(Formerly called 'Low Sunday'. [Our Sunday Visitor's "Catholic Encyclopedia", 1991, p605])
The Resurrection: Model of our spiritual resurrection
The Lord is risen! He has left the grave, entered upon a new life more perfect than the first; and subject to none of its infirmities. So must we at this holy season rise from the grave of sin, imperfection and tepidity; to a more perfect and fervent life exempt, as far as possible, from our past defects.
The Lord is risen ‘indeed’. Not only in appearance, as Samuel raised up Saul. Nor for a time only, as our Lord raised Lazarus. “Christ rising from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him.” (Rom 6:9)
Such should also be our spiritual resurrection -- ‘indeed!’ A real passage from a life more or less tepid to one of fervor. To a life based upon the resolution to persevere in the grace of God, and to fall no more into our former state of infidelity.
Our Lord put the fact of his resurrection beyond dispute by appearing to his apostles and disciples several times during the forty days he remained on earth. He allowed them to touch him, and ate with them.
The third mark of our spiritual resurrection must be ‘exterior’. It must not be known only to God, but be seen by our colleagues or subordinates -- before everybody we come in contact. They must perceive the change in us, and rejoice at it. Perhaps our former negligences and defects have annoyed or grieved them; or even scandalized our neighbors.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp194-6
In the Joy of the Risen Christ
Rejoice at Christ the Lord’s victory over death! The victory of life, of good over evil. It is from this Christian certainty of the victory over every fear of death that your march toward a more human future should take its steps: a future of liberty for God’s children.
In the certainty of this victory -- which is that of everyone who believes in him, you are called to set your thoughts going: on mature and lucid acceptance of reality, reconciliation and hence, alliance among yourselves, with adults and with society in its manifold aspects.
Such an alliance with reality, such adherence to it, so as to improve and alter it, causes a ‘new creativity’ to be loosed from your minds, based on perceptive analysis of situations, forces and mechanisms at work; and finally, on happy recovery of the commitment to liberate, to save, to promote.
As you accomplish this undertaking, it is necessary to bear in mind above all that the very foundation of the alliance with reality, is found in reconciliation with God. If man finds in God that vital reunion with the roots of his own being, of his own harmony and his own unification, he holds the key to overcoming every form of fear. Hence, the key to liberation and fresh creation: ‘Behold, I make all things new.’
Listen to ‘the words of this fundamental alliance with the Lord’, in Christ Jesus and in the Church, his Mystical Body.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp162-3
The visit to the Blessed Sacrament
Eucharistic piety “should be centred above all on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which perpetuates the pouring out of His love on the Cross. But it has a logical prolongation in the adoration of Christ in this divine Sacrament, in the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, in prayer beside the Tabernacle, as well as in those exercises of devotion, personal and private.
“... Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us not be mean with our time when it comes to going to meet him in adoration, in contemplation that is filled with faith, and disposed to make reparation for the grave faults and crimes of the world.” (John Paul II, “Address”, 31 October 1982) Jesus is in the nearest Tabernacle; maybe just a few miles away or perhaps a few yards only.
How easy it is to understand the ancient custom of daily visits to the divine tabernacles! (Pius XII, “Mediator Dei”, 20 November 1947) There Jesus has been awaiting us for the past 20 centuries (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 537); we can be together with him like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, she who chose the better part (cf Lk 10:42), in that house in Bethany.
Jesus is awaiting our visit; in a way, a return of his visit to us in Holy Communion; and “a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, an acknowledgement of the Lord’s presence.” (Paul VI, “Mysterium Fidei”, 3 September 1965) A continuation of our act of thanksgiving for the previous Communion and a preparation for the next.
In front of the tabernacle, we can accurately say in all truth: God is here! In the presence of this mystery of faith the only attitude should be that of adoration: “... O hidden God, devoutly I adore You” (“Adoro te devote” by St Thomas in Fr Charles Belmonte & Fr James Socias [Eds], “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, pp214-5); of respect and astonishment; and, simultaneously, of unlimited confidence.
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:319-20
“Adoremus in Aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum” -- 'Let us adore for all eternity the Most Blessed Sacrament.' (Rev FX Lasance, “The New Missal for Every Day”, 1925, p132*)
‘This is my Body ...’
“The immolation of Jesus took place hidden under the appearances of the bread. He is now there, with his Flesh and with his Blood, with his Soul and with his Divinity. He is the same as on the day that Thomas placed his fingers in His glorious Wounds. “And yet, on so many occasions, you saunter by, giving not even a hint of a greeting out of simple good manners that you would give to any person you knew when you met him.
“You have much less faith than Thomas!”
Ref: cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 684
Our Lady -- “When you see yourself with a dry heart, without knowing what to say, go with confidence to the Virgin Mary. Say to her, ‘My Mother Immaculate, intercede for me’.
“If you invoke her with faith, she will make you taste in the midst of your dryness the proximity of God.”
Ref: cf Ibid, Op cit, 695)
On this day a blind man is said to have recovered his sight in the Church of Our Lady of Montserrat, in the year 1538. — Balinghain or. Calend. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Montserrat (cure of a blind man, Spain). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
‘Nuestra Señora de Montserrat’. Spain. Restoration of sight to a blind man. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
‘Notre Dame de Fourviere’ / Our Lady of Fourviere. France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Our Lady of the Pearls. Palermo, Italy. [Moveable feast: 2nd Sunday after Easter] -- (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Our Lady of the Valley (Catamarca, [NW Argentina], Latin America). [Moveable feast: 2nd Sunday after Easter] -- (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
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