Office Of Readings | Easter Wednesday | A Reading From A Paschal Homily Of An Ancient Author

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Office Of Readings | Easter Wednesday | A Reading From A Paschal Homily Of An Ancient Author

‘Jesus Christ is the author of resurrection and life.’

Jesus Christ | Rising Light Of New Life

A Commentary On The Easter Homily: ‘Christ The Source Of Resurrection And Life’

The Easter season draws us into the heart of the Christian mystery: that through Christ’s death and resurrection, something entirely new has entered the world — not just a promise of hope, but a real, living transformation of humanity. The anonymous homily for Easter Wednesday is steeped in this joy. With deep scriptural echoes and imagery drawn from the early Church’s experience of baptism and rebirth, it offers a vision of the Risen Christ not just as one who was raised, but as the source of resurrection itself.

The New Man And The New Humanity

The homily begins with a clear, Pauline contrast: Adam brought death; Christ brings life. It’s a theme familiar from Paul’s letters, especially Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, but here it’s told not in technical theology but in a kind of joyful proclamation. The first man, Adam, was from the earth — mortal, limited, and broken by sin. But Christ, the second man, is from heaven. In him, human nature is not just repaired but transformed.

We are invited to ‘bear the image of the heavenly man’, which is not merely a matter of moral behavior. It is a change of identity. The old self — bound to the consequences of Adam’s fall — is left behind. In Christ, we are remade in purity, restored in grace, and called to a life that death can no longer touch.

Easter And The Font Of Rebirth

Midway through the homily, the focus shifts from theology to experience — specifically, the experience of baptism, which the early Church always closely connected with Easter. ‘Here are the beginnings of creatures newly formed,’ the preacher proclaims. These are the neophytes, the newly baptized, born from ‘the life-giving font of holy Church.’ There’s something deeply moving about this image: baptism is a rebirth, the Church a mother, and these new Christians emerge like infants, wide-eyed and washed clean.

This moment was central to the Easter celebration in the early Church. New Christians were baptized during the Easter Vigil, clothed in white robes, and received the Eucharist for the first time. The homily describes them as ‘crying out with the evidence of a clean conscience’, suggesting not only the innocence of a child but the bold confidence of one whose guilt has truly been removed.

And it’s not just about individuals. The imagery expands to include the whole Church — ‘chaste fathers and inviolate mothers’ — a spiritual family gathered around these newborn believers, holding candles, singing psalms, and rejoicing beneath ‘the tree of faith’. It’s a liturgical scene, but also a portrait of the Church as it is meant to be: radiant, united, alive.

The Light That Guides

One of the most striking lines of the homily is this: ‘What is this day? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.’ At first, it sounds poetic — but there’s a deep truth beneath the beauty. Christ is not just the one who rose on Easter; he is Easter. He is the new Day that never ends. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ This homily takes that promise seriously. To walk with Christ is to walk in light.

The Church, then, is not just a community that celebrates Easter. It is a people who live in Easter — who live in Christ. The ‘day the Lord has made’ isn’t only April 9th or March 31st or whatever calendar date Easter falls on. It is a spiritual reality that reshapes all time. Every day lived in Christ is Easter.

Christ’s Prayer, Our Hope

The reading closes with the words of Christ’s prayer to the Father from John 17: ‘Father, I desire that where I am, they also may be.’ This is perhaps the most intimate moment in all of Scripture — Jesus, just before his Passion, prays not only for strength, not only for his mission, but for us. He longs for our company. He desires that we would dwell with him, not as distant worshippers, but as those united in love with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.

This is the true goal of the resurrection: not merely that Christ is alive, but that we are drawn into his life. That we might be where he is. That heaven would no longer be a distant dream, but a home already opened, a home where we are expected, and wanted.

Living The Light Of Easter

This homily is more than a sermon; it is a song. It is Easter breaking into words — radiant, hopeful, and filled with joy. It reminds us that in Christ, something entirely new has begun. A humanity weighed down by death has been raised. A Church has been born in light. And a path has been opened to a life that no darkness can overcome.

The question it leaves us with is simple: Are we walking in this light?

If Easter is not just a day, but a Person — then we are invited not just to celebrate, but to live the resurrection.

A Reading From A Paschal Homily Of An Ancient Author

Saint Paul rejoices in the knowledge that spiritual health has been restored to the human race. Just as death entered the world through Adam, so life has been given back to the world through Christ. And again: The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven and is heavenly.

He adds the following: As we have borne the image of the earthly man, (that is, the image of human nature grown old in sin) so let us bear the image of the heavenly man: that is, human nature raised up, redeemed, restored and purified in Christ. We must hold fast to the salvation we have received. As the Apostle himself says: Christ is the beginning (that is, the source of resurrection and life); therefore those who belong to Christ (those who model their lives on his purity) will be secure in the hope of his resurrection and of enjoying with him the glory promised in heaven. As our Lord himself said in the gospel: Whoever follows me will not perish, but will pass from death to life.

Thus the passion of our Saviour is the salvation of mankind. The reason why he desired to die for us was that he wanted us who believe in him to live forever. In the fullness of time it was his will to become what we are, so that we might inherit the eternity he promised and live with him forever.

Here, then, is the grace conferred by these heavenly mysteries, the gift which Easter brings, the most longed-for feast of the year; here are the beginnings of creatures newly formed: children born from the life-giving font of holy Church, born anew with the simplicity of little ones, and crying out with the evidence of a clean conscience. Chaste fathers and inviolate mothers accompany this new family, countless in number, born to new life through faith. As they emerge from the grace-giving womb of the font, a blaze of candles burns brightly beneath the tree of faith. The Easter festival brings the grace of holiness from heaven to men. Through the repeated celebration of the sacred mysteries they receive the spiritual nourishment of the sacraments. Fostered at the very heart of holy Church, the fellowship of one community worships the one God, adoring the triple name of his essential holiness, and together with the prophet sings the psalm which belongs to this yearly festival: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. And what is this day? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the author of light, who brings the sunrise and the beginning of life, saying of himself: I am the light of day; whoever walks in daylight does not stumble. That is to say, whoever follows Christ in all things will come by this path to the throne of eternal light.

Such was the prayer Christ made to the Father while he was still on earth: Father, I desire that where I am they also may be, those who have come to believe in me; and that as you are in me and I in you, so they may abide in us.