“Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum) and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter,” according to The Catholic Encyclopedia.

As Pope Benedict said at the 2011 Easter vigil, “Thanks to the risen Lord, it is definitively established that reason is stronger than unreason; truth stronger than lies; love stronger than death.”

Or as St. John Chrysostom proclaimed in his Easter sermon: “Christ is risen, and you, o death, are annihilated! Christ is risen, and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life is liberated! Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ, having risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen!”

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