Plan of Discourse.
We shall all truly rise again from the dead. That is the foundation of our hope, and the subject of this sermon.
O dear Lord, risen from the grave, encourage us all by this hope to do good according to the law of our faith; this we beg of Thee through the merits of Mary and the intercession of our holy guardian angels.
Our resurrection from the dead is the foundation of our hope. Just as the foundation of our faith is the resurrection of Our Lord from the dead according to the body, so the foundation of our hope is our own resurrection from the dead according to the body. A Christian, says St. Peter Chrysologus, should always keep this truth deeply impressed on his mind; for it assures him that if he serves his God faithfully here below he shall one day be happy, body and soul, with the same God for all eternity. This truth is the bridle which powerfully restrains us from evil, the spur which drives us on to do good. This is the truth which, when well considered, embitters to us all the foolish joys of earth, and sweetens the sorrows and trials of this short life. And what would it profit us to live even for a moment amongst the troubles of this life, if we had not the hope of living forever in heaven? Who would have the courage to take crosses and trials from the hand of God and bear them with patience and cheerfulness, or to inflict voluntary penances on himself, if the mortified and emaciated body must rot forever in the grave and never get any reward for its penitential practices? Then should the poor and persecuted be—contrary to what Our Lord says of them—the most unhappy creatures on earth, for whom there is nothing in store but sighs, tears, and despair. Then might we say with the fools in the Book of Wisdom: “We are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been.” Why, then, should we trouble ourselves? “Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present. Let none of us go with out his part in luxury: let us everywhere leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this is our lot;”[1] let us eat, drink, and enjoy ourselves while we have time; for when death comes we shall have neither joy to hope for nor sorrow to fear.
The truth of it proved from St. Paul. But we have a far better assurance than that from our faith in the resurrection of our Redeemer, and we know that we shall
- ↑ Ex nihilo nati sumus, et post hoc erimus tanquam non fuerimus. Venite ergo, et fruamur bonis quæ aunt. Nemo nostrum exsors sit luxuriæ nostræ. Ubique relinquamus signa lætitiæ, quoniam hæc est pars nostra, et hæc est sors.—Wis. ii. 2, 6, 9.
