9781644135945

The Light of the World
to suffer with Christ], being made conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain
to the resurrection which is from the dead” (Phil 3:8–11)?
“Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, alleluia; death shall no more
have dominion over Him, alleluia, alleluia” (Communion). In the mind of the liturgy, the
mystical Christ, the Church, now dies no more. To be a good Christian, to receive Holy
Communion worthily and frequently, implies the complete separation from sin. This idea
is impressed upon us by the Easter liturgy. “If you be risen with Christ [through baptism],
seek the things that are above. . . . You are dead [to sin], and your life is hid with Christ in
God” (Col 3:1 ff.; Epistle of Holy Saturday). “Purge out the old leaven that you may be a
new paste. . . . Let us feast . . . with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7
f.; Epistle of Easter Sunday).
Prayer
O God, who dost gladden us with the yearly solemnity of the Lord’s resurrection, grant in Thy
loving kindness that through the temporal feast which we keep we may be worthy to reach
eternal joys. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thursday
Eight days ago the penitents received absolution and were readmitted to communion with the
Church. This reconciliation took place in the church of the Twelve Apostles. In this same church
we gather every ember Friday to weep over our sins with Magdalen, the penitent. The church
of the Twelve Apostles has a close relationship with St. Mary Magdalen, for at the tomb of the
risen Savior, Mary was made an apostle: “Go to My brethren [the apostles] and say to them:
I ascend to My Father and to your Father.” The liturgy lingers about the tomb today with the
penitent Magdalen, to whom Christ first appeared after appearing to His mother. At Mass the
Lord comes to us as He came to Mary at the tomb.
“Mary stood at the sepulcher without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down
and looked into the sepulcher; and she saw two angels in white. . . . They said 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” (Gospel). St. Gregory thus comments
on this touching incident:
Mary Magdalen, who had been a sinner in the city, by loving the Truth washed away
the stains of her crime with her tears. . . . “Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved
much” (Lk 7:47). She who formerly had remained cold in her sin, afterwards became fervent
with holy love. . . . Of the disciples [who had come to the tomb] it is written: “The disciples
therefore departed again to their home” ( Jn 20:10). And then is added: “But Mary stood
at the sepulcher without, weeping.” What a great love glows in the heart of this woman,
who did not leave the tomb even though the disciples left! . . . She sought Him in tears,
and inflamed with the fire of love, she burned with yearning for Him whom she thought
had been taken away. Thus it happened that she alone then saw Him, she who alone had
remained to seek Him.
314