Good morning Digital Neighbors!! Happy Sunday! Great readings today in the Office and at Mass. For all you Catholics, it’s a great day to celebrate the WORD.
From the book of Revelation 18:21—19:10
After this I heard what sounded like the loud song of a great assembly in heaven. They were singing:
“Alleluia!
Salvation, glory and might belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just!
He has condemned the great harlot
who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.
He has avenged the blood of his servants
which was shed by her hand.”
Once more they sang “Alleluia!” And as the smoke began to rise from her forever and ever, the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God seated on the throne and sang, “Amen! Alleluia!”
A voice coming from the throne cried out:
“Praise our God, all you his servants,
the small and the great, who revere him!”
Then I heard what sounded like the shouts of a great crowd, or the roaring of the deep, or mighty peals of thunder, as they cried:
“Alleluia!
The Lord is king,
our God, the Almighty!
Let us rejoice and be glad,
and give him glory!
For this is the wedding day of the Lamb;
his bride has prepared herself for the wedding.
She has been given a dress to wear
made of finest linen, brilliant white.”
(The linen dress is the virtuous deeds of God’s saints.)
The angel then said to me: “Write this down: Happy are they who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” The angel continued, “These words are true; they come from God.” I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “No, get up! I am merely a fellow servant with you and your brothers who give witness to Jesus. Worship God alone. The prophetic spirit proves itself by witnessing to Jesus.”
From a sermon by Saint Maximus of Turin, bishop
Christ is the day
Christ is risen! He has burst open the gates of hell and let the dead go free; he has renewed the earth through the members of his Church now born again in baptism, and has made it blossom afresh with men brought back to life. His Holy Spirit has unlocked the doors of heaven, which stand wide open to receive those who rise up from the earth. Because of Christ’s resurrection the thief ascends to paradise, the bodies of the blessed enter the holy city, and the dead are restored to the company of the living. There is an upward movement in the whole of creation, each element raising itself to something higher. We see hell restoring its victims to the upper regions, earth sending its buried dead to heaven, and heaven presenting the new arrivals to the Lord. In one and the same movement, our Savior’s passion raises men from the depths, lifts them up from the earth, and sets them in the heights.
Christ is risen. His rising brings life to the dead, forgiveness to sinners, and glory to the saints. And so David the prophet summons all creation to join in celebrating the Easter festival: Rejoice and be glad, he cries, on this day which the Lord has made.
The light of Christ is an endless day that knows no night. Christ is this day, says the Apostle; such is the meaning of his words: Night is almost over; day is at hand. He tells us that night is almost over, not that it is about to fall. By this we are meant to understand that the coming of Christ’s light puts Satan’s darkness to flight, leaving no place for any shadow of sin. His everlasting radiance dispels the dark clouds of the past and checks the hidden growth of vice. The Son is that day to whom the day, which is the Father, communicates the mystery of his divinity. He is the day who says through the mouth of Solomon: I have caused an unfailing light to rise in heaven. And as in heaven no night can follow day, so no sin can overshadow the justice of Christ. The celestial day is perpetually bright and shining with brilliant light; clouds can never darken its skies. In the same way, the light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin.
This is why John the evangelist says: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overpower it.
And so, my brothers, each of us ought surely to rejoice on this holy day. Let no one, conscious of his sinfulness, withdraw from our common celebration, nor let anyone be kept away from our public prayer by the burden of his guilt. Sinner he may indeed be, but he must not despair of pardon on this day which is so highly privileged; for if a thief could receive the grace of paradise, how could a Christian be refused forgiveness?
