Chapter 26. Meditation on the Descent of Our Saviour Into Limbo on His Glorious Resurrection ; on His Appearance to Our Blessed Lady to Mary Magdalen and the Disciples ; for Sunday Morning

Having made the sign of the cross with the preparation mentioned in the second chapter, reflect on the mystery of the Glorious Resurrection under which head four principal points may be considered; that is to say, The descent of our Lord into limbo, his Resurrection, his appearance to our blessed

‘Lady and afterwards to Mary Magdalen and his disciples.

§ 1.—The teat of St. John the Evangelist says :—

1.—“And on the first day of the week Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre; and

JObn xx, she saw the stone taken away from. the Borie ett sepulchre, and that the body was not there, Luke xxiv. and when she found not the body, she went outside of the monument into the garden weeping. And whilst she was yet weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the monument, and saw two angels seated, clothed in white, the one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her; ‘Woman why weepest thou?’ She saith to them, ‘because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.’ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou ? She thinking that it was the gardener, saith to him: ‘Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him: and I will take him away.’ Jesus saith toher: ‘Mary.’ She turning saith to him: ‘ Rabboni,’ which is to say, Master. Jesus saith to her: ‘Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God.’ Mary Magdalen cometh and telleth the disciples; ‘I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.’ ”

2.—‘' Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them: ‘Peace be to you.’ And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again; ‘Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.’ When he had said this he breathed on them; and he said to them: ‘ Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive, they are for-given them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’”’

3.—‘*‘ Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: ‘ We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them: ‘ Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and’ Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: ‘ Peace be to you.’ Then he saith to Thomas: ‘Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.’ Thomas answered, and said to him; ‘My Lord and my God.’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.’ Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.”

$ 2.—Meditation on the above passages.

4.—““ This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be Psalm exvil.24. glad and rejoice therein.”” The Lord hath made every day, for he is the maker of time, but this day he is said particularly to have made, because on this day he completed the most excellent of all his works, the work of our redemption. Then as this is called by excellence the work of God, from its superiority over all his works, so is this day John Ay. also called the Lord’s Day, because on it he completed the most excellent of all his works. 5.—It is also said that this is the day which the Lord hath made, because all that occurred upon it was the work of his hand alone. With every other festival and mystery celebrated in honour of our Saviour, we find invariably some act of ours connected, because in them we ever find some admixture of sorrow, and sorrow is the child of sin, consequently they are all mingled with something human. But this day is not a day of labour, nor of sorrow, but of freedom: from sorrow and abounding in glory, and thus is it purely the day of the Lord. Then on this day who will not rejoice? On this day the Humanity of Christ rejoiced, the Mother of Christ rejoiced, his disciples rejoiced, heaven and earth rejoiced, and joy even penetrated to the regions below. The sun shone brighter on this day to do homage to the Lord with its light on the day of his joy, as it paid its homage by its

Matt ool. darkness on the day of his passion. The heavens which shaded themselves at the sight of his sufferings, that they might not see their Creator stript naked, now glisten with unwonted brilliancy at seeing him rise triumphant from the Sepulchre. Thus then were the heavens filled with joy ; and thou, earth, take thy share in this joy, for on this day, gleams from the tomb a brighter ray than any sunbeam shed upon the earth. A certain contemplative divine tells us that every Sunday morning when he rose to matins and called to mind the mystery of the day he was so filled with delight that he fancied all creatures in heaven and on earth were at the same hour singing in full choir and crying out with a loud voice. Hallelujah to thy resurrection, Oh Christ; let the heavens and the-earth rejoice, Hallelujah.

