The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-04-15
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
THE FOUNDATION OF OUR
CHRISTIAN FAITH.
An Exposition of the church's Teach
ing Regarding the Resurrection,
BY Rev. C. r. Cremin.

BY Rev. C. r. cremin.
He is risen as He said! These are
the words addressed by the angel to
the holy women who visited the tomb
of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday
morning. On the truth of these
words rests our Christian Faith. Deny
or disprove the accuracy of what is
therein stated and you overturn the
Church and destroy the foundation on
which it was built and by which it
has been upheld for so many centu-
ries. Yes, truly did st. Paul declare:
"If Christ be not risen again. then is
our preaching vain, and your faith is
vain also" Wherefore is the resur-
rection of Christ regarded as matter
of such momentous Importance? Why
should belief in Christianity as di-
vine revelation stand or fall with this
one event in the life-work of our
blessed Saviour? Why should not our
Faith subsist independently of the fact
whether Christ rose from the dead or
not? Our answer is, for the same
reason that house cannot stand with
out the foundation designed for it by
the architect, and on which it has
been reared by the builders. For the
same reason that you cannot retain
confidence in man who has given
you in proof of his honesty pledge
which you afterwards discover to be
fraudulent and deceitful. For the
same reason that the court of justice
repudiates the claim which is sustain
ed by false and unjustifiable title.
His resurrection was the foundation
on which Christ meant to build His
Church, and on which the Apostles did
build it. Christ proposed it as the
pledge of His trustworthiness and the
title that should Justify His claim to
the faith and allegiance of the world
as the Messiah long foretold by the
prophets and eagerly expected by the
Jews, as the Son of God who had come
into the world to teach men the way
of salvation, and to save them by His
sacrifice from sin and death.
'He is risen as He said" proclaims
to the world a stupendous miracle,
which was also the fuIfi1ment of an
oft repeated prophecy. Again and
again did Christ foretell His death
and resurrection. He did so to
strengthen His wavering disciples
against scandal, and to confirm the
faith of the world for all ages in His
divine mission. For who but God, or
one taught of God, can foresee and
foretel1 with circumstantial accuracy
future events which depend on the
free activity of men? Yet did Christ
predict the time, place and manner of
His death in such detail as must have
been begotten of divine vision. While
to the resurrection of His body from
the dead He pointed forward with such
confident emphasis as could spring
only from a personality in whose con-
scious power the future lay-from a
mind and will omniscient to behold
and omnipotent to achieve what falls
within the control of Almighty God
alone Christ had performed many
ordinary miracles, but the envious and
stiff-necked Jewish leaders, would have
Him manifest some sign of dazzling
bril1iancy before they would accept
His claim to the Messiahship. What
is His answer? "A sign shall not be
given but the sign of Jonas the pro-
phet. For as Jonas was in the whales
belly three days and three nights, so
shall the son of man be in the heart
of the earth three days and three
nights" (Matt. 12:40) BY this He
signified that they would receive the
sign they sought in His resurrection
from the dead on the third day. After
He had driven the traffickers from the
court of the Temple, on another occa.
sion the Jewish Elders demanded by
what authority He so acted. His an
swer was: Destroy this temple and
in three days I will raise it UP" (Jo
2:19). st. John tells us HE spoke OF
the temple of His body" How otter
during the latter part of His public
mission did not the Master recall te
the minds of His dull disciples-slov
to comprehend what did not accord
with their bright hopes of Temporal
glory-the cruel fate that awaited Hin
at Jerusalem. But He would cheel
them by the thought that ION thu
third day He shall rise again" (Luk'
1889. Well were His enemies awar'
of this prediction, and they would, j
possible, forestall and prevent it's real
ization by their craftiness -littl
dreaming that they were pitting thei
puny strength against Gods omnipo
tence. Listen to their words address
ed to PLATE on the day which inter
vened between the crucifixion and tn
resurrection: "Sir we have remem
bered that this seducer said, while b
was yet alive: after three days vii
rise again. Command, therefore, tn
sepulchre to be guarded until the thir
day. lest perhaps his disciples come