The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a pledge of our own.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth: And in my flesh I shall see my God. - Jones 19
Let us represent to ourselves the surpassing beauty, and the many glorious prerogatives of the Body of Jesus.
Divine Redeemer, grant that having the hope of our glorious resurrection strengthened by the consideration of Your rising from the Grave, we may think only of how to live more holily, and to render ourselves worthy of our high destiny.
If we lead, with Jesus, a humble, mortified life, if we die to ourselves in order to live an angelic life, at the Last Day our bodies will rise from the grave, resplendent with glory, and clothed with immortality, to enter the Abode of eternal happiness. Then will our sorrows be changed into joy, our afflictions into celestial delight. With this hope before us, we may say with holy Job: I know that my Redeemer lived, and in my flesh I shall see my God. Yes in this same body, now subject to so many miseries, but which will then participate, as a living member of our Risen Saviour, in the glory and beatitude of our Divine Head. He, during his mortal Life on earth, to be like in all things unto us, willed to be dependent on His creatures for its support But when His sacred Humanity assumed the garb of immortality, It was freed from this state of dependence; and from the sufferings to which It was liable, subjected for love of us, in consequence of the permissive power that creatures had over It We must seek to deliver ourselves as much as possible from the bondage of creatures, so that they may not trouble the peace of our soul, desiring most earnestly to be in a condition of holy liberty. Dependent on them for the maintenance of our natural life, let us not increase this dependence by our love of luxury, nor by our sensuality, but rather diminish it by Christian mortification, self-abnegation, and holy poverty. If we are obliged to suffer pain or inconvenience, on account of others, we should bear these joyfully, and in a spirit of penance, for love of Him Who has endured far more on our account Let us rise above our sufferings, occupying ourselves with them as little as possible, so shall we attain to the present enjoyment of freedom from much misery, and many illusions. Yet a few more moments of trial and of endurance, and we shall rise to a state of endless glory.
The Divine Eucharist is the pledge and cause of our glorious resurrection. The very fact of our being members of Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope in a glorious resurrection, and since we are His members—and have contracted a union with Him, in and through the Holy Eucharist—we comprehend that it is this august Sacrament which is the pledge and the cause of our rising hereafter, to a life of eternal bliss. It is the cause; for it is Jesus—living His glorious Life in His immortal Body—Whom we receive in Holy Communion : He unites Himself to us, to vivify, to sanctify our bodies and souls, and therein to deposit the germ of immortality. By virtue of this Sacrament we become truly the members of the Body of Jesus Christ, and at the Last Day, the Angels recognising our bodies as sacramentalised, will place us at the right Hand of our Saviour. —It is the pledge of our glorious resurrection; for Jesus Christ by the gift of Himself, confirms the promise of immortality which He has given us : He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlastiny life, and I %mR raise him up in the Last Day. Oh, the goodness of our Lord! He has consecrated not only His mortal Life, but His Life of glory to the promotion of our salvation. Why, O Jesus, are we not as persevering in loving Thee, as Thou art in the bestowal of Thy benefits? What an excess of love on Thy part, powerfully obliging us to correspond faithfully to it! Are we doing so?
O Loving Saviour, what honour, what glory dost Thou reserve for me ! After having abased Thyself even to me, in taking upon Thyself my human nature, Thou wouldst now raise me to Thyself by communicating to me Thine own divine nature. The conditions Thou layest down are, that possessing the gift of faith in Thy promises of a glorious resurrection, I may strive to render myself worthy of them by a holy life—a life of union with Thee. Thou couldst not propose terms more honourable; I accept them with all my heart, and I desire to fulfil them faithfully.
To remember that my present momentary afflictions are not to be compared to the endlessness of glory which awaits me.
I am the Bread of Life. He that eateth this Bread shall live for ever.
- text from Growth in the Knowledge of Our Lord by Father de Brant, volume 2, 1882; it has the imprimatur of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, England