Benedictus Qui Venit in Nomine Domini, Hosanna in Excelsis, part thirty-three

It is always very difficult for me to return to writing about the events in this world that has gone mad because of its rejection of the Catholic Faith and thus of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’s Social Reign over men and their nations after the glories of the Paschal Triduum, and it is no different this year.

However, although I will avoid most of the horrible details of what is happening currently as the murderous Zionists continue their daily attacks upon innocent civilians in Gaza despite the fact that “ceasefire” was agreed to six months (over seven hundred Palestinian Arabs have been killed in the past half-year) and as the militaries of the United States of America and of Israel blow up both military and civilian targets (the Israelis have had a particular fondness for blowing up hospitals and residential centers in Teheran as they have done in Gaza and are doing right now in Lebanon and even parts of Syria when it suits their racialist designs—see, for example, How Israel is destroying healthcare infrastructure in southern Lebanon) until Easter Wednesday, April 8, 2026, I do want to offer a brief commentary about President Donald John Trump’s Easter Sunday message that he sent out on his Truth Social network:

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the [Expletive Deleted] Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP. (Truth Details | Truth Social and Trump makes new foul-mouthed threat to Iran: 'Open the Strait.’)

This insane message, written by someone whose immortal soul is, at the very least, in a state of obsession (which is the second stage of diabolical activity in one’s soul following temptation and preceding direct diabolical possession) about the commission of evil acts, was posted by the same man who read Easter and Passover message from a TelePrompTer that annually convinces a lot very gullible Christians—Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants—and Jews that the words he is reading are his own, although they are written by staff aides.

The real Donald John Trump, though, is the unhinged maniac who posts such a message of death and destruction while invoking very deliberately the name of the Mohammedan “god” (please, no letters about Allah being the Arabic word for God; Trump was appealing to Mohammedans in the Gulf States), and who said the following of Wednesday in Holy Week, Spy Wednesday, April 1, 2026:

Thanks to the progress we’ve made I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard. Over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong.

In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ death. They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. Yet if during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets.

If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously. We have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and it would be gone. And there’s not a thing they could do about it. They have no antiaircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force. (Transcript: Trump’s Speech on Iran War.)

Do the Iranian people, including the very small number of Christians there, “belong” to bombed back to the “stone ages?”

Moreover, if the Islamic Republic of Iran have “no antiaircraft equipment,” then how did one of our fighter jets get shot done on a mission they were sent to complete on Good Friday, April 3, 2026?

While it is wonderful that American forces were able to rescue the missing airman in a very during effort on Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026, the fact that the fighter jet was shot down means that, contrary to the president’s April 1, 2026, assertion, Iran does have some capability of shooting down American aircraft and that, secondly, President Donald John Trump, who did not even attend gEaster Sunday services conducted by his blasphemous “pastor,” Paula White, who recently said that compared Trump to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, has such little regard for the solemnity of Good Friday that he let the military strike targets on the very day on which Christians worldwide commemorate Our Lord’s self-sacrifice of Himself to His Co-Equal, Co-Eternal, Co-Divine God the Father in Spirit and in Truth to redeem us by atoning for human sins and thus to reopen the Gates of Heaven.

This should mean something to any Catholic.

Sadly, those many Catholics give Donald John Trump, the man who has boasted of having his “own” morality in his own mind, are ready to put all their Catholicism aside to indemnify a man who, despite running a platform opposed to wars such as he undertook with Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28, 2026, has been gleefully boasted about “death and destruction” without a thought as to why many people voted for him or the economic pain that many Americans are suffering because of his decision to advance the Zionists’ “Greater Israel” project.

Donald John Trump is an epic blasphemer of longstanding, which is the Catholic apostate, former United States Representative Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), said on Easter Sunday that he had gone insane:

“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” she continued. “I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.” …

But Greene wrote Sunday that the strait is closed because the U.S. and Israel launched an “unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop” a nuclear weapon. 

