Recite These Easter Prayers and Blessings to Commemorate the Resurrection (2024)

Christ is Risen: The world below lies desolate

Christ is Risen: The spirits of evil are fallen

Christ is Risen: The angels of God are rejoicing

Christ is Risen: The tombs of the dead are empty

Christ is Risen indeed from the dead, the first of the sleepers, Glory and power are his forever and ever.

—St. Hippolytus of Rome

Lord God,

You loved this world so much,

That you gave your one and only Son,

That we might be called your children too.

Lord, help us to live in the gladness and grace

Of Easter Sunday, everyday.

Let us have hearts of thankfulness

For your sacrifice.

Let us have eyes that look upon

Your grace and rejoice in our salvation.

Help us to walk in that mighty grace

And tell your good news to the world.

All for your glory do we pray, Lord,

Amen.

—Rachel Marie Stone

Creator God and Lord of Life,

You who call forth from the darkness of death all those who love You, we rejoice, on this Easter Sunday, in the resurrection from the dead of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Visit our home and this table with Your bright blessing of peace and life.

We pause in the midst of this prayer to remember all the holy dead of our family who live now in You and who await the final and glorious resurrection of the dead.

May they and we, because of our faith in You, our God, taste in the victory of life over death.

May the Risen Christ, our Lord and Savior, be our guest as we celebrate His resurrection with this Easter Sunday dinner.

Bless those whose work to prepare this meal has truly been a work of prayer, and bless all of us who shall share it with Easter love and joy.

May You, then, bless this table and this food, and each of us in Your holy name.

Amen.

—Edward Hays, Prayers for the Domestic Church

Father, Thank You for the miracle of life—abundant life here, and eternal life with You in Heaven. Help me celebrate that life every day as I seek You and follow Your plan for my life. Today, I say with the Apostle Paul, “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” In Jesus’ name, Amen.

—Mary Southerland

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, by Your radiant and magnificent resurrection, You broke the bonds of death and rose from the grave as a conqueror. You reconciled Heaven and earth. Our life had no hope of eternal happiness before You redeemed us. Your resurrection has washed away our sins, restored our innocence, and brought us joy. How inestimable is the tenderness of Your love!

—Saint Gregory the Great

Father, what grace—grace that has made us who we are in Your eyes through the blood of Your Son.

Father, what grace—to make us Your elect exiles who are born again to a living hope, hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Take us, we pray, all the way home in that hope by Your grace for the glory of Christ.

Amen.

—Kathleen Nielson

Love overcame

Emerging from a cold tomb

All the truth, majesty and creativity of a living God

Transforming a broken heart

Making a quiet return, in a still and sorrowful garden

The grave stone rolled away, to release redemptive love

Jesus resurrected and restored

Comforts a weeping woman

Speaks with travelers on a journey

Meets with his faithful friends

And they bow down before Christ alive

And acknowledged that the savior has arrived

That the word of God has come alive

And that the extraordinary transformation of heaven and earth is complete.

—Julie Palmer

Dear Lord, help me to tell of Your wondrous power and mighty acts to those generations that come after me. May I not let the season pass by without pondering the real meaning of Easter. In Jesus' name, Amen.

—Karen Ehman

Lord Jesus Christ, I rejoice and rejoice continually in Your glorious and triumphant victory over death. For Your victory is my victory. Help me to live by it, in it, and for it. I am grateful to my depths—grateful forever. Amen.

—Selwyn Hughes

Blessed are you, Lord our God, maker of heaven and earth and Father of all your people: we give you glory for your goodness and for your loving care for us.

Bless this food [this bread], and grant that all who eat it may be strong in body and grow in your love. Blessed are you, Lord our God, for ever and ever.

—Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, A Book of Blessings

Dear Lord, may I realize afresh today what Your death and resurrection mean for me. Forgiveness, freedom, and the ability to walk with You through this fallen world into eternity. May I always find my satisfaction in You and Your willingness to offer Yourself to me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

—Rachel Olsen

Lord, death could not hold You. And because of You, the resurrection, we, too, can live. Thank You that the grave is only a journey into the presence of God. You have removed the sting of death and empowered this thing called life. Now I will live in Your presence forever. Amen.

—Rebecca Barlow Jordan

God, we pause with such gratitude for the gift of your undeserved, unfailing, and unfathomable love. Thank you for walking around on this broken, dusty, and trouble-ridden planet for 33 years so that we might believe and have eternal life.

Thank you for communicating your love for us in a way that is so personal, so extravagant, and so gracious. Thank you for dying and then rising from the dead so we could have hope. Thank you for proving that you are real, you are powerful, and that only you give us the power to live our lives well through your incarnation, death, and resurrection.

Thank you for washing away our sins by offering yourself as the perfect and blameless sacrifice in our place. Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for us. We offer our lives as a living sacrifice to you in gratitude for amazing grace. Amen.

—Amanda Idleman

Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, and the strength to complete it.

—New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book

Be present at our table, Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. Thy people bless, and grant that we may feast in paradise with thee. Amen.

—John Wesley

Father, I thank You for the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, it is good news, it is good news. We just take a moment right now to just thank You. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You not only died on the cross for our sins, but You rose again from the dead so that we could have a victorious, overcoming, Christian life here on earth as it is in heaven. Father, let everyone walk in the power of that resurrection truth. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

—Christine Caine

Jesus, this morning, we celebrate the history-altering event of Your resurrection. After dying on the cross for each and every one of us, You were raised to life so that we might be raised to life.

—Sharon Hodde Miller

God, give us eyes to see the beauty of the Spring and to behold Your majesty in every living thing. And may we see in lacy leaves and every budding flower the Hand that rules the universe, with gentleness and power. And may this Easter grandeur, that Spring lavishly imparts, awaken faded flowers of faith lying dormant in our hearts. And give us ears to hear, dear God, the Springtime song of birds with messages more meaningful than man’s often empty words, telling harried human beings who are lost in dark despair — ‘Be like us and do not worry for God has you in His care.’ Amen.

—Helen Steiner Rice

Our Father, we ask that You would help us to take this message of the resurrection to the world, that You would help us to always preach Christ when we preach because the resurrection has shown us that He is the meaning to the Scriptures. We pray that the resurrection would remind us that the truth is the truth whether we like it or not. But most of all, help us to remember that the resurrection shows us that Jesus is the King that our hearts have longed for.

—Timothy Keller

Good and gracious God, our most glorious Creator, as we greet the signs in nature around us, of Spring once again regaling us in bloom, in the songs of returning birds and fields soon to be planted, we give you praise for an even greater sign of new life: the resurrection of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we especially celebrate at this time. The sadness and despair of his death has given way to the bright promise of immortality. For the Resurrection is our guarantee that justice will triumph over treason, light will overcome darkness, and love will conquer death.

We praise you in this Easter season. Change our lives, change our hearts to be messengers of Easter joy and hope. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord forever. Amen.

—Father Larry Snyder