Too often, we get excited about things, and then they come and go. What we need to do is to tear down some walls, so that that influx of grace that comes with this wonderful season of Easter, with these facts from over 2000 years ago—He is risen from the dead, the gates of Heaven are open, we have the Church—actually change our lives. It is not for us to be merely spectators in salvation history. Christ died to take away all the debt that we owe for all of our sins. Things are fundamentally changed. We need to remember this and live as though we believe that they are.

Before all else, the risen Christ offers the homage of His gratitude to His Father in heaven (Introit). In her turn the Church gives thanks to God inasmuch by the victory of His Son, He has reopened the way to Heaven, and implores Him to assist us that we may attain this our final goal (Collect). For this, Saint Paul tells us, just as the Jews eat the Paschal Lamb with unleavened bread, so we must feast on the Lamb of God, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (Epistle and Communion), that is free from the leaven of sin. In the Gospel and the Offertory we read of the coming of the holy women to the sepulcher to embalm our Lord. They find an empty tomb but an angel proclaims to them the great mystery of the resurrection.