extended to the deceased. On either the second Monday or Tuesday of Pascha, after a memorial service people bring blessed eggs to the cemetery and bring the joyous paschal greeting, "Christ has risen", to their beloved departed. While the origin of easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described above, a sacred tradition among followers of Eastern Christianity says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ.The egg represents the boulder of the tomb of Jesus.A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary Magdalene's efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with "Christ has risen," whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, "Christ has no more risen than that egg is red." After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.

You can find out more about Easter traditions HERE.

Liturgical odds & ends

As Eastertide continues for 50 days, this week we will forgo listing the upcoming saints of the week except to note that next Sunday is Low Sunday and also marks the devotion to Divine Mercy Sunday.


And finally keeping with SS102fm tradition: