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The Easter Cycle
Thursday
“Alleluia. It behooved Christ to suffer . . . and so to enter into His glory” (Alleluia verse). “Christ,
rising again from the dead, dieth now no more; death shall no more have dominion over Him”
(Rom 6:9). Thus the glorified Christ stands before us and prays for us to His Father. “Father,
I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me [as My brethren,
as members of My body], that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me” ( Jn 17:24).
The glory of the risen Christ. Christ gave us a glimpse of His glory through the three apostles
whom He took with Him to Mount Tabor, where “He was transfigured before them. And His
face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as snow” (Mt 17:2). Now, after the
resurrection, the splendor of the victor becomes visible on Tabor. The soul of Jesus, from the
plenitude of the light of divine life with which it is flooded, sheds its heavenly beauty and strength
upon His body also. Even though He was wounded, scourged, spat upon, and mocked, even
though He suffered the pains and tortures of His passion, and was put to death and robbed of
all beauty, yet He now shines with the brilliancy of the sun (gift of clarity). He can no longer
suffer pain or death (gift of impassibility). He has shed all the defects of mortal human nature.
The fulfillment of every wish and command follows the act of the will with the speed of light,
penetrating all things like thought, like a spirit; He is like a spirit, yet possesses a true body (gift
of agility). For the risen Christ, walls, towers, and locks are no longer an obstacle. On Easter
morning the glorified body of Jesus rises from the grave and penetrates the door of the room
where the disciples were gathered with the ease with which light penetrates glass. Such was the
glory of the risen Christ. “Shout with joy to God all the earth, alleluia; sing ye a psalm to His
name, alleluia” (Introit).
The glory of those who rise with Christ. “When Christ shall appear [on the last day], who
is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). Christ is risen, and we,
too, shall one day rise from the dead. We are bound to Him by a most intimate union, for we
have already risen with Him. The beginning of our resurrection is to be found in our baptism,
by which we receive sanctifying grace, and in Holy Communion, by which we receive actual
grace. This is the source of our eventual resurrection. “Who will reform the body of our lowness,
made like to the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is able to
subdue all things unto Himself ” (Phil 3:21). “Then shall the just shine as the sun” (Mt 13:43).
All the noble and holy saints who have ever lived on earth will rise and live again, and they
will be honored and acclaimed in heaven for all eternity. For them there will be no more wailing,
no more sorrow, no more pain. “Behold, I make all things new” (Apoc 21:5; 2 Cor 5:17). This
miserable body which we now have will share in eternal life, in the glory and the immortality of
the resurrection. “It is sown in corruption; it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it
shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness; it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body; it shall
rise a spiritual body. . . . And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass
the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O
death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor 15:42–44, 54 f.)
“A little while” (Gospel). If Christ is risen, then we, too, shall rise. After our residence on earth
for a little while, the life “in My Father’s house” awaits us ( Jn 14:2). That life will not be an
empty existence, a dull, shadowy life such as the pagans considered the afterlife; it will be a life
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