Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Dominica Paschae in Resurrectione Domini) is the third and last day of the Sacred Paschal Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, the very brief liturgical season that began with the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The second day began with the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday. The third day began with the celebration of the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, which ushered in Easter Sunday with the solemn singing of the Gloria.

At the Mass during the day of Easter Sunday (ad Missam in die), the sequence hymn Victimae Paschali is sung or recited before the Gospel and the Renewal of Baptismal Promises may take place after the Homily, according to the text used at the Easter Vigil. The Easter water that was solemnly blessed during the Easter Vigil is then used to sprinkle the faithful.

Vidi aquam egrediéntem de templo,

a látere dextro, allelúia;

et omnes, ad quos pervénit aqua ista, salvi facti sunt,

et dicent: allelúia, alleluia (cf. Ez 47, 1-2. 9).

I saw water flowing from the Temple,

from its right-hand side, alleluia:

and all to whom this water came

were saved and shall say: alleluia, alleluia (cf. Ezekiel 47:1-2, 9).

 “The Christian year reaches its supreme moments in the celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, risen indeed in our human flesh, glorified in that flesh, triumphant over the mortality of that flesh. Again and again, the liturgy resounds with the cry of ‘alleluia!’, as the people reborn through the Paschal Mystery wait in joyful hope for the day when they too will share the glory of their risen Lord” (Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year (2002), n. 312/ p. 155).

The Sacred Paschal Triduum (Sacrum Triduum Paschale), also called the Easter Triduum, which “celebrates the Paschal Mystery and so is the culmination of the entire Liturgical Year” (Rev. Jovian P. Lang, OFM, Dictionary of the Liturgy (1989), p. 566), officially concludes with Vespers on the evening of Easter Sunday. 

“This is the tradition of ‘baptismal Vespers’, a celebration for the newly baptized, leading into the postbaptismal catechesis or mystagogy with which the Christian community accompanies them especially during the Easter Octave and throughout the Easter Season” (Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year (2002), n. 317 / p. 157).

Easter Sunday is both the last day of the Sacred Paschal Triduum and the first day of the Octave of Easter. An octave is “[t]he liturgical celebration of a feast for eight days—on the day itself and the seven following days” (Rev. Jovian P. Lang, OFM, Dictionary of the Liturgy (1989), p. 462). At one time, many liturgical feasts had octaves, but they were eventually suppressed except for the octaves of Christmas and Easter. The Octave of Easter begins with Easter Sunday, the “Feast of feasts”, the “Solemnity of solemnities”, and “the supreme day of the Christian year”.

Surréxit Dóminus vere, allelúia.

Ipsi glória et impérium

per univérsa æternitátis s?cula, allelúia, allelúia.

The Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

To him be glory and power

for all the ages of eternity, alleluia, alleluia.

~ The Roman Missal, Third Edition (2010),

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord, at the Mass during the Day,

Entrance Antiphon; Luke 24:34; cf. Revelation 1:6.