The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part III, Chapter II. The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead
The Holy Scripture Narrative
“And in the end of the Sabbath, when it began to dawn, towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men. And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye His disciples that He is risen: and behold He will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him. Lo, I have foretold it to you” (Matt. xxviii.)
“But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thee? whom seekest thou? She, thinking that it was the gardener, saith to Him: Sir, if thou hast taken Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus saith to her: Mary.
She turning, saith to Him: Rabboni (which is to say, Master). Jesus saith to her: Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father, and to your Father, to My God and your God” (St John xx.)
The angel of the Lord has descended from heaven, the stone has been rolled away from the sepulchre, the soldiers of the watch are fallen to the ground, and are become as dead men for fear. And thus the great mystery of our salvation is accomplished. Jesus rises again from THE DEAD.
“Oh, how great troubles hast Thou showed Me,” says David, in a figure of Christ, 44 many and grievous, and turning Thou hast brought Me to life, and hast brought Me back again from the depths of the earth” (Ps. lxx. 20).
It is the constant tradition of the Church, that before Jesus is seen by any other human eye, after His resurrection from the dead, He goes first of all to console His Blessed Mother. Thus St Ignatius Loyola writes in his “Spiritual Exercises,” “That there can be no doubt but that the Lord after His resurrection first appeared to His Mother, as the Scripture says that He appeared to many. Although it does not mention her by name, it leaves the fact nevertheless to us for certain, as being supposed to have a right understanding, lest, otherwise, we should justly hear it said, ‘Are ye also without understanding?’” (Spiritual Exercises).
The Patriarch of Nicomedia adds the following reason why the Blessed Virgin is never adduced by the holy Apostles as a witness of the resurrection:—“For although,” he says, “they were informed by her of the fact of His resurrection with so much greater certainty than by the other holy women who carried ointments to the tomb, they notwithstanding never make any mention of her when they are speaking of the resurrection, and in so doing they act with a very wise and becoming prudence, doubtless under the direction of the Holy Spirit. For had they brought a person forward as a witness of the resurrection who might be supposed to have had the motive of seeking her own glory, they would have incurred the blame of throwing a suspicion on the truth of the fact, justly calculated to discredit it with unbelievers. On this account, they omit all mention, and observe a very proper silence respecting the Blessed Virgin in connection with her Son’s resurrection” (George, Patriarch of Nicomedia, Sermon on the Resurrection).
How gloriously then are the holy David’s inspired words now fulfilled to this most sorrowing of mothers: “Sorrow may endure for a season, but joy cometh in the morning.” Her lost son, Jesus, as this Mystery shows us, is once more embraced in the arms of His Mother Mary. “Death hath no more dominion over Him.” What the thoughts were which passed through the mind of the Blessed Virgin Mother at this august moment of her joy and triumph, can never be fully known to us; but there will be no presumption in our attempting to form for ourselves some faint picture of what they may have been, when we remember that, by the precious grace of our adoption as children of God, Mary is become our mother, and that we have consequently a full right and title to share in her joy in the Resurrection of Jesus.
Mary has, then, as we learned from the Fourth Joyful Mystery, given her unreserved assent as Mother, to her Divine Son’s submitting to the death of the Cross. She knew that the ransom of the world depended on the consummation of His most precious sacrifice, and as Mother, she has allowed the offering up of the sacrifice of Her Son. Mary thus became a participant as Mother in the work of redemption; and as the Eternal Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son for the life of the world, so the daughter of Eve, the earthly parent, has also ratified the decree of the Eternal Father, by her maternal assent to the consummation of the sacrifice.
In the same manner, then, that Mary fully knew the value of that which was to be effected by the sacrifice of Jesus upon the Cross, so the full value of that which is now accomplished by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead will be equally present to her mind; and as she clasps Jesus in her arms, she doubtless exclaims in spirit with the Apostle, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, the First-fruits of them that sleep. For as by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection from the dead: and as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. xv. 20). Again, as Mary hears the familiar voice of her beloved Son telling her of His victory over death, can she fail to rejoice over the downfall of the power of Satan over men, which he exercised over them through their fear of death, and to exclaim with the Apostle, “Now is death swallowed up in victory. O death! where is now thy sting? O grave! where is now thy victory?” (1 Cor. xv.)
As Mary contemplates the kingdom of heaven, now from henceforward open to all believers, will she not say to herself, in the words of Josue, “Now you know with all your mind, that of all the words the Lord promised to perform for you, not one hath failed” (Jos. xxiii. 14).
As Mary foresees in spirit how the word of her Divine Son is soon to go forth from Jerusalem to “cover the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea,” the words of the holy Archangel cannot fail to return to her memory, in which he said to her, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
“In Thy resurrection, O Lord,” sings the Church, “the heavens and the earth rejoice.” Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus again in her arms is the first-fruits of the universal rejoicing of all creation in the resurrection of God its Redeemer from the dead. “Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, saith the Lord, and the former things shall not be in remembrance” (Isa. lxv. 17). The earth has been sprinkled with the blood of the Just One, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. And Mary rejoices to see in spirit the fulfilment of His promise, “If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand” (Isa. liii. 10). In the glorified presence of her Divine Son, she has an earnest of the fulfilment of these words, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I make to stand before Me,” saith the Lord, “so shall your seed stand before Me, and your name” (Isa. lxvi. 22).