WHAT WE MAY LEARN FROM THE RESURRECTION

From all this we can take four things for our instruction. Firstly, let us

endeavor to arise spiritually, from the death of the soul which we incur by

our sins, to that life of justice which is had through penance: "Rise, thou

that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall enlighten thee."¹⁹

This is the first resurrection: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in

the first resurrection."²⁰

Secondly, let us not delay to rise until our death, but do it at once,

since Christ arose on the third day: "Delay not to be converted to the

Lord; and defer it not from day to day."²¹ You will not be able to consider

what pertains to salvation when weighed down by illness, and, moreover, by

persevering in sin, you will lose part of all the good which is done in the

Church, and you will incur many evils. Indeed, the longer you possess the

devil, the harder it is to put him away, as St. Bede tells us.

Thirdly, let us rise up again to an incorruptible life in that we may not

die again, but resolve to sin no more: "Knowing that Christ, rising again

from the dead, dieth now no more. Death shall no more have dominion over

Him. . . . So do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto

God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Neither yield ye your members as instruments

of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are

alive from the dead."²²

Fourthly, let us rise again to a new and glorious life by avoiding all that

which formerly were the occasions and the causes of our death and sin: "As

Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may

walk in newness of life."²³ This new life is the life of justice which

renews the soul and leads it to the life of glory.