Meditation 71
MARY AND THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
1. The Glorious Sepulcher.
Through sin death was ushered into the world. All men must die because all men are sinners. Only Jesus and Mary are exempt from this law. And yet God demanded of them to pass through the humiliation of death. But they should not remain in the sepulcher nor could a flesh so clean from every stain undergo corruption and decay.
Moreover, although Christ died, He was not conquered by death. On the contrary death was changed into an ushering into life, eternal life, that all who die in Christ should never really die but just be taken to the life of immortality. It is on account of this that Jesus, vanquisher of death, was bound to shine forth, in the glorious resurrection of His body. He, who had so often foretold His death, and so often predicted His resurrection, had, through His mastery over death and life, which is proper and exclusive of God, to prove His divinity and hall-mark His preaching.
All human grandeur ends in the sepulcher. The power of man, however great, will disappear one day under a tomb-stone bearing the inscription: "Here lies." But there was one glorious Sepulcher which after Jesus' triumph over death bore another inscription: Surrexit, non est hic. He has risen. He is not here. How great then is the glory of Christ in His resurrection. His triumph is unparalleled and unprecedented. He alone could have achieved it.
But this glory of Jesus is also Mary's glory. Nothing that refers to Him is foreign to His Mother. She had been associated with Him in Calvary. The pains of Jesus had been suffered by the Mother. It was only just, then, that His triumphs and joys should be Her's and not only Hers but ours also. How should the triumph of the resurrection of Jesus console us! Vain would our faith be had He not risen. His enemies would have definitely reported a victory over Him, over His life and His work. But Christ's resurrection gives us the most solid argument of our Faith, the most solid ground for our hope.
We too must die, but also we must rise. Will ours be a holy death? Will our sepulcher be glorious? Will our resurrection be triumphant? Only you can answer these questions. The outcome depends on you. Ask Jesus and Mary that it may be so. Tell them that you expect it so through their merits. Protest to them that you want to associate yourself with their sufferings so that one day you may partake of their triumphs.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
MARY AND THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
1. The Glorious Sepulcher.
Through sin death was ushered into the world. All men must die because all men are sinners. Only Jesus and Mary are exempt from this law. And yet God demanded of them to pass through the humiliation of death. But they should not remain in the sepulcher nor could a flesh so clean from every stain undergo corruption and decay.
Moreover, although Christ died, He was not conquered by death. On the contrary death was changed into an ushering into life, eternal life, that all who die in Christ should never really die but just be taken to the life of immortality. It is on account of this that Jesus, vanquisher of death, was bound to shine forth, in the glorious resurrection of His body. He, who had so often foretold His death, and so often predicted His resurrection, had, through His mastery over death and life, which is proper and exclusive of God, to prove His divinity and hall-mark His preaching.
All human grandeur ends in the sepulcher. The power of man, however great, will disappear one day under a tomb-stone bearing the inscription: "Here lies." But there was one glorious Sepulcher which after Jesus' triumph over death bore another inscription: Surrexit, non est hic. He has risen. He is not here. How great then is the glory of Christ in His resurrection. His triumph is unparalleled and unprecedented. He alone could have achieved it.
But this glory of Jesus is also Mary's glory. Nothing that refers to Him is foreign to His Mother. She had been associated with Him in Calvary. The pains of Jesus had been suffered by the Mother. It was only just, then, that His triumphs and joys should be Her's and not only Hers but ours also. How should the triumph of the resurrection of Jesus console us! Vain would our faith be had He not risen. His enemies would have definitely reported a victory over Him, over His life and His work. But Christ's resurrection gives us the most solid argument of our Faith, the most solid ground for our hope.
We too must die, but also we must rise. Will ours be a holy death? Will our sepulcher be glorious? Will our resurrection be triumphant? Only you can answer these questions. The outcome depends on you. Ask Jesus and Mary that it may be so. Tell them that you expect it so through their merits. Protest to them that you want to associate yourself with their sufferings so that one day you may partake of their triumphs.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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