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New Life, In the Holy Spirit
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Readings for Daily Masses During the Season of Easter
While Easter Sunday may be the most important day of the Church year, we celebrate the seven days that follow as if they were still Easter Sunday. The season of Easter continues for a “week of Sundays,” a full seven weeks, ending with Pentecost.
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Easter Week: Christ's Reconciling Love
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There are only a few stories in the gospels that take place after the disciples discover the empty tomb. We hear most of them during Easter week. Matthew 28:8 - 15 and John 20:11 - 18 recount Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene. Luke 24:13 - 35 tells of Jesus’ walk with two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and Luke 24:35 - 48 tells of Jesus’ appearance to the apostles in the Upper Room. John 21:1 - 14 recounts Jesus’ meal with seven disciples some weeks later on the Sea of Galilee. Mark 16:9 - 15 is a brief synopsis of three of the encounters relayed in more detail in the other gospels.
The Easter appearances of Jesus have a different character than the rest of the gospels because the focus has shifted from the actions of Jesus to the reactions of the disciples. Now that Jesus has completed his ministry of teaching, dying, and resurrection, how are we to live our lives as his followers? Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S. suggests that the best frame for interpreting these encounters is the spirituality of reconciliation. Jesus Christ came to reconcile the world to the Father’s original purpose. How Jesus interacts with his disciples—especially the apostles who abandoned him in his hour of need—indicates how we are to build God’s kingdom as we await the second coming of Christ.
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Gospel Readings in Weeks 2-7: Gospel of John
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After the first week of Easter, we return to the Gospel of John. Whereas in the second half of Lent, we heard the passages in the Book of Signs where Jesus was in conflict with the religious leaders, we now hear primarily from Jesus’ extended discourses in chapters 3, 6, 10, 14 - 16, 17, and 21. Because each is spread out over multiple days in the lectionary—with Jesus’ speeches on Holy Thursday spread over three weeks—we encourage taking time during the Easter season to read each discourse in one sitting.
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First Readings: The Acts of the Apostles
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Over the seven weeks of Easter, we proceed chronologically through the Acts of the Apostles. As the introductions to the Gospel of Luke (1:1 - 4) and the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1 - 5) make clear, St. Luke wrote Acts as the second volume of his two-part history of the origin of Christianity. A close study of Luke and Acts reveals many parallels between the two books. For example, compare and contrast the call of Peter (Luke 5:1 - 11) to the conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1 - 19).
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The most important event in the Acts of the Apostles is Pentecost, in chapter 2. Even though the lectionary delays the recounting of Acts 2:1 - 11 until the final Sunday of the Easter season, all of Acts must be understood through this event. Whereas the gospel depicts Jesus as the only one able to perform miracles and speak with authority, Luke now presents the apostles and other disciples as able to similarly heal and preach by invoking the name of Jesus and receiving the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As the Acts of the Apostles proceeds, we hear less about Jesus Christ and more about the Holy Spirit. Many people have suggested this book could accurately be named “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.”
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The Narrative Structure of Acts
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One way to understand the structure of Acts is to take Jesus’ words to his disciples in 1:8 as its organizing principle: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
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Chapter 1 tells of the disciples waiting for the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost, in chapter 2.
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Chapters 3 - 7 tell of the disciples’ witness in Jerusalem: Peter and John run into trouble with religious officials after healing a disabled man in Jesus’ name, the community of disciples grows and begins to appoint deacons to help care for those in need, and Stephen becomes the first martyr.
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In chapters 8 - 11, the disciples’ witness expands to Judea and Samaria. Philip preaches, Saul has a conversion to the faith, and Peter baptizes the first Gentiles into the faith after receiving a vision.
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Most of chapters 12 - 20 recount Paul’s extensive travels throughout Asia Minor and Greece to bring people to the faith and to establish local churches in major cities throughout the Roman Empire.
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In chapter 21, Paul returns to Jerusalem where he is quickly arrested by religious authorities.
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Throughout chapter 21 - 28, Paul has many opportunities to bear witness to Jesus Christ as he is moved inexorably by the authorities towards his goal of giving a final witness in Rome.
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Acts is the only book of the Bible covering the first 20 years of Christian history. We believe that Jesus’ Ascension occurred around the year 30 AD and that the first book in the New Testament (1 Thessalonians) was written circa 51 AD. Therefore, the speeches attributed to Peter, Stephen, and Paul are the earliest records of the preaching of the gospel. The three interpret the life of Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and Israel, as foretold by the prophets in Scripture.
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It's worth noting that Luke recounts events previously narrated, emphasizing their importance. Luke narrates Saul’s conversion in 9:1 - 19, but Saul (now named Paul) retells it himself both in his testimony at the time of his arrest in Jerusalem (22:6 - 16) and during his appeal to King Herod Agrippa (26:12 - 18). Luke tells of Peter’s vision regarding the universal nature of the Church and his subsequent baptizing of the gentile Cornelius in 10:9 - 49, but Peter explains everything again to the disciples in 11:1 - 18.
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Novena Before Pentecost: Come, Holy Spirit!
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The Christian tradition of praying novenas – prayers on nine consecutive days – came from the disciples’ prayers for the nine days between the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. (The Feast of the Ascension is traditionally celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, but the majority of dioceses in the US have transferred the celebration to the 7th Sunday of Easter.) In 2019, the Paulist Fathers and Paulist Associates created a novena to the Holy Spirit based on the writings of St. Paul and Paulist founder Servant of God Isaac Hecker. We highly recommend praying this novena! Click here to download a PDF version.
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Throughout the Easter season, the response to the first reading is always from the Book of Psalms.
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