Saturday, April 15, 2006

Gospel for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

From: Mark 16:1-7

The Resurrection

[1] And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. [2] And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. [3] And they were saying to one another. "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" [4] And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. [5] And entering the tomb, they saw a young man on tile right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. [6] And he said to them. "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. [7] But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you."
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Commentary:

1. The sabbath rest was laid down in the Law of Moses as a day when the Israelites should devote themselves to prayer and the worship of God, and also as a form of protection for workers. As time went by the rabbis specified in minuscule detail what could and could not be done on the sabbath. This was why the holy women were unable to organize things on the sabbath for anointing the dead body of our Lord, and why they had to wait until the first day of the week.

From the earliest days of the Church, this first day is called the "dies Domini", the Lord's Day, because, St Jerome comments, "after the sorrow of the sabbath, a joyful day breaks out, the day of greatest joy, lit up by the greatest light of all, for this day saw the triumph of the risen Christ" ("Comm. in Marcum, in loc."). This is why the Church has designated Sunday as the day specially consecrated to the Lord, a day of rest on which we are commanded to attend Holy Mass.

3-4. On the structure of Jewish tombs and the stone covering the entrance, cf. note on Mt 27:60.

[The note on Mt 27:60 states:
60. It was customary for well-to-do Jews to build tombs for themselves in their own property. Most of these tombs were excavated out of rock, in the form of a cavern; they would have had a small hall or vestibule leading to the tomb proper. At the end of the hall, which would only have been a few meters long, a very low doorway gave access to the burial chamber. The first entrance door, which was at ground level, was closed off by a huge stone, which could be rolled (it was called a "gobel"), fitted into a groove to make rolling easier.]

5. Like so many other passages of the Gospel this one shows the extreme sobriety with which the evangelists report historical facts. From the parallel passage of St Matthew (28:5) we know that this person was an angel. But both Mark and Luke are content to report what the women say, without any further interpretation.

6. These women's sensitive love urges them, as soon as the Law permits, to go to anoint the dead body of Jesus, without giving a thought to the difficulties involved. Our Lord rewarded them in kind: they were the first to hear news of his resurrection. The Church has always invoked the Blessed Virgin "pro devota femineo sexu", to intercede for devout womanhood. And it is indeed true that in the terrible moments of the passion and death of Jesus women proved stronger than men: "Woman is stronger than man, and more faithful, in the hour of suffering: Mary of Magdala and Mary of Cleophas and Salome!

"With a group of valiant women like these, closely united to our Lady of Sorrows, what work for souls could be done in the world!" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 982).

"Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified": the same name as written on the inscription on the cross is used by the angel to proclaim the glorious victory of the resurrection. In this way St Mark bears witness explicitly to the crucified man and the resurrected man being one and the same. Jesus' body, which was treated so cruelly, now has immortal life.

"He has risen": the glorious resurrection of Jesus is the central mystery of our faith. "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor 15:14). It is also the basis of our hope: "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.... If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied" (1 Cor 15:17
and 19). The Resurrection means that Jesus has overcome death, sin, pain and the power of the devil.

The Redemption which our Lord carried out through his death and resurrection is applied to the believer by means of the sacraments, especially by Baptism and the Eucharist: "We were buried with him by baptism and death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn 6:54). The resurrection of Christ is also the rule of our new life: "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col 3:1-2). Rising with Christ through grace means that "just as Jesus Christ through his resurrection began a new immortal and heavenly life, so we must begin a new life according to the Spirit, once and for all renouncing sin and everything that leads us to sin, loving only God and everything that leads to God" ("St Pius X Catechism", 77).

7. The designation of the Apostle Peter by name is a way of focusing attention on the head of the Apostolic College, just at this time when the Apostles are so discouraged. It is also a delicate way of indicating that Peter's denials have been forgiven, and of confirming his primacy among the Apostles.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

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