“You know who has nuclear weapons? Israel,” she added. “They are more than capable of defending themselves without the US having to fight their wars, kill innocent people and children, and pay for it.” (Marjorie Taylor Greene rails against ‘insane’ Trump after Easter Iran threat. As a reminder about Iran always getting “close” to possessing nuclear weapons, please see Late Breaking News Sent from a Reader.)

The coarseness and vulgarity that Donald John Trump uses so freely in his stream-of-consciousness discourses on current events that pass for “speeches” or Truth Social posts at his rallies are a reflection of the thoroughly naturalistic world in which we live. Although even many Catholics find Trump’s crude and vulgar language to be “refreshing” and “authentic” characteristics, I am afraid that such “uninhibited” language, no matter how commonly used in private by politicians and their advisers, makes it more acceptable for the average person to use out-and-out profanity in public even within the earshot of children. This is not a cause for celebration, and it is not something that one can say is a minor flaw. It is wrong to think that one needs to resort to vulgarity, crudity, and profanity in order to be “authentic” and “refreshing.”

Donald John Trump knows nothing of First or Last Things and is thus ignorant of the fact that he must make an accounting to Christ the King for his use of the gift of speech. excuse. Trump is but a product of the world in which he grew up and a reflection of times in which we live at present.

We are thus eyewitnesses to the fulfillment of the following prophetic insight offered by Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos, August 15 1832, concerning what happens when licentiousness of speech and conduct reign supreme in nations:

This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. “But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,” as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly “the bottomless pit” is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws — in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty. (Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832.)

Donald Trump is an earthy, uninhibited New Yorker.

Alas, even New Yorkers, even if they have relocated to Florida, are called to follow Christ the King, which is why our speech must reflect the dignity befitting our status as redeemed creatures, not as self-indulgent enablers of a world gone mad.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori put the matter this way in his sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost:

First Point. The man who speaks immodestly does great injury to others who listen to him.

1. In explaining the 140th Psalm, St. Augustine calls those who speak obscenely “the mediators of Satan," the ministers of Lucifer; because, by their obscene language, the demon of impurity gets access to souls, which by his own suggestions he could not enter. Of their accursed tongues St. James says: "And the tongue is a fire,... being set on fire by hell." (James iii. 6.) He says that the tongue is a fire kindled by hell, with which they who speak obscenely burn themselves and others. The obscene tongue may be said to be the tongue of the third person, of which Ecclesiasticus says: ”The tongue of a third person hath disquieted many, and scattered them from nation to nation." (Eccl. xxviii. 16.) The spiritual tongue speaks of God, the worldly tongue talks of worldly affairs; but the tongue of a third person is a tongue of hell, which speaks of the impurities of the flesh; and this is the tongue that perverts many, and brings them to perdition.

2. Speaking of the life of men on this earth, the Royal Prophet says: "Let their way become dark and slippery." (Ps. xxxiv. 0.) In this life men walk in the midst of darkness and in a slippery way. Hence they are in danger of falling at every step, unless they cautiously examine the road on which they walk, and carefully avoid dangerous steps that is, the occasions of sin. Now, if in treading this slippery way, frequent efforts were made to throw them down, would it not be a miracle if they did not fall? "The Mediators of Satan," who speak obscenely, impel others to sin, who, as long as they live on this earth, walk in the midst of darkness, and as long as they remain in the flesh, are in danger of falling into the vice of impurity. Now, of those who indulge in obscene language, it has been well said: ”Their throat is an open sepulchre." (Ps. v. 11.) The mouths of those who can utter nothing but filthy obscenities are, according to St. Chrysostom, so many open sepulchres of putrified carcasses. ”Talia sunt ora hominum qui turpia proferunt." (Hom, ii., de Proph. Obs.) The exhalation which arises from the rottenness of a multitude of dead bodies thrown together into a pit, communicates infection and disease to all who feel the stench.