6.—In order then in some measure to excite thy feelings to a due appreciation of this day’s mystery, consider first how our Saviour, having gone through all the stages of his passion, urged by that same charity, which for our sakes ascended the cross, descended into hell to complete the work of our redemption; because having chosen to suffer death to deliver us from death, so would he descend into hell to deliver his own from death’s captivity. _ %7.—Then, into hell this triumphant conqueror descends in his splendour and power, and thus Eusebius Emisenus describes his entry: Oh beautiful stream of light pouring from the lofty vault of the heavens, thou clothest with sudden brilliance those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death! Because at the moment the Redeemer descended into those regions, that eternal night was illuminated, the wailing of those lamentations was stilled, and all the cruel gang of tormentors trembled at his sight. | There were the princes of EE Edom confounded, there the mighty men of Moab trembled, and the dwellers in the land of Canaan were stupifiod. Then began all those hellish torturers in the midst of their obscurity and darkness to murmur together: Who is this so terrible, so powerful, and so resplendent! Such a man as this is new to hell, never before has the world sent such a man to our dungeons. He is an avenger, not a debtor; an aggressor, no sinner; he appears a judge, not a criminal; he comes to fight, not to suffer. Where were our guards and watchers when this conqueror burst through our bars and assaulted our gates? Who is he so powerful? were he a culprit, he would have lacked the daring. And were he obscured by sin, his light would not so penetrate our darkness. But if he is God, why comes he to look into hell? If man, whence comes his audacity ? If God, what does he in the grave? And if man, how has he managed to cheat our limbo? Oh Cross, thus hast thou baffled our hopes and brought about our destruction! From one tree we gathered all our riches, and now by means of another we lose them.

8.—Such were the murmurs amongst those gangs of evil spirits when this noble conqueror entered in triumph to set at Gen, ill, liberty their captives. There were gathered together the souls of all the departed just from the beginning of the world up to that hour. There might be seen one prophet who was sawn in pieces, another that was stoned, another whose neck had been crushed with an iron bar, and others who in divers ways had glorified God in their death. Oh glorious company! Oh noblest treasures of heaven! richest Gen. ii. & ili, portion of the triumph of Christ! There were our first parents who peopled the world, as they were the first to sin, so were they the first in faith and hope. There stood that venerable patriarch who by building the ark saved Eo RAGE the seed of humanity to re-people the earth Gen. xvii. after the waters of the deluge. There was the father of the true believers who was found worthy of receiving first the testament of God, and the sign on the flesh to distinguish his descendants. There was his obedient son Isaac who in carrying upon his back the wood on which he

Ibid. xxvii. was to be sacrificed, foreshadowed the sacrifice destined to redeem mankind. There was the holy father of the twelve tribes who gaining by borrowed garments and in another’s guise his father’s blessing prefigured the mystery of the Humanity and Incarnation of the divine word.

Matt. xiv. There stood also but like a guest and fresh sojourner in that land, the holy Baptist, also that blessed old man who wished not to depart from the world until his eyes had looked upon the Redeemer, till he had held him in his arms and had sung like a swan that sweet song before he died. There too remained in his place the poor man Lazarus

EEN Wee mentioned in the Gospel, whose sores and patience entitled him to be associated with that noble company in all their hopes..

9.—There this choir of holy souls was groaning and sighing for the coming of this day ; and in the midst of them, like the leader of the band, that saintly king and prophet repeated without ceasing his lamentation of former days saying: “As aoe cl the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so my soul panteth after thee, Oh God, my tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: where is thy God?” Holy King if that be the cause of thy lamentation cease that song of woe, for here is thy God, here thy Saviour. Change now thy song, and sing again what long ago in spirit thou didst sing when thou wrotest these words. ‘‘Oh Lord thou hast blessed thy earth, and thou hast delivered Jacob out of bondage. Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of thy people and thou hast concealed the multitude of their sins.” And thou Holy Jeremiah, who wast stoned for the sake of this thy Lord, close the book of the Lamentations which thou wrotest over the destruction of Jerusalem and over the pollution of the temple of God; for here thou seest a more beautiful temple rebuilt after three days and another more beautiful Jerusalem stretched over the globe.

10.-——What tongue can express the feelings of those blessed fathers when they saw their darkness illuminated, their exile at an end, their glory begun? When they found themselves delivered verily from the bondage of Egypt and their enemies drowned in the Red sea, they would sing together and say: “Let us sing to the Lord because he has gloriously triumphed, and the horse and his rider he has drowned in the sea.’ How would he our first parent prostrate before the feet of his Son and Lord, cry out; Now hast thou come beloved and long looked for Lord, to atone for my transgression; thou hast come to fulfil thy promise and thou hast not forgotten those that, hoped in thee. Thy boundless compassion has overcome all difficulties and the immensity of thy love has conquered the sufferings and sorrows of the cross. 11.—Words cannot describe the delight of these fathers, yet greater beyond all comparison was that which filled the breast of the Redeemer at the sight of such a multitude of souls redeemed by his blood. Oh Lord, how well were then thy agonies on the cross repaid thee, at the sight of the first fruits of that sacred tree? The Patriarch Joseph in the land of Egypt with two sons born to him, forgot all his past sorrows: and in commemoration of this he gave to his first-born in that land the name of Manasses, saying: ‘God hath made me to © Gen. xli. forget all my labours, and my father’s house.’ What then would the Saviour feel seeing himself surrounded by so many children after the martyrdom of the cross was finished? when he saw that precious clive tree covered with such fine and beautiful buds ?

§ 3.—On the resurrection of the body of our Saviour.

12.—But how comes it, Oh my Saviour, that thou givest no share in thy glory to that most sacred body which lies awaiting thee in the sepulchre? Recollect, the law says; in the division of spoil, an equal share shall go to him who remains in the camp and to him who joins in the battle. Thy rt holy body awaits thee in the tomb, and thy most holy soul has gone to do battle against the powers of hell: let thy body share the glory for thou hast gained the victory.

13.—The holy body remained in the sepulchre in that woful state the Lord had left it, stretched on that cold stone, clothed in its shroud, the face bound with a napkin and all its members cut and mangled. The time was after midnight and day had begun to dawn, when the Sun of Justice sought to anticipate the morning light and forestall the coming day. At that same happy hour that glorious soul re-entered its holy body.. And how, thinkest thou, was this accomplished ? Words cannot describe, but an illustration may explain. Thou mayst at times have noticed a dark cloud hanging over the setting sun; and seen his parting rays suffuse the whole with dazzling tints, till the cloud hung in glorious beauty rivalling the brilliant splendour of the sun. Thus then did that glorious soul after touching and entering that holy body, convert all its darkness into light, all its foulness into beauty, and change it from the most disfigured into the most beautiful of bodies. Thus did our Lord rise from the tomb, perfectly glorious like the first-born of the dead and the harbinger of our resurrection. This is that holy Patriarch Joseph, now delivered from prison, Gen, xl. shorn of his hair, but clad in the robes of Exodus ii. immortality and Lord over the land of Egypt. This is that Holy Moses snatched from the water and taken out of the basket from amongst the reeds, he who overthrew the power and the chariots of Pharaoh. This is that Holy EB RE, Mordecai, stript of his sackcloth and clothed in royal robes, who overpowering his enemy and crucified on his own cross, delivered all his people from death. This is AA that Holy Daniel come forth from the lion’s den scatheless from the fangs of the hungry beasts. This is de 2%. that strong Samson, who surrounded by his enemies and shut up in their city, arose at midnight, shattered their gates and bars, baffling all the plans and designs of his adversaries. This is that Holy Jonas delivered up to death

JOnnaCH: to save his companions, who entering into the belly of the monstrous fish was on the third day thrown up on the banks at Nineveh. Who is this who when in the jaws of the cruel monster could not be devoured by it, and when plunged in the abysses of the ocean still drew the-breath of life, and when swallowed in the depths of perdition, death itself did homage to? This is our triumphant Saviour, whom that savage insatiable monster death, attacked: but after it had him within its jaws, recognizing its captive, was afraid to hold him; because though after death the earth swallowed him, finding him free from sin, she could not detain him, because it is not the suffering death that makes man guilty, but the guilt of man was the cause of death.

§ 4.—On our Lord’s manifestation of himself to the Blessed Virgin.

14.—Oh Lord, thou hast now glorified and filled with delight that holy body which suffered with thee upon the cross. Remember also Oh Lord, that thy flesh is also the flesh of thy Mother, and that she too suffered with thee, when she saw thee suffering upon the cross. As she partook in thy sufferings, it is just that she should partake in thy resusciae tation. Thy apostle has declared that thy companions in suffering shall be the companions also of thy glory; and since our blessed Lady was thy faithful companion in suffering from the manger to the cross, it is just that she should also be the companion in thy joys. Clear that clouded sky, unveil that hidden moon, disperse the shadows that darken that sorrowful soul, dry the tears of those virgin eyes, and bid the flowery spring return, since the winter storms are past. - ;

15.—At that same hour the Blessed Virgin would in the retirement of her chamber be longing for the coming dawn.

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From the depths of her heart like the moaning lioness, she bewailed her dead offspring on the third day, saying: ‘Arise King of Glory; arise with psaltery and lute; return triumphant to the world; good shepherd gather together thy flock ; hear, my son, the cries of thy afflicted mother; and since they once sufficed to bring thee from heaven to earth, let them now attract thee here from the regions below.’ Amidst those cries and tears, a flood of celestial light suddenly illuminates her lowly dwelling, and behold before the Mother’s eyes appears the Son shining in the glory of his resurrection. More beautiful than the morning star, brighter than the mid-day sun, that face beaming with every lovely grace, the spotless mirror of the divine glory, burst upon the Mother's sight. She beholds before her, her Son revivified and glorious, vanished every foul trace of brutal violence, those eyes divine again serenely smiling and every former beauty restoréd with increased intensity. Those gaping wounds, the Mother’s sword of grief, now changed to fountains of love. Him, whom she saw crucified between thieves, she now beholds surrounded by saints and angels. Him, who from the cross entrusted her to the protection of the disciple, she beholds with open

Ohm xix. arms giving her the kiss of peace. Him, whose lifeless body she had clasped in her arms, she now looks on risen from the dead. She holds him and will not loose him; she embraces him and begs him not to depart. On a former occasion mute with grief, her tongue was silenced, now mute with joy, it is unable to speak.

16.—What tongue can tell, what understanding comprehend the excess of this joy? We are unable to understand things beyond our capacity, except by comparison with lesser things within its range, calculating by a scale upwards and conjecturing one thing from our knowledge of another. Imagine then in order to appreciate this joy; the joy of the Patriarch Jacob, when after he had bewailed with floods of tears his well-beloved son Joseph as dead, he was told not only that he was alive, but was ruler over all the land of Egypt. The Holy Scriptures inform us that when he heard this news, his pleasure and astonishment were so great, that he seemed like one suddenly roused from a deep sleep, unable for some time to recollect himself and give credit to what his children told

Gen. xlv. 28. him. But when at last he believed what was told him, the Sacred Writings add, his soul seemed filled with a new life and he exclaimed: ‘It is enough for me, if Joseph my son be yet living; I will go and see him before I die.’ ‘Tell me now; if he who had eleven other sons alive at home, was so filled with joy on learning that only one whom he thought dead, was still alive, what would be Her joy, who had but one, and such an one and one so dear, when after having seen him dead, she saw him now resuscitated ad glorious, not the ruler over all the land of Egypt only but over the whole creation? Is any understanding able to comprehend this? ‘Truly such joy would have burst her heart, but for the miraculous interposition of divine assistance. Oh blessed Virgin ! this is enough for thee ; it is enough that thy Son lives, is present before thee, and that thou seest him before thy death, in order that thou mayst have nothing more to desire. Oh Lord, how well thou knowest how to console those who suffer for thy sake! How her former great sufferings appear nothing in comparison with this present joy. If thus thou comfortest those who suffer for thy sake, blessed and; happy are the sufferings of those who are thus rewarded.

17.—Furthermore consider how our Saviour shewed himself to his disciples and particularly to Mary Magdalen, of which we shall say nothing at present lest this meditation be too long.

18.—Having finished the meditation, make an act of thanksgiving and offer a petition, as mentioned before in the second chapter.