The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-04-15
THE MEANING OF EASTER

nrSC and they MADE the Sepul-
chre sure, sealing the stone and set
ting guards" Matt. 27:63).
Christ is dead. After having borne
the indignities and torments of His
painful Passion, He was crucified
upon cross between two thieves. In
and tortures heaped upon His sacred
person from Gethsemane to Calvary.
His human strength is fast ebbing
away, and after several hours suspend
ed upon the cross His exhausted frame
yields up His soul into the hands of
His Eternal Father. We have it on
the word of the four evangelists that,
at a certain hour, "He gave up the
ghost" and expired This occurred
amidst such weird manifestations of
universal nature--grief-stricke at the
death of it's Creator and Lord-that
many present were seized with terror,
and with the Centurion exclaimed
verify this was the son of Cod But
lest any doubt should remain in re-
gard to the actual death of Christ
which we must emphasize as neces-
sary condition of His real resurrection
we, have further conclusive evidence.
We are informed that the soldiers who
came to break the legs of those cruci-
fed to accelerate their dissolution and
removal from the cross found Jesus al
ready dead, yet one of them pierced
His side with lance which must have
reached the heart and so extinguished
any possibility of survival. Besides,
when Joseph of Arimathea sought
from PLATE the body of Jesus for de-
cent burial, the governor wondered
that He should be already Dead" and
did not grant the petition until he had
first ascertained from the centurion,
who was experimenting the crucif1x-
ion, that He was really dead. Joseph
having duly prepared the body for
burial "laid it in sepulchre which was
hewed out of rock, and he rolled
great stone to the door of the sepul-
chre' MARK 15:46).
Christ's friends and enemies now
depart from Calvary-the former for
lorn and detected, for in this humilia-
tion of their Master they saw only the
blight of all their lofty hopes in gIo-
rious earthly kingdom; the latter
elated by the victory they had gained
over the Nazarene: "He saved others,
himself he cannot save!" Yet was
their conscience not at ease. They
were anxious and worried even in the
hour of their triumph. OF the death
of Jesus they entertained not the least
doubt-and what short of that could
have satisfied their wrathfu1 jealousy?
But did He not say: "After three days
I will rise again.? Yes, accordingly
they must see that no more foolish dis
turbances shall arise, that no fraud
shall be perpetrated, that no pretend
ed resurrection shall be proclaimed.
If He does rise again, His resurrection
must be accomplished in spite of all
that human ingenuity and power can
do to prevent fit must be the work,
not of human contrivance, but of the
power of the Almighty. Hence the
tomb where lies the dead body Of
Christ is sealed, and guard of sol
diers is appointed to keep watch over
it until the third day"-when, If the
body has not been raised to life, the
prophecy and promise of Christ shall
be annulled, and as a consequence His
claim and mission shall become dis
credited o, fond hope of the chief
priests and Pharisees! Yet what graf
itude do not future generations of be-
levers owe to these extreme precau-
tions of the hostile Jews. They fore
stall and refute the ingenious evasions
and sophisms Of unbelievers, who
would undermine our Faith. by their
fiimsy attempts to disprove, or at
least to render uncertain, the incon-
trovertible facts of the death and res.
direction of Christ.
Christ is dead and buried In the
tomb, while the Roman soldiers guard
His sepulchre Did He rise again
Are His friends to brood in fond recol-
lection over what has been, while sunk
in the darkness of despair, with no
| ray of hope to brighten their future?
Are His enemies to exuIt over His de-
!, feat and complacently reassure the
, public that they correctly branded
' Him as an impostor? Is the promise
| made and reiterated that He would
| rise again on the third day but an
i empty boast incapable of realization?
r Is the faith of the Apostles in their
3 Messianic Master to be buried with
Q Him in the tomb, and like Him never
e to be re-awakened or restored to life
f again? How frequently in those dark
: days of depression must they not have
q turned over in their minds these SAD
r thoughts, bordering on despair, tx
! which the two disciples journeying t
+ Emmaus gave expression But we
: hoped that it was He that should have
e redeemed Israel: and now besides al
i this, today is the third day since these
e things we're done" (Luke 24:21).
i But. behold there is gleam in th,
g gloom! Hearken and you will heai
d the jubilant words of the angel ring