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The Easter Cycle
Now Christ speaks in the Gospel: “A little while, and now you shall not see Me; and again
a little while, and you shall see Me. . . . And you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall
be turned into joy.” By means of the Easter spirit we are consoled in the suffering which results
from our being thus left behind. Having the Easter spirit, we know that there will be an eventual
victory and an eternal resurrection. Through darkness into light! Thus we courageously sing
our Credo and our joyful Offertory song: “Praise the Lord, O my soul.” Eventually we shall see
Him face to face, and we shall possess Him for all eternity.
But even now we behold Him daily for a moment, living among us in a mystical manner. Not
the senses of man, but only the eyes of faith behold the risen Christ living in our midst at the
Consecration. Christ keeps a joyful reunion with us. He gives Himself to us as our offering;
He lives and prays with us; He offers Himself to the Father for us and with us, and we offer
with Him and through Him. He unites us in His unending sacrificial life, lifts us up in His pure
hands, satiates us at Holy Communion with His risen life, and draws our hearts with Him into
heaven. “A little while, and you shall not see Me, alleluia; and again a little while, and you shall see
Me” (Communion). Indeed this is a blessed reunion which we experience in every Mass. And
when the Holy Sacrifice is finished we speak our Deo gratias with hearts filled with gratitude.
We have seen the Lord, alleluia.
Meditation
The liturgy already directs our attention to the ascension of the Lord. Still we are not sad at this
departure of the Master. We have never felt that the earth was our true home, for our true home
is in heaven. “A little while,” and we, too, shall follow Him and there we shall be with Him always.
“A little while, and now you shall not see Me” (Gospel). We are to remain on earth for only
a short time as pilgrims and strangers. Woe to us, if the earth becomes our home! The more
complete our resurrection with Christ, the more we shall find that all our desires are on “the
things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1); they are fixed
on that which is eternal, on our heavenly home. The life which we received from Christ through
baptism, penance, and the reception of Holy Communion, requires that we reject firmly but
gladly all the pleasures, joys, and riches of the world. It requires of us a life of mortification and
renunciation, a continual battle against flesh and blood, against the movements and desires of
our fallen nature. It requires that we be continually crucified with Christ by sharing His poverty,
His humiliations, and His sufferings. The man who is truly risen with Christ will no longer be
understood by the world. His manner of acting, his deeds, his speech, will be misunderstood.
Yes, even God Himself has prepared for him humiliations, misunderstandings, sufferings, dryness,
bitterness, and sickness. Those who live with Christ find this world an unfriendly place;
whereas those who never pray, who pay no heed to God or the Church, often acquire much
of this world’s goods. Such men laugh and enjoy life. But the Lord reassures us, “a little while.”
“And again a little while, and you shall see me.” Easter and our resurrection with Christ
are merely the introduction to our eventual ascension with Him. After our resurrection with
Christ we shall return to Him in heaven, and there we shall see Him and share His life and His
inheritance. “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy. . . . You now indeed have sorrow; but I will
see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you.” Only a
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