The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-03

Rev. Father A. V. keenan, preached yes
terday morning at st. Mary's Roman
Catholic cathedral He took as his text
the verse. HE Is Risen" (St. Mark,
xvi, g., and he spoke in part as follows:
At last mans day is passed and the
Lords day has appeared. All the figures
and prophecies are accomplished; the rue
Jonah has come out of the fish on the
third day; the invincble Sampson has
burst asunder his bonds like threads OF
web, and carried away the gates OF Gatztt
during the night, and the rod OF Aaron,
withered as II was. is hourishing once
more. After the mockeries and the
scourges, after the gall and vinegar, after
the painful agony and death on the cross.
Christ is risen again from the grave, IN
which he had been buried for three days,
the Goldman lives once more Immortal.
He is risenr What d wonderful specta-
clei What q subject Of triumph and Joy
for our Divine Master, and for US all!
Truly. ''This is the day the Lord has
made; let us be glad and rejoice therein. ="
1t was not in the air, where wonders
may be expected, that Jesus Christ show
ed himself after his resurrection; it was
on earth. converSing with his disciples,
eating and drinking with them, instruct
ing them in the most sacred mysteries of
religion. 1t was not to one that he APP
peared; one might have been suspected of
excessive credulity or of Illusion. No; he
than 500 persons assembled together.
whom we cannot reasonably suspect or
having been deceived. 1t was not under
strange figure nor as a phantom, which
might have daZZled their eyes; it was in
that same flesh which had been nailed to
the cross, with the same wounds which
the thorns, the nails and the lance had
formed in his adorable body.
1.-The apostles give testimony of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ" st. Paul
breaches at Athens. He merely speaks of
Christ.
speaks to the people, to the senator's in
the middle of the Areopagus. He merely
of the Lord. 1t seems that he had moth
ing else to speak Of; that the whole gos-
pei is contained in it; that the whole min
iStry of an apostle consists in preaching
Jesus Christ risen, and that the whole
world may give way TO this mark of his
infinite power. Thus it is that the apOS-
ties preached him and the entire universe
submitted to their testimony. According
TO st. John Chrysostom, this is the most
convincing proof of the resurrection of our
Divine Redeemer. For. if he is not risen,
with what likelihood of success could they
undertake to persuade the world of it?
Simple and uneducated as they were.
without science, without influence. could
they fiatter themselves to convince phil
osophers. TO bring barbarous and super
Sutious nations TO destroy their idols. to
adore as the living God a man of whom
one could point to his ashes, and to the
ignominious cross on which he died? And
should they have these foolish Dreten-
sions. what advantage would by 1t have
accrued TO them if Jesus Christ is not
risen? Can they reckon on the hope which
he has given them of eternal life if he
himself is yet under the empire of death?
Can they flatter themselves that ne will
be faithful in his other promises if he
has not been to this? Would it not be the
most extraSagant of all follies to suffer
contempt, exile, scourges, fire, the sword
and the cross. to maintain a falsehood,
without any hope of gain? And in fine
God, who is truth itself. who holds false
hood in horror, would he have confirmed
this horrible superstition by the most sig
nal and undeniable miracles?
You know, my brethren, how the envy
of the chiefs and priests urged them to
prevent the rumor which might be spread
regarding the resurrection of our Savior.
Not satisfied with having taken his life.
and shutting him up in sepulchre hewn
out of rock, and closing it with a heavy
stone which several men could scarcely
move, to prevent the removal of his body.
they wished also that the public seal be
placed upon it, and that a troop of SOL
diers keen watch over it. Human pru-
dence, how despicable you are, how blind
when you pretend to set yourself up
against God! What, in reality, was the
that moment they revealed to the whole
world the truth of the prediction of our
Lord, that on the third day after his
death he would rise again: in fact. the
guards having recovered from their first
fear, ran into the city and published
everywhere what they had seen and what
Adu bCGuIItu. Inc WHOle synagogue Is
perturbed at this news, council is forth
with convened. the high priests inquire
diligently into all the circumstances of so
wonderful an event, and, instead of giving
way to the recognized truth, they, this
blind jury, seek for means to extinguish
II. Blind, ungTateful synagogue, answer,
II you can, the reasoning Of the great ST.
Augustine and OF the whole church:
EITHER the soldiers were asleep or they
were awake when the apostles came to
remove il, as you would make people be-
how aa111
they know it and give evidence of it? If
they were not asleep, how did they per-
NIT II; why Gid they not cry out: whom
did they see; against whom did they de-
fend themselves You must admit one of
these two things: Either you can restore
TO us the body of a dear Lord. or you can
risen. and adore with US the power of
God, who has come out of the tomb never
to return to it again.
Theologians distinguish three births in
Jesus Christ, as different as they are in
COMPREHENSIVE. BY the first he received
life in the bosom of his father from all
eternity; by the second he received life in
the womb OF MS mother in the fullneSS of
time: by the third he received life in the
grave. at the moment OF his resurrection
In the mystery Of his eternal generation
it is a God who generates: in the mystery
Of his temporal generation. IL is a God
who generated. il is a virgin who con-
ceiVeS, u God who becomes man: in the
mystery of his sepulchral generation. it
is d living God truly dead q dead Cod
truly living.
IN this third life, which he assumed in
the tomb. distinguish three excellent
qualities which make it superior to that
which he assumed in the womb of his
immaculate mother There he receives life
from his mother; in this he assumed it
by his power. In his first, he is born TO
die in his second, he rises immortal In
his first, his life seems weak and without
action; in his second, il is fertile and ac-
tive. L produces the resurrection of our
bodies-three circumstances which en-
hance the splendor of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ and render it infinitely glo-
Tious.
What difference between the glorious
resurrection Of our Divine Lord and thar
OF Lazarus Lazarus is a prisoner in the
grave; Jesus Christ is free and inde-
pendent OF the grave. Lazarus is fettered
by death as a slave: Jesus Christ holds
death at his feet, as q conoueror. The
body Of Lazarus IS corrupt; that of our
L0ru Is incofTupJ. In the first case it is
only q servant who comes to life on the
fourth day: in the second. il is the mas
ter who rises on the third day. to give
convincing proofs of his freedom and in
dependence.
Finally, Lazarus co-operates IN no way
with his resurrection. Christ rises by his
own power. because. according ~ 81
Paul. He is the strength and arm of the
Eternal Father" Theology teaches that II |
IS more 10 bring to life one dead than TO
prevent an hundred men from dying; but
that IL IS infinitely more to raise oneself |
than to bring all men to life agaNn be-
cause TO raise oneself one must needs live
in the shades Of death: one must needs he |
free and independent in the chains of the
grave, which IS q property peculiarly
characteristic Of the Divinity, and it is
what we see in the resurrection of our
Divine Lord. He laughs at all the devices |
eye he scatters the vain and foolish pre-
cautions of the Jews. and by his own |
strength comes out of the grave glorious |
ly. Wen may we here eXclaim with St. |
Maximin: Wonderful resurrection which