“And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’”[i] The Risen Lord meets the faithful women as they go to tell the disciples that He is risen. Both the angel at the tomb and the Lord tell them, “Do not be afraid,” for you “will see me.” His promise remains for us too, in faith now, and in eternity, where we hope to see Him face to face.
This is the culmination of the Passover of the Lord, the Passover from death to life, through Him, with Him, and in Him. This is the fulfillment of every prefiguration or symbol of the Old Testament. This is the true hope for deliverance from sin and death that we enjoy in Christ Jesus. This is the new life of Easter.
The hymn below is a Christian classic, Come, Ye Faithful Raise the Strain. In the Summit Hymnal, Come, Ye faithful, Raise the Strain is set to the tune of In Vernali TemporeI, Piae Cantiones, Greifswald (1582).
Come, Ye Faithful Raise the Strain
Listen to it here on the celtic harp.
Come, Ye faithful, release the strain of triumphant gladness:
God hath brought his Israel into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharoh’s bitter yoke, alle, alleluia
Jacob’s sons and daughters;
Let them by a sandy path, alle, alleluia
Through the Red Sea waters.
‘Tis is the spring of souls today: Christ hath burst his prison,
And from three days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen;
All the winter of our sins, alle, alleluia
Long and dark, is flying
From His light, to Whom we give, alle, alleluia
Laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the Day of splendor,
With the royal feast of Feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, alle, alleluia
Who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains, alle, alleluia
Jesus’ resurrection.
Neither might the gates of death nor the tomb’s dark portal,
Nor the watchers nor the seal hold Thee as a mortal;
But today amidst Thine own, alle, alleluia
Thou dost stand, bestowing
That Thy peace which evermore, alle, alleluia
Passeth human knowing.
Alleluia, now to Thee, Christ, our King immortal!
Who triumphant burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal:
Alleluia, with the Son, alle, alleluia
God the Father praising:
Alleluia yet again, alle, alleluia
to the Spirit’s raising![ii]
Let us pray with these words of the Prayer after Communion for the Sunday of the Passion:
Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example
of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.[iii]
Monteleone, Daniele. “Risen Christ Appears to His Mother, c. 1600.” WikiMedia Commons, June 9, 2009. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Risen_Christ_appears_to_his_Mother_by_Daniele_Monteleone.jpg.
The Lord’s descent into hell – St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena contemplating the risen Christ who appears to his Mother.
[i] Matt 28:9-10
[ii] Saint John, Damascene, and John Mason Neale. “Come, Ye Faithful, Release the Strain, 107 .” The Summit Choirbook, 107. Summit, NJ: The Dominican Nuns, Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, 1983.
[iii] “LENT: THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF LENT PALM SUNDAY: Collect.” LENT: THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF LENT PALM SUNDAY. Oremus. Accessed March 28, 2021. http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/ireland/collects/t2.html.
Posted for Easter 2021 | April 4, 2021