3. ”The stroke of a whip," says Ecclesiasticus, "maketh a blue mark; but the stroke of a tongue will break the bones." (Eccl. xxviii. 21.) The wounds of the lash are wounds of the flesh, but the wounds of the obscene tongue are wounds which infect the bones of those who listen to its language. St. Bernardino of Sienna relates, that a virgin who led a holy life, at hearing an obscene word from a young man, fell into a bad thought, and afterwards abandoned herself to the vice of impurity to such a degree that, the saint says, if the devil had taken human flesh, he could not have committed so many sins of that kind as she committed.

4. The misfortune is, that the mouths of hell that frequently utter immodest words, regard them, as trifles, and are careless about confessing them: and when rebuked for them they answer: ”I say these words in jest, and without malice." In jest! Unhappy man, these jests make the devil laugh, and shall make you weep for eternity in hell. In the first place, it is useless to say that you utter such words without malice; for, when you use such expressions, it is very difficult for you to abstain from acts against purity. According to St. Jerome, ”He that delights in words is not far from the act. ” Besides, immodest words spoken before persons of a different sex, are always accompanied with sinful complacency. And is not the scandal you give to others criminal? Utter a single obscene word, and you shall bring into sin all who listen to you. Such is the doctrine of St. Bernard. ”One speaks, and he utters only one word; but he kills the souls of a multitude of hearers." (Serm. xxiv., in Cant.) A greater sin than if, by one discharge of a blunderbuss, you murdered many persons; because you would then only kill their bodies: but, by speaking obscenely, you have killed their souls.

5. In a word, obscene tongues are the ruin of the world. One of them does more mischief than a hundred devils; because it is the cause of the perdition of many souls. This is not my language; it is the language of the Holy Ghost. ”A slippery mouth worketh ruin." (Prov. xxvi. 28.) And when is it that this havoc of souls is effected, and that such grievous insults are offered to God? It is in the summer, at the time when God bestows upon you the greatest temporal blessings. It is then that he supplies you for the entire year with corn, wine, oil, and other fruits of the earth. It is then that there are as many sins committed by obscene words, as there are grains of corn or bunches of grapes. O ingratitude! How does God bear with us? And who is the cause of these sins? They who speak immodestly are the cause of them. Hence they must render an account to God, and shall be punished for all the sins committed by those who hear them. "But I will require his blood at thy hand." (Ezec. iii. 11.) But let us pass to the second point.

Second Point. He who speaks immodestly does great injury to himself.

6. Some young men say: ”I speak without malice." In answer to this excuse, I have already said, in the first point, that it is very difficult to use immodest language without taking delight in it; and that speaking obscenely before young females, married or unmarried, is always accompanied with a secret complacency in what is said. Besides, by using immodest language, you expose yourself to the proximate danger of falling into unchaste actions: for, according to St. Jerome, as we have already said, ”he who delights in words is not far from the act." All men are inclined to evil. "The imagination and thought of man‟s heart are prone to evil." (Gen. viii. 21.) But, above all, men are prone to the sin of impurity, to which nature itself inclines them. Hence St. Augustine has said, that in struggling against that vice”the victory is rare," at least for those who do not use great caution. ”Communis pugna et rara victoria." Now, the impure objects of which they speak are always presented to the mind of those who freely utter obscene words. These objects excite pleasure, and bring them into sinful desires and morose delectations, and afterwards into criminal acts. Behold the consequence of the immodest words which young men say they speak without malice.

7. "Be not taken in thy tongue," says the Holy Ghost. (Eccl. v. 16.) Beware lest by your tongue you forge a chain which will drag you to hell. ”The tongue," says St. James, ”defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity." (St. James iii. 6.) The tongue is one of the members of the body, but when it utters bad words it infects the whole body, and "inflames the wheels of our nativity ;" it inflames and corrupts our entire life from our birth to old age. Hence we see that men who indulge in obscenity, cannot, even in old age, abstain from immodest language. In the life of St. Valerius, Surius relates that the saint, in travelling, went one day into a house to warm himself. He heard the master of the house and a judge of the district, though both were advanced in years, speaking on obscene subjects. The saint reproved them severely; but they paid no attention to his rebuke. However, God punished both of them: one became blind, and a sore broke out on the other, which produced deadly spasms. Henry Gragerman relates (in Magn. Spec., dist. 9, ex. 58), that one of those obscene talkers died suddenly and without repentance, and that he was afterwards seen in hell tearing his tongue in pieces; and when it was restored he began again to lacerate it.

