Easter Sunday 2025
Easter Sunday Mass includes a “Sequence” which is a poetic text that takes place just before the Gospel Acclamation. This Sequence (written out above) continues to break open the mystery and glory of Easter morning. The language used in the Sequence is so striking. Phrases like “combat stupendous” and “bright angels attesting” and “victor King” aren’t used in our everyday language, which sort of forces us to stop in our tracks when we hear them. The words draw you into the gravity of the event. What happened on Holy Saturday was not just a normal night. It was not a normal death. It was a night where “death and life… contented” and Christ won victory for us. Mary, the angels, the clothes left in the tomb all speak of this reality. Christ has not just risen from the dead, He has conquered death.
And what does this mean for us, then, if we have been given new life? Don’t we all long to be a part of a great and epic story? Today, Christ sets the stage for something greater than we could have ever imagined. The possibility of life eternal compels us to live our lives so that we might be with Christ forever. Christ’s resurrection does not pave a path for a comfortable, easy life. Trials and tribulations and suffering are ever present in this world and in our life. As we face these things, it is important to know that they are a part of what makes our life epic. There is drama and the glory for resurrection because of them. With Christ, we can face these things knowing that they do not have the last say. Christ is the victor King who reigns forever. We are not held to the confines and rules of this life any longer. There will be victory and resurrection in each of our lives because Christ won the battle once and for all!
As we sit in the glory of the resurrection today, your mind may still be filled with the places of suffering and death in your own life. During this Easter season, take some time to be with the Lord in those places. Bring them to Him in prayer and ask Him to bring life and glory to those places. And if it is not evident right away, have confidence that He is working and is still the “victor King, ever reigning” even when we cannot see the victory.
— Tara Harvey and Rebekah Crowley, Assistant Directors in Big Sandy