9781644135945

The Easter Cycle
descended into the baptismal water, were submerged three times, and received the sacrament of
baptism from the hands of the bishop. With Christ they had descended into the tomb (the baptismal
water) and had obtained new life. They were now Christians, new men with a new faith, a
new plan of life, and new ideals. They now had a new spirit and had obtained a new strength, for
they had been reborn of the Holy Ghost. In their garments of light, their new, white baptismal
robes, the catechumens participated in the Mass of the faithful and received Holy Communion
for the first time. This is Easter, a time of resurrection, an experience of eternal importance.
Today we are assembled in the church of St. Mary Major, the church of the Mother of God,
in which the Christmas mysteries were celebrated. On Christmas we celebrated the birth of
Christ; now we celebrate His resurrection, which for the early Christians was the rebirth of
Christ. Two thoughts dominate the text of the Mass today: Christ’s resurrection, and Christ,
the Easter Lamb; in the background is the thought of baptism. The paschal lamb of the people
of Israel found its fulfillment in the sacrifice of Christ. This celebration recalls the redemption of
the people from the slavery of Pharao (Satan), their deliverance from destruction in the passage
through the Red Sea (baptism), and their entrance into the Holy Land (the Church, heaven,
eternal life). In Him who rose from the dead we have the lamb that was slaughtered and at the
same time gives life, redemption, deliverance, eternal life.
With the banner of victory in His hand, the risen Christ presents Himself to His Father in
the Introit: “I rose up and am still with Thee.” You laid your hand upon Me to strike Me with
suffering and death, but You also helped Me, protected Me, and delivered Me. In Your divine
wisdom You led Me through night to light, through death to life. The Church prays these words
with Christ: “I rose up and am still with Thee”; that is, the Church rose through the death of
Christ from the night of sin and was freed from the power of Satan. “I am still with Thee”; that
is, I possess eternal life since I am united to Christ. “Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me”; You
still lay Your hand heavily on me, striking me with tribulation while protecting me and guarding
me. Thy hand still leads me, the Church, through death to life, to victory over sin, the world,
and death. In the Kyrie we beg for this Easter grace, for this new life, that it may flow out to all
the children of the Church. “Lord have mercy on us.”
Easter means new life. Before an Israelite could eat the paschal lamb, he had to rid his
house of all leaven. The Apostle concluded that only he may eat the paschal lamb of the
Christians who has put off the old man (Epistle). He must become a new man who feasts
“with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Only if he has overcome the darkness of
sin can he gaze on the glory of the risen Christ, who appears in our midst in the celebration
of the Mass. As Magdalen found Him in the garden on Easter morning, so we find Him this
morning in the house of God. Here on our altar He becomes our paschal lamb. We take Him
into our hands and offer Him to the Father as our Easter gift, “a pure, holy, and unspotted host.”
But we know that this gift of ours, pure and holy as it is, can profit us only if we are united to
it spiritually; that is, only in so far as we share in the life of the risen Christ, having overcome
sin, the world, and the devil.
Easter reminds us not only of the paschal lamb, but also of our baptism. It commemorates
not only something that happened to Christ, but also something very important that happened
to us. By baptism we obtained a new life, the life Christ merited for us by His death; and we
nourish it by the reception of Holy Communion. We are no longer what we were yesterday.
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