Easter Sunday

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Easter Sunday

Resurrexit Sicut Dixit
Alleluia!
He is risen, as he said

This season in the Church now celebrates the risen Christ, and recalls the events which occurred before He ascended into Heaven to take His eternal place at the right hand of the Father, Almighty God. For us, in the Church Militant here on earth, we rejoice ever anew in the victory over Sin which Christ constantly wins for us in our lives. Fresh from the repentance of lent, and the self-denial of earthly attachments, we look towards the Resurrection of us all which is promised to occur at the end of time. Having died with Christ through our baptism, we now rise with Christ and live anew in Him. It is this new life which will bear witness on the day of judgement, and this new life of Grace which will enable us to exist with God in His heavenly glory.

After the barren solemnity of lent, which I have already described, the Church is now transformed with light, flowers, candles and music. Atop a huge pedestal in the sanctuary, stands the Paschal candle, which symbolises the Light of Christ, and from which all the newly baptised receive the flame to light their own candle. This is perhaps the part of the liturgical season where symbolism is at its richest.

We glory in the relics of Our Saints, and at this time of year we especially recall the Martyrs of the Church. This is because we know that in their earthly bodies they were sanctified by God to the utmost, and therefore we await the transformation of their earthly bodies into heavenly ones come the day of judgement. But even before that day, they reside with God in Spirit, and enjoy the beatific vision. We therefore seek their prayers as powerful intercessors before the throne of God. Above is pictured the Oratory's founding Saint, Philip Neri, whose shrine in our church is modelled on the Roman Oratory's.

Laying away all malice, and all guile, and dissimulations, and envies, and all detractions, As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation: If so be you have tasted that the Lord is sweet.

1st Epistle of St Peter 2:1-3

I especially thank the Lord at this time for the gift of Faith. Without this gift and driving force, our efforts in life will be sadly in vein. Although I was baptised as an infant, and always part of God's family, it took some time for me to truly nurture that gift of Faith and make it alive in my life. Faith in our Creator and His plan for us to be His children; this should be the essence of all our worldly endeavours, including both rational discovery and emotional connections.

In this age of renewal and redemption, let us constantly have before us the words of St Paul:

Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8