First Reading
Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Peter proceeded to speak and said: “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.

Second Reading
Colossians 3:1-4

Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

Gospel Cycle Cycle B
John 20:1-9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Christ is risen! Over and over today we can repeat: Christ is risen! In order to understand the wonder of this day, we must look back to Good Friday when all the followers of Jesus saw that He had died and for most of them, their faith died with Him. They could not understand how the man that they considered the Messiah, a very special teacher, a Son of God, could die. If He died, then he was only a human like themselves.

But when the first day of the week dawned, they went to check on His body—at least some of them did. He was not there. Not everyone believed that He had risen. Some thought that His body had been stolen. But then Jesus begins to appear to some of the followers. He is alive. Today’s Gospel does not go so far. It only tells us that they did not yet understand.

The first reading, however, tells us Good News: God raised Jesus on the third day and granted that He be visible not to all to the people, but to the witnesses chosen by God in advance.

If Christ is raised from the dead, then death is no longer the end of life. Resurrection proclaims that we shall live forever. This is Jesus’ teaching and He shows us the way.

This Easter morning, as we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection, we proclaim that Resurrection to one another because we are saying to one another: You also can live forever if you believe in Jesus Christ and walk in His way!

Our hearts are filled with joy today. It is not so much the time to focus on how we must live, but a time to focus on the reality that Christ has risen and we also can rise from the dead. Let us rejoice in Him and share that joy with one another. Our sins can all be forgiven and we can live forever. Let us praise our God who has given us His Son to be our Savior. Let us sing “alleluia” today, making joyful noise to our God! Christ is risen!