Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-04-21
EASTER SERMON
Right Rev. Bishop NJ. G.
Lenihan delivers strong SER
mon at High Mass in st.
AIMS cathedral.
Text: Matthew XVIII: 6. He is

cnuTch recalls IN the Holy mass dHu -
the Divine office certain prophecies con-
cerning the coming of the Messlah-ail
of which were fulfilled in the birth of
Christ
During Lent and especially during
Holy week. the church brings before our
consideration in the Holy mass and Dl-
vine office, the prophecies concerning the
sufferings. death and resurrection of this
same messiah all Of which we find We're
minutely fulfilled in the life. death and
resurrection of Christ, the Son OF God.
Human life is life of suffering:
MANS life on earth is continual war
fare" a warfare against the concupls..
cences Of the flesh. the concuplsecence Oh
the eyes, and the pride of life: Our
Divine Lord. our model, suffered every
indignity. He was ''despised, and the
most abject Of men: a man Of sorrows
and acquainted with infirmity' He was
rightly called the "Redeemer," for he
redeemed mankind from sin and hell. He
was wounded for our iniquities. He was
bruised for our sins: and by his
br ,ises we are healed" BY suffering
patiently aud doing penance for our SINS
we become more like our Savior, and our
sorrows shall be converted into JOY, ac-
cording to the scriptures. you now.
indeed, have sorrow.' says CHRIST: but
will see you again and your heart
shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall
take from you" John 6-2.). Again, our
Blessed Lord says: IF any man will be
my disciple, let him deny himself. take
up his cross. daily, and follow Me" Iuke
9-23). Suffering, therefore. Is condl.
ton, by which we become disciple OF
Cnrist-our Divine Master.
Christ the Messiah.
fapt
scriptures or in all history SO well prov
en- as that of the death and resurrection
of Christ The apostles were poor. un,
educated fishermen. and for three years
of His public life, our divine Lord taught
by His own sweet words and by his
innumerable miracles that He was truly
the long looked for Messiah. The four
evangelists tell us minutely of His Pas
sion; how He was scourged, betrayed,
spat upon, crucified and died. They tell
of the weird manifestations of all ma
ture on the first Good Friday: how the
sun refused to give his light and how the
dead stalked thru the streets of Jerusa-
lem, and how all persons were seized
with terror, and how the centurion, who
superintended the crucifixion, exclaimed
when he pierced the side Of Jesus: Yer
ily this was the Son of God!'
Joseph of Arimathea was given per-
mission by Plate to take the dead body
of Christ from the cross and he Laid
it in sepalchre which was hewed out
of rock. and he rolled great stone
to the door Of the sepulchre." (Mark
15:46).
There was no doubt about the death
of Christ but still the pharisees and
high priests were uneasy about that
prophecy of Christ. after three days
I will rise again" Hence the tomb
where lies the dead body Of Christ is
watch over it until the third day." Oh,
the pusillanimity. the weakness, and the
folly of mortals trying to circumvent the
designs Of the Almighty. God makes use
of His sworn enemies. to forestaH and
refute the sophisms of unbelieyers, for
future ages, who would try to disprove
and make uncertain the ineontrOvertlble
proofs Of the. death and resurrection of
Christ.
Effects of the Resurrection.
The great mystery of the resurrection
OF our Lord is alone a proof of the di-
vinity Of Christ and is triumph Of our
faith. The angel at the empty tomb
said: He is risen as He said. IF
Christ be not risen again, says st.
Paul then is our preaching vain, and
your faith is also vain" I. Cor 15).
If He is risen, thru His own omnipotent
power, He is God
If Christ performed no other miracle
but this one, it would be a sufficient
guarantee Of His divinity and suffi-
cient proof that the religion and the
church that He founded is divine; the
gospel which is His word, is divine; the
sacraments which He instituted are di
vine. Ia following the teachings Of His
we are following a divine, in
fallible guide.
For this reason Christ surrounded this
mystery of His resurrection with the
most incontestible proofs He often
spoke of His resurrection. At the last
supper Jesus said: Il shall rise again
shall go before you into Galilee." At
the portals of the temple Christ said
to the incredulous Jews, Destroy this
temple and in three days I shall rebuild
it" st. John says that He spoke of the
temple of His body. John 2:19).
On the first Easter morning the tomb
of Christ was empty; the linen clothes
that bound the body remained in the
tomb. The guards were dumbfounded
and at once hastened to the city and
told the high priests what has happened. |
After His resurrection Christ first ap-
peared to His blessed mother: then to
Mary Magdalene and the other holy wo-
men who were faithful to Him during |
His Passion. These pious women were I
by the angel TO bring the
news of the resurrection to the apostles. |
All Of the apostles were slow to believe
and for this reason their testimony is
of the greatest authority Peter and /
John at first thot the news was folly |
until they visited the empty tomb ON
the evening of the day Of the resurrec- |
ton Christ appeared to the two disci-
pies on the road to Emmaus. "They /
knew Him in the breaking Of bread" and
to Jerusalem where they found
the IL apostles in the cenacle. While
they were telling their experience, Jesus
appeared In their midst and said to them.
APeace be to you; it is I, fear not" "See
My hands and feet, that it is l Myself;
feel and see; for spirit hath not flesh
and bones as you see Me to have" Still
they did not believe. Then He said to
them: ..Have you anything to eats" They
offered Him some food and when He
had eaten, "He upbraided them for their
and hardness of heart, be-
cause they did not believe them who
had seen Him after He was risen again"
Luke 24l.