The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-04-03
just Among Ourselves
esssins Comment Considsred or tneonsidersts

resurrection from the dead is nconrOvertlble proof
that He is God. Christ is true Man otherwise He
could not die. He is true God otherwise He could
not come back to life by His own pow r. He showed
tnat lie is true man, and not just apparent man.
or being with the outer form of man. by actually
dying. He showed that He is true God by taking up
His human life again after He had laid it down for
So central and basic to our religion is the truth
OF the actual Resurrection that ST. Paul says If
Christ be not risen, your faith in vain" But Christ
Is risen That is the wonderful fact that we celebrate
at Easter. And the Catholic Church for nearly two
thousand years has celebrated this Feast with holy
JOY.
There is nothing about the Resurrection that needs
10 be Interpreted or understood in "a special way
II is matter of plain fact plainly enacted. plainly
reported, plainly understood The Resurrection was
real coming back to life of One who was really
dead,-and by His divine power; for He who
died is God; His death the dissolution of His
human life
When God became Man, He took our nature our
working essence of living body and soul and Joined
II with His Godhead IN the Person of the Eternal
Son. Henceforh He is Christ, God and Man. One
Person. divine PerSon--with the Nature of God
which Subsists undivided in the Three Persons of
the Blessed Trinity. Two natures that of God and
that OF Man. As Man. He died on the Cross AS God
He is deathlesS. And the elements of the human
nature which He joined to His Godhead at the Incar-
nation are never severed from II again. The God
head OF Divinity remains inseparabv Joined with
the humanity OF Our Lord both in life and in death
Therefore in the body Of Our Lord hanging dead
on the Cross, or lying SNathed within the Sepuchre
the Divinity remains nseparably united Hence
even the dead Body OF Christ is to be adored with
divine alteration. And with the separated human
soul of Our Lord,-soacing the souls in Limbo
until the time for It's return 10 the Body in the
m.
arably united; the souls in Limbo gave that soul
divine worship
And therefore while Christ is God. and Christ
died, God did not die. For Christ is truly Man as
well as God, and il His human life not His
deathlesS divine life, that was taken or rather
given the Cross, And, by that power of the
Godhead which remained inSeparably united and
undivided, with both body and soul even when
these were separated by death, the two human ele.
ments OF body and soul Joined anew on the
Third Day, and Christ rose from the dead ito die
now no more; death shall no have dominion
over Him."
This is the plain account of the Resurrection
This is the great and literal truth which is the
and center Of the Catholic religion Our Lord
is God and Man As Man He died As God He brought
back life to His human nature. lie actually died;
He actually came again to life by His own power.
This is the Resurrection.
What a wondrouS truth is this! How amazing and
how worthy of the infinite power of God and what
demonstration of the love of God for poor
kind And how tragcay pitiful the efforts of
mistaken who try to twist this truth into &
kind of allegory. What unspeakabe impertinence
OF weak human minds is that which refuses the in
falible divine word and compelling human testi-
mony and decides to interpret" the Resurrection
in terms acceptable TO human pridel
And so we have poor pale thin, and insignificant
fancies OF fumbng human imagination offered
TO us in the place OF the glorious strong, eternal
truth. We have sentimental talk of the Resurrec-
tion as the rebrth of vegetGl life i'm spring: we
have the empty ceremony of candlelight process
SionS to hills at dawning, have the assertion that
the Resurrection is merely the enduring and living
influence of what good man said and dd,-things
which live on after the man himself is dead. None
OF these poor nations srs the heart of a Catholic
Resurrection Day. This is the Day which com
memorates the actual rising to Glorious Life of Him
who died for MS on the Cross
And as a plain fact there is no event in human
history which can be completely proved by human
means this event Of the Resurrection That Christ
really lived; that He truly died; that He actually
came back To fe.-these facts are supported by
such compelling historical evidence, that il il
presented in human court no Judge or jury could
refuse its incontrovertibe power,
~s~
How, then is II possible TO doubt this truth of the
Resurrection? Because many men will not take the
trouble to consult the evidence We who have the
faith. know its truth with the certainty of faith
But those without the faith might know it, If they
would, with complete human certainty Yet as we
say, they do not weigh the evidence
And why do they not weigh the evidence? There
are many reasons One is the effect of original sim
which makes unwilling to undertake. any labor
especially the labor of the mind Another Is the
influence of worldliness and sin which dimS and
lessons the appetite for truth about God, Another
is the work of the devil and his demons to hamper
the progress of man to God Another is the fact
that to recognize the truth OF the Resurrection is
TO submit to the Cross of Christ. for If the Resur
recon be recognized the truth Of Christs doctrine
is certainly TO be acknowledged and the way of
life He prescrbes is to be taken up; and worldly
people don't want that burden For though II is
light weight and pleasing burden this fact is not
known till the burden be borne; to one VIII has
not taken up the Cross. it looks horribly heavy.
-
May the light of the great Event of the Resurrec-
tion flood this troubled world to bring it truth and