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The Light of the World
that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise again. He hands us the fish and the bread of
Holy Eucharist. In the reception of Holy Communion He fills us with His spirit and His life.
We have risen with Him, and now we seek the things that are above, where He sits at the right
hand of God. We think now of the things that are above, not of worldly things (Communion).
“Lift up your hearts.” Christ, the risen Christ, must dominate our thoughts, as He dominated
the thoughts of the apostles in the supper room.
“See My hands and My feet.” The Mass which we are attending is the repetition of His
sacrifice on Calvary. When He comes to us at the Consecration of the Mass, He shows
us His hands and His feet. Christ glorified suffering. For this reason He will bear His
glorified wounds for all eternity. They will remind us that He has redeemed us from pain.
Easter proclaims to the world: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory to come” (Rom 8:18). The Easter joy causes the Christian to forget that
He has carried the cross, for he knows that he has been redeemed. Christ was “obedient
unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him
and hath given Him a name which is above all names” (Phil 2:8 f.). “See My hands and
My feet,” and know that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that awaits us. “See My hands and My feet,” and know that the chalice of suffering
is the chalice of salvation.
Christ is indeed risen. Our faith, then, is certain. We are redeemed. In Him we have the pardon
of our sins. He has won for us the grace of becoming the children of God and heirs to
the kingdom of heaven. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad
therein. Let them now speak that have been redeemed by the Lord” (Gradual).
The words of the Introit are true of us: “He gave them the water of wisdom [baptismal
grace] to drink; it shall be made strong in them [confirmation], . . . and it shall exalt them forever.”
This grace is the result of the death and resurrection of Christ, for which we offer Him
our thanksgiving today. “Give glory to the Lord, and call upon His name; declare His deeds
among the nations” (Introit). “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High gave His
voice; and the fountains of waters appeared, alleluia” (Offertory).
Prayer
O God, who dost continually enrich Thy Church with new offspring, grant to Thy people
that they may by their good life hold fast to the sacrament which they have received by faith.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday
l. The liturgy today recalls the third appearance of Christ after His Resurrection, when we gather
with the neophytes in the church of St. Lawrence.
“Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from
the foundation of the world, alleluia” (Introit). With these words the Lord receives the
newly baptized Christians as they present themselves at the threshold of the church of St.
Lawrence. “Receive the kingdom” by reason of your membership in the Church, which
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