9781644135945

The Easter Cycle
forehead, “yet a little while.” Why do we cling to the things of this earth? Why do we rely on them
so persistently? What peace can we find in them? We are pilgrims on the earth for “a little while.”
He who can grasp this truth understands life. He who heeds this warning of our Lord, need fear
no evil, for he can weather every storm. He is a pilgrim and a stranger, and is left undisturbed
by the uneasy ebb and flow of life. We are “deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known;
as dying, and behold we live; as chastised and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as
needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing and possessing all things” (2 Cor 6:8–10).
Only one thing is permanent, our faith and our hope. “I will see you again, and your heart
shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you” (Gospel). The true Christian, the
Christian who has risen with Christ, lives by faith and in the hope of those things that are to
come. “I believe in life everlasting.”
“But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ. 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
3:20 f.). Our Lord is already preparing Himself for His ascension into heaven. “Let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many
mansions. If not, I would have told you; because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you
also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. . . . I am the way, the truth, and
the life” ( Jn 14:1 ff.). “Heaven and earth shall pass, but My words shall not pass” (Mt 24:35).
“The word of our Lord endureth forever” (Is 40:8).
Our souls must meditate on our heavenly home that they may become strong. Only when
buoyed up by such thoughts will they maintain the proper attitude and become strong enough
to overcome the world, to despise worldly things, and remain true to their ideals. By virtue of
this strength, Christians live for the future. They long for martyrdom, and with St. Paul they
desire “to be dissolved and to be with Christ” (Phil 1:23). They rejoice at the privilege of being
allowed to suffer for their faith. “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be
blessed; for that which is of the honor, glory, and power of God, and that which is of His Spirit,
resteth upon you” (1 Pt 4:14).
“But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore,
I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but as dung that I may gain Christ. . . . That
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
made conformable to His death. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection which is from
the dead. . . . Forgetting the things that are behind and stretching forth myself to those things
that are before, I press towards the mark to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ
Jesus” (Phil 3:7 ff.).
“Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as you have our model. For
many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping) that they are enemies
of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is
in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in heaven” (Phil 3:17–20).
Even St. Paul had to complain of this worldly attitude. What would he say of our disposition?
Let us not be counted among those “whose glory is their shame.”
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