The Church treats the week after Easter (the Octave) as one continuous celebration of the Feast. The Gospel for each day tells a Resurrection story. The daily First Reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles. (Actually the entire 50 days of Easter features the Acts.) The initial sermon given by St. Peter on the first Pentecost explains why: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.” “By the set plan and foreknowledge of God” the only way that the Good News would become known was by those who experienced it telling others about it. We have no direct access to Jesus — only the witness of those whom he touched. As then, so now. God counts on us to be witnesses of Faith.
