Choose a topic from Part 3a:
1. Christ rose from the dead: (a) to manifest the divineJustice which exalts the humbled; (b) to instruct and establish usin the faith, for the Resurrection is the central truth of ourfaith; (c) to give us firm hope of our own resurrection; (d) toteach us to rise from the death of sin to newness of life; (e) tocomplete the work of our salvation, and, after enduring evil, torise triumphant to lasting good.
2. Christ rose on the third day. He delayed theResurrection long enough to establish the fact that he had trulydied. Yet he did not delay it so long that men might fail to see itas the unquestionable proof of his Godhead. Besides, the third daycommends to our notice the perfection of the number three which, asAristotle says, is the number of everything that has beginning,middle, and end. And, mystically, since Christ's one deathdestroyed our two deaths, the number three is significant. Thethird day also indicates the three epochs of mankind in theirrelation to God: before the Law, under the Law, and now undergrace.
3. Christ was the first to rise from the dead, to die nomore. Those who had been miraculously restored to life in the Oldand the New Testament, had to die again eventually. Not so withChrist who "is risen from the dead, the first fruits of themthat sleep" (I Cor. 15:20); "Christ rising again from thedead, dieth now no more; death shall no more have dominion overhim" (Rom. 6:9).
4. Scripture speaks of Christ (Acts 2:24) "whom Godhath raised up." Yet our Lord himself says (John 10:18):"No one taketh my life from me; but I lay it down, and I takeit up again." There is no conflict or contradiction here.Christ is God, and when he causes his own Resurrection it is Godwho raises him up. It is perfectly accurate, then, to say thatChrist himself is the cause of his Resurrection from the dead.
"It is better to be burdened and in company with the strong than to be unburdened and with the weak. When you are burdened you are close to God, your strength, who abides with the afflicted. When you are relieved of the burden you are close to yourself, your own weakness; for virtue and strength of soul grow and are confirmed in the trials of patience."
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church
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"The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you."
Thomas á Kempis
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"If, devout soul, it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will. Reflect that all the sins of your past wicked life happened because you wandered from the path of God's will. For the future, embrace God's good pleasure and say to him in every happening: "Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." "
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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