2 APRIL – EASTER TUESDAY

Prosper Gueranger:

Our Pasch is the Lamb, and we meditated on the mystery yesterday. Now let us attentively consider those words of Sacred Scripture, where, speaking of the Pasch, it says: “It is the Phase, that is, the Passage of the Lord.” God Himself adds these words: “I will Pass through the Land of Egypt that night, and will kill every first-horn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments” (Exodus xii. 11). So that the Pasch is a day of judgment, a day of terrible justice upon the enemies of God. But for that very reason it is a day of deliverance for Israel. The Lamb is slain, but his immolation is the signal of redemption to the holy people of the Lord.

The people of Israel are slaves to the cruel Pharaoh. Their bondage is the heaviest that can be. Their male-children are to be put to death. The race of Abraham, on which repose the promises of the world’s salvation, is doomed. It is time for God to interpose: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he whom none can resist, must show himself. But in this the Israelites are a type of another and a far more numerous people — the whole human race, and it is the slave of Satan, a tyrant worse than Pharaoh. Its bondage is at its height. It is debased by the vilest idolatry. It has made every base thing its god, and the God that made all things is ignored or blasphemed. With a few rare exceptions out of each generation, men are the victims of hell. Has God’s creation of Man, then, been a failure? Not so. The time is come for Him to show the might of His arm: He will pass over the earth and save mankind. Jesus, the true Israelite, the true man come down from heaven. He too is made a captive. His enemies have prevailed against Him, and His bleeding lifeless body has been hid in the tomb. The murderers of the Just One have even fixed a seal on the sepulchre and set a guard to watch it. Here again, the Lord must pass and confound His enemies by His triumphant passage.

In that Egypt of old each Israelite family was commanded to slay and eat the Paschal Lamb. Then, at midnight, the Lord passed as He had promised, over this land of bondage and crime. The Destroying Angel followed, slaying with his sword the first-born of the Egyptians, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the first-horn of the captive woman that was in prison, and all the first-horn of the cattle (Exodus xii. 29). A cry of mourning resounded through Mesraim: but God is just, and His people was made free!

The same victory was gained in the Resurrection, which now gladdens us. The midnight was over, and the last shades of darkness were fleeing from before the rising light: it was then that our Lord passed through the sealed stone of His tomb, unperceived by His guards. His resurrection was a stroke of death to His first-born people who had refused to receive Him as their Messiah, or know the time of their visitation (Luke xix. 44). The Synagogue was hard of heart like Pharaoh: it would fain have held captive Him of whom the Prophet had said, that he would be free among the dead (Psalm lxxxvii. 6). Hereupon, a cry of impotent rage is heard in Jerusalem: but God is just, and Jesus has made Himself free!

And oh what a happiness was this Passage of our Lord for the human race! He had adopted us as His brethren, and loved us too tenderly to leave us slaves of Satan: therefore, He would have His own Resurrection be ours too, and give us Light and Liberty. The first-born of Satan were routed by such a victory. The power of hell was broken. Yet a little while, and the altars of the false gods will everywhere be destroyed. Yet a little while, and man, regenerated by the preaching of the Apostles, will acknowledge his Creator and abjure his idols: for this is the Day which the Lord has made: it is the Phase, that is, the Passage of the Lord!

But observe how the two mysteries — the Lamb and the Passover — are united in our Pasch. The Lord passes and bids the Destroying Angel slay the first-born in every house, the entrance of which is not marked with the blood of the Lamb. This is the shield of protection. Where it is, there Divine Justice passes by and spares. Pharaoh and his people are not signed with the blood of the Lamb: yet have they witnessed the most extraordinary miracles, and suffered unheard-of chastisements: All this should have taught them that the God of Israel is not like their own gods, which have no power: but their heart is hard as stone, and neither the works nor the words of Moses have been able to soften it. Therefore does God strike them, and deliver His people.

But this very people, this Israel, ungratefully turns against his deliverer. He is content with the types of the good things promised. He will have no other Lamb but the material one. In vain do the Prophets tell him that “a Lamb is to be sent forth, who will be King of the earth; that he will come from the desert to the mount of the Daughter of Sion” (Isaias xvi. 1). Israel refuses to acknowledge this Lamb as his Messiah. He persecutes him and puts him to death, and persists in putting all his confidence in the blood of victims that have no longer the power to propitiate the anger of God. How terrible will be the Passage of the Lord over Jerusalem, when the sword of the Roman Legions will destroy a whole people! Satan too, and his wicked angels, had scoffed at this Lamb. They had despised him as being too meek and humble to be dreaded, and when they saw him shedding his blood on the Cross, a shout of exultation rang through the regions of hell. But what was their dismay when they saw this Lamb descending, like a Lion into Limbo, and setting free from their bondage the countless prisoners? And after this, returning to our earth, and inviting all mankind to receive the liberty of the glory of children of God? (Romans viii. 2)

