Traditional Catholic Teaching

EASTER SUNDAY

"He is risen, He is not here. Mark 16:1-7 .

Not only to the pious women who went out to embalm the body of Jesus, but also to us and to the whole world did the angel beside the empty tomb announce tidings of the utmost joy: "He is risen, He is not here." These words are in perfect harmony with those sung by the angels at our Lord's birth : "Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." By His resurrection Jesus proved that it was really He, who, for God's honour and peace amongst men, had offered on the Cross the great sacrifice of atonement, that He was indeed the Redeemer. His resurrection was the seal of our redemption, and therefore Easter is the great festival when we give thanks for all the graces and benefits that we owe to it. "With Him is plentiful redemption"; these words in the psalm are true today of our Lord. When He rose, He showed that death had no power over Him; His resurrection was a triumph over death. Death had come into the world through the devil's malice, because men by sin had put themselves in the power of the evil one; and Jesus, by conquering death, conquered also the devil, who had power over it, and thus by His death He really delivered us from the power of the devil and from the dominion of sin. As St. Paul says, He blotted out the handwriting of the decree against us, fastening it to the Cross (Cf. Col. 2:4). In His own Blood He washed away our sins, and He suffered both for our sins and for those of the whole world.

Through our Lord's infinite merits, men are now again admitted to be friends and children of God, and to heaven. Hence the angel's words: "He is risen" remind us that we ought not to let His resurrection be in vain, as far as we are concerned, but we must take part in Hlis redemption, and lead good lives in future, after cleansing our souls from sin by penance. In this way only shall we show true gratitude to Jesus for His resurrection, and in this way only will it be really Easter, not only in the Church, but also in our hearts.

Jesus, having conquered death and the devil, through His infinite merits has power to help us in our long struggle against sin and evil.

In thought stand by the empty tomb whenever the tempter whispers to you : "It is too hard for weak mortals to avoid this or that sin." Your Saviour, who once lay in the tomb, is with you, if you earnestly desire it, and ready to give you strength. Nothing that He asks can be too hard for those whom He redeemed, since He died in order to obtain for them the powerful assistance of God.

A pagan may say it is too hard to do right, because his religion gives him no help ; an unbeliever may say it is too hard, because his intellect, though he may value it very highly, is unable to withstand the fury of his passions; but a Christian cannot say it is too hard, when he is called upon to obey Christ's commandments with his redeemer's help.

Ask all the saints, who relied so firmly upon their riser Saviour, what would have been too hard for them. The world is amazed at their virtues, which in a heathen age would have been deemed unattainable; they accomplished what appeared to be far beyond the power of mankind, and led an angelic life in their Saviour's strength.

We are told that our Lord's tomb was in a garden, and from the moment when it was opened, blossoms and fruits, virtues and good works, such as had never been seen before, have abounded on earth. Christ has redeemed us, too; let us, too, be willing to be guided by His grace; let us thankfully, by His assistance, practise virtue and good works, and not surrender to cowardice, luke warmness and indolence under the pretext that what He requires is too hard. He has risen and redeemed us; He has proved by His resurrection that His doctrine is true, for again and again He foretold to His disciples that He would rise again, but they did not understand Him, for His words were hard to comprehend. Therefore, He proved that the hardest doctrine which He ever taught was true, thus proving the truth of all the rest. Like a bright light this doctrine flashes forth over the whole world from the tomb of our risen Lord, and what was its effect? It swept away all the superstitions of idolatry, all the horrors by means of which men thought to honour their false gods; Christ's teaching was for all mankind; it was riot restricted to a few favoured individuals; even a very ignorant Catholic knows more about God and our salvation than hundreds of learned men would have known in pagan times. The life of whole nations is permeated by the doctrines of Christianity, their moral standard has been raised, their modes of thought changed, and their ideas and actions sanctified. So deep was the impression made upon the whole of civilized existence by the doctrines of our own risen Lord, that at the present time those who in their ingratitude refuse to believe in Him are nevertheless, without being aware of it, influenced by His Spirit. Whatever good they do, or teach, is due to Christianity, without which they would never have known many truths that they regard as matters of intellect.

Let us thank our risen Saviour for His teaching and for the precious gift of redemption. Let us beware of trying to bring His doctrines into agreement with our passions, or to interpret them according to our perverse minds; what He taught, we will believe, now and for ever, and thus we shall reach heaven, our final goal.

Jesus is risen, He has redeemed us, and so we are destined for heaven. What encouragement does this truth contain ! Without it life would, indeed, be cold and hopeless. Without redemption we should not know why we were sent into this world to undergo so many troubles during our short span of life, nor why we should be encompassed on all sides with sorrows. Life has no meaning for one who does not believe in the redemption, but in its light life appears full of significance and importance. In the light of the redemption we see that life is the narrow way, often painful and perplexing, leading up to heaven, if we are guided by the hand of our risen Saviour. We were created not for this brief life on earth, but for eternity, to which we may attain through Jesus Christ. Let us therefore thank Him to-day for all the graces of redemption, that He ratified by His Resurrection. Let us avoid sin, resolving firmly to do what is right and faithfully to follow out His teaching. Let us live, not for earth, but for heaven. This should be our thankoffering to Him to-day on the feast of His Resurrection, our thankoffering for His abundant redemption. Amen.