The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-03-26
HE is RISEN AGAIN.

ing women, "He is risen, He is
mot here" Even they who had
followed Him with love and holy
reverence scarcely could believe
their ears. They realized that He
was God; had they not witnessed
the miracles that no one but God
could perform Had not His
proofs Of Divinity subdued in
their minds the last lingering
doubt? And yet, the suddenness
of the announcement He is
risen seemed challenge to
their faith, a test of Immediate
submission to startling truth.
Equal indeed were they to the
test; and at once they set out to
inform Peter and the others Of
the Lord s triumph over death.
Scripture tells on innumerable
occasions how God will confound
the wise and the powerful; how
He will suddenly overturn their
schemes, bring to naught their
plans and confound all their cal
| culations. Here the wise and the
powerful-High priests and Ro-
man soldiery-had taken elabo-
rate precautions to offset any
claims that the disciples might
subsequently make in order to
win proselytes to the new faith.
The minutest details had been
carefully watched: the tomb
sealed, an armed body of Roman
soldiers, who hated the Jews,
placed on guard; while the tomb
itself would resist all attempts at
entrance since it was hewn out of
the solid rock. The plan was per-
feet, ostensibly; but the schemes
of malefactors usually leave one
flaw, overlook some possibility,
and thereby are they caught. In
this case the one point of weak
ness was that the crafty Jews
thought this Man merely human
being: a clever One, to be sure,
but human.
In spite of all, the Angel pro-
claims confidently, s'He is not
here, He is risen" And the seal
on the tomb? Broken, with the
cover hurled back; and the
guard? Scattered through fear;
the willy Jews? Dumfounded,
and forced to resort to the sub
terfuge that the disciples had
come and stolen the Body while
the guard was asleep ooh
wonderful guards exclaims ST..
Augustine, who, though asleep,
knew that the disciples had come
and stolen the Body Of the Lord.
Are sleeping men considered au-
thentic witnesses in a court of
! justice?"
Even as Christ, so His Spouse
the Church down through the
ages. Time and again have her
enemies imprisoned her and set
their guards to insure annihila-
ton. The early emperors used up
| all human means in order to
eradicate the hated thing from
the earth. Millions of her fol-
lowers eleven millions during
the first three centuries gave up
their lives in testimony that He
was risen. For three hundred
years, in the person of His Church,
| did He languish in prison, and
when the forces of paganism came
to authenticate the death and
thorough destruction of this
Christ, they, too, found that HE
is not here.
! Brute force, intellectual perver-
sity, mental deception and moral
decadence, each has endeavored
to act as a solvent on the pure
gold of Christianity; the shadows
grew longer, the faithful lay hid
den in despair, even spiritual
leaders proved corrupt; but when
the power Of evil appeared to
have triumphed and peeped into
the tomb, the startling cry went
up, He is not here: He is risen =
. 1t is characteristic of things
human that once buried they stay
buried for good. Christ was more
than human, and, therefore, was
He not subject to all the laws of
humanity. IL His human form
submitted temporarily to impris-
onment in the grave, His Divinity
asserted the rights Of God and
, tore aside the igaments Of death
and laughed at the ingenuity OF
! the wicked and COMPOUNDED them
: in their Vaccinations and set the
! Angel there to say not only to the
Z women, but to all ages: He is
not here, He is risen, = Yes, in
every danger that may assail the
faithful He is present; though ap.