Gospel Acclamation: Easter Sunday

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; let us then feast with joy in the Lord.

Christ, the Lamb of God, has indeed been sacrificed. He has died for our sins, going to the cross out of unimaginable love for us. He willingly suffered and laid down His life for us, sinners that we are, that we might receive sanctifying grace, the indwelling presence of God in our souls, and eternal life in Heaven with Him.

Like the blood of original Paschal lamb, Christ's blood has been poured out for us that we might live. Only we do not just escape physical death like the Israelites of old. We escape spiritual death, eternal death, separation from God. The Paschal lamb is a type, a foreshadowing, of Christ, but Christ is the fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams, God-made-Man Who dies for us.

Unlike the little white, fluffy animals the Israelites sacrificed, though, Jesus Christ, God-made-Man rises from the dead, conquering death. Death cannot hold Him, and this is what we celebrate at Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus, our Lamb Who lives again to intercede for us eternally.

The Passover of the Israelites was not complete unless the people ate the lamb. This was symbolic of receiving life and entering into communion. We, too, must eat our Lamb, Jesus Christ, and we do so in the Eucharist. Jesus gives Himself to us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We eat our Lamb, coming into communion with Him and through Him with each other and receiving an outpouring of divine life, not symbolically but really and truly.

So let us feast with joy in the Lord, for our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed for us and has risen again to bring us to new life with Him.