Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen! Leaving the Paschal feast behind can be a source of sadness, but we must recall the words of the Lord which he told us, his disciples, at the supper on Holy Thursday: “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” The Passion and Resurrection are not an end unto themselves: they are a step toward the Ascension into heaven and the descent of the Spirit on Pentecost. The crowning achievement of Christ’s mission is not his own Rising from the dead, but the lives and contests of the God-bearing saints whose heavenly birthdays adorn our calendar throughout the year. May we inherit a place with them among those many rooms in the heavenly mansions which, tomorrow, Christ shall go to prepare for us.
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