The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part III, Chapter II. The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead
Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus in her arms is a joy that succeeds to an intensity of grief. A moment ago, and she was the Mother of Sorrows, now the first-fruits of the rejoicing of all creation at its restoration to justice are hers. Can she then fail to call to mind the words of consolation addressed in a figure to the holy Job, “Thou shalt forget misery, and remember it only as waters that are passed away, and brightness like that of noonday shall arise to thee in the evening, and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the daystar” (Job xi. 16). “According to the multitude of the sorrows that were in my heart,” exclaims holy David in a figure of Mary, “Thy comforts have given joy to my soul” (Ps. xciii. 19).
If only some such thoughts as these may have passed through the mind of Mary on the morning of the resurrection, can they fail to commend themselves to the heart of the pious Christian who shall stop to contemplate this great mystery of His faith—the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the victory of creation over death!
“Death is swallowed up in victory,” each one who names the name of Christ may now say. And he who had the power of death, to whom all by reason of their fear of death were subject, that is the devil, is now overcome by One stronger than himself. Can any thought be more full of consolation for one who knows that it is appointed to him once to die? The devil, who before this held men subject to him by the fear of death, has, thanks be to God! had this power of the terror of death taken out of his hands. Jesus, by submitting Himself to death, and by rising from the dead, has shown us that death is no longer to be feared. “Glory be to God!” therefore is the Christian’s cry: “The net is broken, and we are delivered” (Ps. cxxiii. 7).
“Thou hast opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” Before this, not the wisest of men knew for certain for what he lived or for what he was required to toil. “Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” said the wisest of men. Now that Jesus is risen, thanks be to God! every Christian knows for what he has to live, to toil, and to suffer. He is seeking a place in the kingdom of heaven, which will be given only to those who, in this present life, fear and love God, and by His grace strive to keep His commandments. In this mystery He learns to know the real prize of His calling, which is to be won by a Christian life and to be lost by an unchristian life.
Mary foresaw in spirit the kingdom of her Son spreading east and west, north and south, over the whole world. The Christian, as St Augustine remarks, since the resurrection of Jesus, sees the fact before his eyes, that the faith of the Church has spread east and west, north and south, over the world, and derives from this the greatest confirmation of his own faith.
When Jesus, in His resurrection from the dead, stood again in the presence of His Blessed Mother, in the midst of her unspeakable joy Mary still looked upon Him with the print of the nails in His hands and feet, and with the wound of the spear in His side; and the Christian also, in the midst of his joy at the victory of Jesus, cannot too often thus contemplate Him. For the life which leads to the earning a seat in the kingdom of heaven is not, and, in the midst of the sin of this present world, cannot, be free from pain and suffering. Hence St Paul earnestly calls every Christian to this frequent contemplation of Jesus: “Let us run,” he says, “by patience the race that is set before us, looking on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth at the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds” (Heb. xii. 3).
The practical fruit of this great Mystery, as St Augustine sets forth at some length, is to teach us to disregard the things of the earth, and to “seek the things which are above.” “Let us hear the Apostle saying to us,” writes St Augustine, ‘If ye are risen again with Christ?’ Ah! what? How comes he to speak to us who are not yet dead of rising again? What could the apostle have meant by the words, ‘If ye are risen again with Christ?’ Could Christ have risen again if He had not died? Yet he is speaking to those who are alive, not to those who were just lately dead, and are now rising again from the dead. What is he bringing us to? Observe carefully what it is that he says: ‘If ye are risen again with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Mind the things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth, for ye are dead’ (Col. iii. 1–4). These are words that the Apostle speaks, and not words of mine, and yet they are true; and therefore I say so also. Why do I say so also? ‘I have believed, and therefore do I speak.’ If we are living well, we have died and have risen again. He who has not as yet died, neither risen again, is living ill, and if he be living ill, he is not living at all. Such a one ought to die that he may escape death. What do you mean by ‘he ought to die, in order that he may escape death?’ I mean, let him change his life that he be not damned. I repeat the words of the Apostle: ‘Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye appear also with Him in glory.’ Such are the words of the Apostle. To him, therefore, who has not yet died, I say, Let him die; and to him who still lives a bad life, I say, Let him change; for if once he lived a bad life, and does so now no longer, then he has died, and if he is now living a good life, he is risen again.
“But what does ‘living a good life’ mean? It means, ‘minding the things that are above, and not the things that are upon the earth/ ‘How long will you be earth, and creep upon the earth? How long will you lick the earth?’ For if you love the earth, be certain that you lick the earth, and you become an enemy of Him of whom the Psalm says, ‘His enemies shall lick the earth’ (Ps. lxxi. 9). What were you formerly? ‘Children of men.’ What are you now? ‘Sons of God.’ ‘O ye children of men, how long will you be so sluggish of heart? Why do ye so love vanity and seek a lie?’ (Ps. iv. 3). What the lie is that you seek I will tell you by and by. You all wish to be happy. I know this very well. Show me the thief, or the evil-doer, the adulterer, the sorcerer, the perpetrator of sacrilege, the wretch stained with every vice, and sunk in every sort of crime and wickedness, who does not wish to be happy. I know very well you all wish to be happy, but what it is that makes a man happy, that you are not willing to seek out and learn. You hunt after gold, because you think gold will make you happy. But gold does not make you happy. Why do you seek after a lie? What is it that makes you desire to raise yourself in the world? Because you think that you will be made happy by the honour of men, and the pomp of the world. But the pomp of the world does not make you happy. Why do you seek after a lie? And whatever else you seek after, as long as you seek after it in a worldly spirit, loving the earth, and licking the earth, you seek after it expecting it to make you happy, but no earthly thing can make you happy. Why, then, do you not give over seeking a lie? Wishing all the while to be happy, you seek those things that are sure to make you miserable. You are deceived in what you seek, for what you seek is a lie.