Today – and for the next seven days – we celebrate the completion of Christ's saving work. His birth, His early life, His three years of ministry, His passion and death have all come to this; His resurrection.
What we celebrate isn't simply a reversal of fortune for one man – it is the new life that each one of us is offered, even now before death. Each of us is offered freedom from the bondage of sin right now, and eternal life to come.
The Easter celebration is the climax of the liturgical year. As the Eucharist, the high point of our week, strengthens us for the week, so Easter strengthens us each year. But it's not automatic! For our part, we benefit inasmuch as we enter into and take part in the gift. May we take to heart the wounds of the solemn blessing at the end of our Easter Mass.
Prayer of Solemn Blessing for Easter:
May Almighty God bless you through today's Easter Solemnity and, in his compassion, defend you from every assault of sin.
R. Amen
And may he, who restores you to eaternal life in the resurrection of his Only Begotten, endow you with the prize of immortality.
R. Amen
Now that the days of the Lord's Passion have drawn to a close, may you who celebrate the gladness of the Paschal feast come with Christ's help, and exulting in spirit, to those feasts that are celebrated in eternal joy.