With Christ we shall rise; Through his Mercy we shall become One!

With Christ we shall rise; Through his mercy we shall become One!

Even though Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Christ, is still days away, the very promise Isaiah spoke of is about to reveal God’s promise to those who will believe.

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerualem’s sake I will not be quiet.  Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.  Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the Lord.  You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem held by your God.  No more shall men call you “Forsaken,” or your land “Desolate,” But you shall be called “My Delight,” and your land “Espoused.”  For the Lord delights in you, and makes your land his spouse.  As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.  (Is 62: 1 - 5).  

The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming Incarnate and giving his life, has united to himself in a certain way all mankind saved by him, thus preparing for “the wedding-feast of the Lamb.”  (CCC 1612).

Christ glorified is present in the earthly liturgy:  “To accomplish so great a work” - the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation  - “Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations.  He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, “the same now offering” through the ministry of priests, "who formerly offered himself on the cross,” but especially in the Eucharistic species.  By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes.  He is present in his word since it is he who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church.  Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised “where two or three are gathered together in my name there I am in the midst of them.”  (CCC 1088).   

By his obedience unto death, Christ communicated to his disciples the gift of royal freedom, so that they might “by the self-abnegation of a holy life, overcome the reign of sin in themselves.”  (CCC 908).

That man is rightly called a king who makes his own body an obedient subject and, by governing himself with suitable rigor, refuses to let his passions breed rebellion inn his soul, for he exercises a kind of royal power over himself.  And because he knows how to rule his own person as king, so too does he sit as its judge.  He will not let himself be imprisoned by sin, or thrown headlong into wickedness.  (St. Ambrose).

Ralph B. Hathaway