8. But how can God have mercy on him who has no pity on the souls of his neighbours?”Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy." (St. James ii. 13.) Oh! what a pity to see one of those obscene wretches pouring out his filthy expressions before girls and young married females! The greater the number of such persons present, the more abominable is his language. It often happens that little boys and girls are present, and he has no horror of scandalizing these innocent souls! Cantipratano relates that the son of a certain nobleman in Burgundy was sent to be educated by the monks of Cluni. He was an angel of purity; but the unhappy boy having one day entered into a carpenter’s shop, heard some obscene words spoken by the carpenter’s wile, fell into sin, and lost the divine grace. Father Sabitano, in his work entitled”Evangelical Light," relates that another boy, fifteen years old, having heard an immodest word, began to think of it the following night, consented to a bad thought, and died suddenly the same night. His confessor having heard of his death, intended to say Mass for him. But the soul of the unfortunate boy appeared to him, and told the confessor not to celebrate Mass for him that, by means of the word he had heard, he was damned and that the celebration of Mass would add to his pains. O God! how great, were it in their power to weep, would be the wailing of the angel-guardians of these poor children that are scandalized and brought to hell by the language of obscene tongues! With what earnestness shall the angels demand vengeance from God against the author of such scandals! That the angels shall cry for vengeance against them, appears from the words of Jesus Christ: ”See that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father." (Matt, xviii. 10.)

9. Be attentive, then, my brethren, and guard your selves against speaking immodestly, more than you would against death. Listen to the advice of the Holy Ghost: ”Make a balance for thy words, and a just bridle for thy mouth; and take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue and thy fall be incurable unto death." (Eccl. xxvhi. 29, 30.)”Make a balance" you must weigh your words before you utter them and”a bridle for thy mouth" when immodest words come to the tongue, you must suppress them; otherwise, by uttering them, you shall inflict on your own soul, and on the souls of others, a mortal and incurable wound. God has given you the tongue, not to offend him, but to praise and bless him. ”But, ” says St. Paul, “fornication and all uncleanness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints." (Ephes. v. 3.) Mark the words”all uncleanness. ” We must not only abstain from obscene language and from every word of double meaning spoken in jest, but also from every improper word unbecoming a saint that is, a Christian. It is necessary to remark, that words of double meaning sometimes do greater evil than open obscenity, because the art with which they are spoken makes a deeper impression on, the mind.  

10. Reflect, says St. Augustine, that your mouths are the mouths of Christians, which Jesus Christ has so often entered in the holy communion. Hence, you ought to have a horror of uttering all unchaste words, which are a diabolical poison. ”See, brethren, if it be just that, from the mouths of Christians, which the body of Christ enters, an immodest song, like diabolical poison, should proceed." (Serm. xv., de Temp.) St. Paul says, that the language of a Christian should be always seasoned with salt. ”Let your speech be always in grace, seasoned with salt. ”(Col. iv. 6.) Our conversation should be seasoned with words calculated to excite others not to offend, but to love God. ”Happy the tongue," says St. Bernard, ”that knows only how to speak of holy things!" Happy the tongue that knows only how to speak of God! brethren, be careful not only to abstain from all obscene language, but to avoid, as you would a plague, those who speak immodestly. When you hear any one begin to utter obscene words, follow the advice of the Holy Ghost: ”Hedge in thy ears with thorns: hear not a wicked tongue." (Eccl. xxviii. 28.) "Hedge in thy ears with thorns" that is, reprove with zeal the man who speaks obscenely; at least turn away your face, and show that you hate such language. Let us not be ashamed to appear to be followers of Jesus Christ, unless we wish Jesus Christ to be ashamed to bring us with him into Paradise.(Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost.)

