Prayer and contemplation form the basis of Easter.
The festival denotes the end of Lent, the liturgical season of fasting
and prayer before Easter day. This season extends for forty days and
denotes the time period, when Jesus spent time in the desert. According
to Bible, here he endured temptation from Satan. The purpose behind the
observance of Lent is to make the believer go through prayer,
contrition, almsgiving and abstinence. This indeed prepares him for the
annual celebration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of
Jesus, which finally results in Easter. Some of the prayers recited on
the occasion of Easter are given below.
Catholic Collect for Easter Sunday
God our Father,
By raising Christ your Son
You conquered the power of death
And opened for us the way to eternal life
Let our celebration today raise us up
And renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever
Amen
Eastern Prayer of Christ Resurrected
Christ, rising again from the dead
Dieth now no more:
Death shall no more have dominion over him;
For in that he died, he died once:
But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God,
Alleluia, alleluia.
Let the Jews now tell us,
How the soldiers,
Who guarded the sepulchre,
Lost the King,
Though they had placed a rock over him
Why kept they not the Rock of Justice?
Either let them restore the buried One,
Or adore with us the risen One, saying:
But in that he liveth,
He liveth unto God,
Alleluia, alleluia.
Easter Prayer of Praise
Blessed be the God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ
In His great mercy
He has given us a new birth
To a living hope through the resurrection
Of Jesus Christ from the dead
And to an inheritance
That is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
It is reserved in heaven for you,
Who because of your faith in God
Are being protected by His power
Until the salvation
That is ready to be revealed at the end of time.
