Easter Day surely requires little comment. Music that echoes the triumph of the Resurrection fills all Christian churches, and joyful Alleluias are heard once more.
The American book contains an alternative collect, epistle and gospel to be used when there is more than one Communion service on Easter Day.
The Monday and Tuesday after Easter are Holy Days for which epistles and gospels are provided. The American book provides collects for these days also. The collect for Easter Day serves for the entire week in the English and Canadian churches, and is used as an additional collect on Monday and Tuesday in the American church.
The Easter season lasts for five weeks, and seasonal music may be sung throughout. In a sense, every Sunday is a commemoration of Easter, and it is always appropriate to sing hymns that bring to mind the Resurrection. However, many prefer to reserve hymns linking the words "resurrection" and "today" (such as "Christ the Lord is Risen Today") for use on Easter Day only. This restriction, if observed, does not result in any scarcity of suitable music for Sundays after Easter.
Opportunities may be found for using hymns that mention post-Resurrection incidents which form the subjects of gospels and lessons. For instance, the lectionaries of all three Prayer Books appoint the latter part of the twentieth chapter of St. John, which tells of the doubt and reassurance of Thomas, as the second lesson at Evening Prayer on the First Sunday after Easter. No more appropriate hymn could be found than "O sons and daughters, let us sing!" which re-tells the whole story and thus impresses it more deeply on the minds of the people. The hymn for St. Thomas' Day will serve the same purpose.
The story of the walk to Emmaus, which is read in the American church on Easter Sunday evening, and in the Canadian church on the morning of the First Sunday after Easter, is another for which suitable hymns may be found. Such opportunities for harmonizing various parts of the service abound for the choirmaster who will take care in choosing his hymns.
On the Second Sunday after Easter it is customary to use some hymns, and perhaps an anthem, whose subject is Christ the Good Shepherd, that being the theme of the gospel.
The Fifth Sunday after Easter is called Rogation Sunday, and the tree days following are Rogation Days. At this time the church asks God's blessing on the seeding, and intercessions are made for the general prosperity and welfare of the nation. In the Canadian and American books are found a collect, epistle and gospel for the Rogation Days: in the English church, the collect, epistle and gospel for the Fifth Sunday after Easter are used.