A president whose throat is an open sepulcher in public helps to reinforce the acceptability of profanity and indecency that is so widespread today in every aspect of what is called “popular culture.” The innocence of children is thus further undermined and reinforced.

No one can "make America great again" by speaking profanely and as is the case with us all, Donald John Trump will have to face the Divine Redeemer Himself when he dies, meaning that we need to pray for what appears impossible in human terms but is eminently possible within the Providence of God, namely, for the president’s conversion to the true Catholic Faith and his public abjuration of his crimes against His Holy Name and against the binding precepts of the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Commandments.

During this Easter Octave, therefore, may we pray to Our Lady for the conversion of Donald and Melania Trump, who is an unapologetic supporter of the chemical and surgical execution of the innocent preborn (see First Ladies of Baby Butchery), and his entirely family while pray to her as the Queen of Peace that following report concerning a forty-five day ceasefire in the American and Israeli War against Iran is a sign that this barbaric madness might be coming to halt sooner rather than later:

The United States and Iran are discussing the terms of a potential 45-day ceasefire that could open the door to a permanent end to the war, Axios reported citing four US, Israeli and regional sources familiar with the talks.

According to the sources, mediators are working on a two-phase framework. The first phase would involve a 45-day ceasefire during which negotiations would take place on a permanent end to the conflict.

The second phase would focus on reaching a comprehensive agreement to end the war.

Sources said mediators believe that issues such as fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resolving the question of Iran’s highly enriched uranium would likely only be addressed as part of a final settlement.

The negotiations are taking place through mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey and also through direct text messages exchanged between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the sources said.

A US official said the Donald Trump administration has presented Iran with several proposals in recent days, but Iranian officials have not yet accepted them. (Tehran under heavy bombardment as Iran defies Trump ultimatum.)

None of this, though, must obscure the glories of this second day of Easter, Easter Monday, that were described as follows by Dom Prosper Gueranger in The Liturgical Year:

So ample and so profound is the mystery of the glorious Pasch, that an entire week may well be spent in its meditation. Yesterday, we limited ourselves to our Redeemer’s rising from the tomb, and showing Himself, in six different apparitions, to them that were dear to Him. We will continue to give Him the adoration, gratitude, and love, which are so justly do to Him for the triumph, which is both His and ours; but it also behooves us respectfully to study the lessons conveyed by the Resurrection of our divine Master, that thus the light of the great mystery may the more plentifully shine upon us, and our joy be greater.

And first of all, what is the Pasch? The Scriptures tell us that it is the immolation of the lamb. To understand the Pasch, we must first understand the mystery of the lamb. From the earliest ages of the Christian Church, we find the lamb represented, in the mosaics and frescoes of the basilicas, as the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and triumph. Its attitude of sweet meekness expressed the love wherewith our Jesus shed His Blood for us; but it was put standing on a green hill, with the four rivers of Paradise flowing from beneath its feet, signifying the four Gospels which have made known the glory of His name throughout the earth. At a later period, the lamb was represented holding a cross, to which was attached a banner: and this is the form in which we now have the symbol of the Lamb of God.

Ever since sin entered the world, man has need of the lamb. Without the lamb he never could have inherited heaven, but would have been, for all eternity, an object of God’s just anger. In the very beginning of the world, the just Abel drew down upon himself the mercy of God by offering on a sod-made altar the fairest lamb of his flock: he himself was sacrificed, as a lamb, by the murderous hand of his brother, and thus became a type of our divine Lamb, Jesus, who was slain by His own Israelite brethren. When Abraham ascended the mountain to make the sacrifice commanded him by God, he immolated, on the altar prepared for Isaac, the ram he found amidst the thorns. Later on, God spoke to Moses, and revealed to him the Pasch: it consisted of a lamb that was to be slain and eaten. A few days back, we had read to us the passage from the Book of Exodus where God gives this rite to His people. The Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish; its blood was to be sprinkled as a protection against the destroying Angel, and its flesh was to be eaten. This was the first Pasch. It was most expressive as a figure, but void of reality. For fifteen hundred years was it celebrated by God’s people, and the spiritual-minded among the Jews knew it to be the type of a future Lamb.

