My dear parishioners,
Peace! The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights the “prayer of the rosary” as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours in the Western Church (§ 2678). In praying the rosary we “meditate on the mysteries of Christ” engaging our “thought, imagination, emotion, and desire” leading not only to “knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus” but “union with Him” (§ 2708). In fact the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an “epitome of the whole Gospel” and is also an expression of “devotion to the Virgin Mary” (§ 971). Here we consider the First Glorious Mystery, the Resurrection.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, OP (+1274) addresses the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus in the Summa Theologiae III Q.53-56. We are reminded that there are five reasons given for why “it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead” (Luke 24:46). First, Jesus rose from the dead as a commendation of divine justice. Second, Jesus rose from the dead to instruct us in the faith since our belief in Christ’s Godhead is confirmed by His rising again. Third, Jesus rose from the dead to elicit hope in us, since Christ our head has risen we likewise hope we shall also rise again. Fourth, Jesus rose from the dead to establish order in the lives of the faithful as we read in Romans 6:4 “Christ is risen… so we also may walk in newness of life… Christ rising from the dead dies now no more” so we “are dead to sin, but alive to God.” Fifth, Jesus rose from the dead in order to complete the work of our salvation. By His own power as God the Lord Jesus rose from the dead (cf. John 10:18). In His Resurrection Jesus’ body and soul are reunited.
In Sacred Scripture we read about the Resurrection not only in the Easter Gospels (Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-9) but also in John 11:25 where Jesus tells Martha that His is “the resurrection and the life.” Jesus’ Resurrection was bodily. He was not a ghost or apparition but has a body which could be touched. That the Lord Jesus rose from the dead is attested to by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6, as witnessed by “five hundred brothers at one time” who saw the risen Lord. When the Lord Jesus restored Lazarus to life (cf. John 11:42-45) it is more akin to a resuscitation, while at the end of time all shall rise (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
The fruit of the mystery of the Resurrection is Faith. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only about His rising on the first Easter. We too will rise on the last day, body and soul reunited. His Resurrection is the principle, foundation and basis upon which our resurrection rests.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr