Reflection: Eastertide by Dom Benedict Baur “The Light of the World” pg., 305.
Easter is the Solemnity of Solemnities, the center and climax of the Church year. All the mysteries that we have commemorated from Advent until now have pointed toward Easter; all that we shall yet celebrate in the weeks that follow has its foundation in the mystery of Easter, and receives its meaning and importance from this mystery. The resurrection of Christ is the consummation of the Incarnation (the Christmas mystery) and of the Passion. St. Paul reveals the meaning of Easter when he writes to the Corinthians, “And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Cor 15:17).
Even the Incarnation and the Passion are not sufficient in themselves. Christ became man and died to deliver us from the death of sin. But that was not enough. In order to give us immortal life, He rose from the dead. He “rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). He rose that He might bring us the perfect and eternal life which He merited for us by His death and which shines so brightly in Him.
By the mystery of Easter we are able to enter into the splendid life of His glorified body. We were created for glory from the beginning, but we lost it with the sin of Adam. We won it back through the resurrection of Christ. For this reason Easter is a time of joy. Through Christ we have all risen from sin and have access to immortal and eternal life. The life which we obtain at Easter is already a foretaste of the everlasting, heavenly life which we shall eventually enjoy.
The prayer said in the Easter Mass assures us that “God, who on this day by Thy only-begotten Son has overcome death, has opened to us the gate of eternity.” Over and over again in the liturgy of the Easter season we are reminded of this truth, that in the temporal celebration of Easter we already touch the reality of the eternal life of glorification. “I live, and you shall live” (Jn 14:19).
The joy of Easter finds its natural expression in the joyous banquet of Holy Communion, the Easter banquet, the paschal meal. Holy Communion is the food upon which this new life is nourished. He who rose from the dead enters our soul in person, and illuminates it with the fullness of His new life. What He is, we are also; as He rose from the dead, so shall we rise. We now walk ”in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).
The spirit of Eastertide is a spirit of sincere gratitude to the risen Christ, through whom we possess eternal life. “I live, and you shall live.” We should acquire this spirit of joy, a spirit which will lift us above sin and the world and death. The risen Christ will give us the strength to overcome the powers of darkness and death. We must have a spirit of hope. We shall, since Christ rose, most certainly rise on the last day, and our bodies shall be awakened to eternal life. “I shall not die, but live.”
We should have an unshakable faith, for Christ arose from the dead. His resurrection attests to His divinity and the truth of His doctrine. Easter sets a new task before us. We must now begin to live the life of the new man. We rose with Christ in baptism. “If you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to the world, to sin, to temporal things], and your life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3). “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened…Let us feast, not with the old leaven…of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7).
Daily during the Easter season the liturgy reminds us, both in the Mass and in the Divine Office, of the words of the Apostle: “Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more.” He died to sin once for all; He lives now for God (Rom 6:9). Christ, the whole Christ (the Church, all of us), now lives for God. We are the “Christ” who is risen. We died to sin in baptism. We live now for God. “Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more.” We have put an end to our sinning, and we live now only for God and for the performance of His holy will. “Our conversation is in heaven” (Phil 3:20). We must acquire a spirit of self-denial, and be willing to carry the cross of Christ. We can share in the life of the risen Christ only if we have been willing to share his humiliation and crucifixion.
The time from Easter to Pentecost is merely an extension of the feast of Easter, forming a continuous, uninterrupted Easter feast. In various forms recur thoughts that deal primarily with Christ’s resurrection and our call to share His new life with Him. “I live, and you shall live (Jn 14:19). The period from Pentecost to Advent also bears a close relationship to Easter. It will develop and perfect the life which was given to us at Easter. Christ lives in us, and we live in Him. He lives on in His members; and we, the members, share His life. He lives in our body as well as in our soul, for the body, too, shall rise and be restored to life and share the life of Christ in the blessed Easter of eternal life. “I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.”