In the age of the great prophets, Isaias prayed God to fulfill the promise He made at the beginning of the world. We united in this his sublime and inspired prayer, when, during Advent, the Church read to us his magnificent prophecies. How fervently did we repeat those words: “Send forth, Lord, the Lamb, the ruler of the earth!” (Isaias 16:1) This Lamb was the long-expected Messias; and we said to ourselves: what a Pasch will that not be, wherein such a Lamb is to be victim! What a Feast, wherein He is to be the food of the feasters!

“When the fullness of time came and God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4) upon our earth, this Word made Flesh, after thirty years of hidden life, manifested himself to men. He came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing. No sooner did the holy Baptist see him, than he said to his disciples: “Behold the Lamb of God! Behold him who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) By these words the saintly Precursor proclaimed the Pasch; for he was virtually telling men that the earth then possessed the true lamb, the Lamb of God, of whom it had been in expectation four thousand years. Yes, the lamb who was fairer than the one offered by Abel, richer in mystery than the one slain by Abraham on the mount, and more spotless than the one the Israelites were commanded to sacrifice in Egypt, had come. He was the lamb so earnestly prayed for by Isaias; the lamb sent by God Himself; in a word, the Lamb of God. A few years would pass, and then the immolation. But three days ago we assisted at His sacrifice; we witnessed the meek patience wherewith He suffered His executioners to slay Him; we have been laved with His precious Blood, and it has cleansed us from all our sins.

The shedding of this redeeming Blood was needed for our Pasch. Unless we had been marked with it, we could not have escaped the sword of the destroying Angel. It has made us partake of the purity of the God who so generously shed it for us. Our neophytes have risen whiter than snow from the font, wherein that Blood was mingled. Poor sinners, that had lost the innocence received in their Baptism, have regained their treasure, because the divine energy of that Blood has been applied to their souls. The whole assembly of the faithful are clad in the nuptial garment, rich and fair beyond measure, for it has been “made white in the Blood of the Lamb.” (Apoc 7:14)

But why this festive garment? It is because we are invited to a great banquet: and here again, we find our lamb. He Himself is the food of the happy guests, and the banquet is the Pasch. The great Apostle St. Andrew, when confessing the name of Christ before the pagan proconsul Ægeas, spoke these sublime words: “I daily offer upon the altar the spotless lamb, of whose flesh the whole multitude of the faithful eat; the lamb that is sacrificed, remains whole and living.” Yesterday, this banquet was celebrated throughout the entire universe; it is kept up during all these days, and by it we contract a close union with the Lamb, who incorporates Himself with us by the divine food He gives us.

Nor does the mystery of the lamb end here. Isaias besought God to “send the lamb” who was to be “the ruler of the earth.” He comes, therefore, not only that He may be sacrificed, not only that He may feed us with His sacred Flesh, but likewise that He may command the earth and be King. Here, again, is our Pasch. The Pasch is the announcement of the reign of the lamb. The citizens of heaven thus proclaim it: “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David hath conquered!” (Apoc 5:5) But, if he be the Lion, how is he the Lamb? Let us be attentive to the mystery. Out of love for man, who needed redemption, and a heavenly food that would invigorate, Jesus deigned to be as a Lamb: but he had, moreover, to triumph over his own and our enemies; he had to reign, for “all power was given to him in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18) In this his triumph and power, he is a Lion; nothing can resist him; his victory is celebrated, this day, throughout the whole world. Listen to the great Deacon of Edessa, St. Ephrem: “At the twelfth hour, he was taken down from the Cross as a Lion that slept.” (In sanctam Paraceven, et in Crucem et Latronem) Yea, verily, our Lion slept; for, his rest in the sepulcher “was more like sleep than death,” as St. Leo remarks. (First Sermon, On the Resurrection) Was not this the fulfillment of Jacob’s dying prophecy? This Patriarch, speaking of the Messias that was to be born of his race, said: “Juda is a lion’s whelp. To the prey, my son, thou art gone up! Resting thou hast couched as a Lion. Who shall rouse him?” (Genesis 49:9) He has roused Himself, by His own power. He has risen; a Lamb for us, a Lion for His enemies; thus uniting, in his person, gentleness and power. This completes the mystery of our Pasch: a Lamb, triumphant, obeyed, adored. Let us pay Him the homage so justly due. Until we be permitted to join, in heaven, with the millions of Angels and the Four-and-twenty Elders, let us repeat, here on earth, the hymn they are forever singing: “The Lamb that was slain, is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor and glory, and benediction!” (Apoc 5:12)