Jesus, how terrible is your Passover to your enemies! But how glorious for them that serve you! The people of Israel feared it not because their houses were marked with the blood of the figurative Lamb. We are more favoured than they: our Lamb is the Lamb of God, and your Blood is signed, not on our dwellings, but on our souls. Your Prophet foretold the great mystery when he said that on the day of your vengeance on Jerusalem they would be spared whose foreheads should be marked with the Tau (Ezechiel ix. 6). Israel despised the prophecy which is our joy. The Tau is the sign of your Cross, dear Jesus! It is your Cross that shields, and protects, and gladdens us in this Pasch of your Passover, in which your anger is all for your enemies, and your blessings all for us!

Epistle – Acts xiii. 26‒33

In those days, Paul, standing up, and with his hand making a sign for silence, said, “Men, brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whoever among you fear God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that inhabited Jerusalem, and the rulers thereof, not knowing Jesus, nor the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, judging Him, have fulfilled them: and finding no cause of death in Him, desired of Pilate, that they might kill Him. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of Him, taking Him down from the tree, they laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him up from the dead the third day, and He was seen for many days by them that came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who to this present time are his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you that the promise which was made to our fathers, this same has God fulfilled to our children, raising up again Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

This discourse which was made at Antioch in Pisidia, in the Synagogue, shows us that the Doctor of the Gentiles followed the same method in his instructions as did the Prince of the Apostles. The great subject of their preaching was the Resurrection of Christ — for it is the fundamental truth, it is the fact above all others which proves the divine mission of the Son of God on earth. It is not enough to believe in Christ Crucified. We must also believe in Christ Risen. The Resurrection is not only the indisputable fact on which rests the whole certainty of our faith, but it is also the dogma which energises the whole Christian world. Nothing ever happened on this earth which produced a like impression. See how it is now being celebrated by millions of men of every race and nation!

Gospel – Luke xxiv. 36‒47

At that time, Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples, and said to them, “Peace be to you: it is I, fear not.” But they, being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts,? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see: for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me to have.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they yet believed not, and wondered for joy, He said, “Have you here anything to eat?” And they offered Him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb. And, when He had eaten before them, taking the remains, He gave to them. And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.” Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. And He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day; and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all nations.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Jesus shows Himself to all His Apostles on the evening of the day on which He rose from the grave, and He greets them with the wish of Peace wishes the same to us, during this Feast of the Pasch. He desires to establish Peace among us:—Peace between Man and God, Peace in the conscience of the repentant sinner, Peace between man and man by the forgiveness of injuries. Let us welcome this wish of our Risen Lord, and jealously preserve the Peace He thus deigns to bring us. At His birth in Bethlehem the Angels announced this Peace to men of good will. But now it is Jesus Himself who brings it to us, for He has accomplished His work of pacification by dying for us on the Cross. The first word He addresses to His Apostles, and, through them, to us, is Peace! Let us lovingly accept the blessing and show ourselves to be, in all things, children of Peace.

The conduct of the Apostles on this occasion deserves our attention. They believe in their Lord’s Resurrection. They eagerly announced the great event to the two disciples of Emmaus: but how weak is their faith! They are troubled and frightened at the sudden apparition of Jesus: and when He graciously permits them to handle Him, they are overpowered joy, and yet there is a certain inexplicable doubt still lingering in their minds. Our Lord has to condescend even to eat in their presence in order fully to convince them that it is really Himself, and not a phantom. What a strange inconsistency there is in all this! Had they not already believed and confessed the Resurrection of their Master before receiving this visit?

We have a lesson to learn here: it is that there are some people who believe, but their faith is so weak that the slightest shock would endanger it. They say they have faith, but it is of the most superficial kind. And yet without a lively and vigorous faith what can we do in the battle we have to be incessantly waging against the devil, the world, and our own selves? He who wrestles with an enemy is desirous to have a sure footing. If he stand on slippery ground, he is sure to be thrown. Nothing is so common nowadays as unstable faith which believes as long as there is nothing to try it: but let it be put to the test, and it gives way. One principal cause of this weakness of faith is that subtle naturalism which now fills the atmosphere in which we live, and which it is so difficult not to imbibe. Let us earnestly pray for an invincible and supernatural faith which may be the ruling principle of our conduct, which may never flinch, and may triumph over both our internal and external enemies.

Thus will we be able to apply to ourselves those words of the Apostle Saint John: This is the victory which overcomes the world — our Faith (John v. 4).