instruere...inlustrare...delectare Disputations

Monday, April 21, 2014

Lift up your gates, O ye princes

Two things of note happened during the Easter Vigil Mass at my parish this year.

First, thirteen people were confirmed, of which nine received their first Communion, of which five were formally received into the Church and four were baptized:

Something like this drawing might've helped the folks in the cheap seats figure out what was going on between all those readings and when Mass finally got normal.

Second, Jesus returned in His sacramental presence to our church. Yes, He was present in the assembly, in the priest, and in the Scriptures. And yes, He was present in the other sacraments celebrated. But Jesus' body, blood, soul, and divinity were not Eucharistically present in building until the priest spoke the words of consecration.

At the time, I was struck by the fact that, after two hours of talking and singing about how Jesus is risen, His return in the Blessed Sacrament comes about by shifting right back to His death. "This is My body, which will be given up for you."

We only celebrate the fact that Christ is risen because of the fact that Christ died. And we only celebrate the fact that Christ died because of the fact that Christ is risen.

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