Formerly, the whole of this week was kept as a Feast, with the obligation of resting from servile work. The edict, published by Theodosius in 389, forbidding all law proceedings during the same period, was supplementary to this liturgical law, which we find mentioned in the Sermons of St. Augustine, (On our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount) and in the Homilies of St. John Chrysostom. The second of these two holy Fathers thus speaks to the newly baptized: “You are enjoying a daily introduction during these seven days. We put before you a spiritual banquet, that thus we may teach you how to arm yourselves and fight against the devil, who is now preparing to attack you more violently than ever; for the greater is the gift you have received, the greater will be the combat you must go through to preserve it … During these following seven days, you have the word of God preached to you, that you may go forth well prepared to fight with your enemies. Moreover, you know it is usual to keep up a nuptial feast for seven days: you are now celebrating a spiritual marriage, and therefore we have established the custom of a seven days’ solemnity.” (Homily v. de Resurrectione)

So fervently did the faithful of those times appreciate and love the Liturgy, so lively was the interest they took in the newly-made children of holy mother Church, that they joyfully went through the whole of the Services of this week. Their hearts were filled with the joy of the Resurrection, and they thought it but right to devote their whole time to its celebration. Councils laid down canons, changing the pious custom into a formal law. The Council of Mâcon, in 585, thus words its decree: “It behooves us all to fervently celebrate the Feast of the Pasch, in which our great High Priest was slain for our sins, and to honor it by carefully observing all it prescribes. Let no one, therefore, do any servile work during these six days (which followed the Sunday), but let all come together to sing the Easter hymns, and assist at the daily Sacrifice, and praise our Creator and Redeemer in the evening, morning, and mid-day.” (Canon II, Labbe, t. v.) The Councils of Mayence (813) and Meaux (845) lay down similar rules. We find the same prescribed in Spain in the 7th century, by the edicts of kings Receswind and Wamba. The Greek Church renewed them in her Council in Trullo; Charlemagne, Louis the Good, Charles the Bald, sanctioned the in their Capitularia; and the canonists of the 11th and 12th centuries, Burchard, St. Ivo of Chartres, Gratian, tell us they were in force in their time. Finally, Pope Gregory IX inserted them in one of his decretals, in the 18th century. But their observance had then fallen into desuetude, at least in many places. The Council held at Constance, in 1094, reduced the solemnity of Easter to the Monday and Tuesday. The two great liturgists, John Belethus in the 12th, and Durandus in the 13th century, inform us that, in their times, this was the practice in France. It gradually became the discipline of the whole of the western Church, and continued to be so, until relaxation crept still further on, and a dispensation was obtained by some countries, first for the Tuesday, and finally for the Monday.

In order fully to understand the Liturgy of the whole Easter Octave (Low Sunday included), we must remember that the neophytes were formerly present, vested in their white garments, at the Mass and Divine Office of each day. Allusions to their Baptism are continually being made in the chants and Lessons of the entire Week.

At Rome, the Station for today is the basilica of St. Peter. On Saturday, the catechumens received the Sacrament of regeneration in the Lateran Basilica of our Savior; yesterday, they celebrated the Resurrection in the magnificent church of St. Mary; it is just that they should come, on this third day, to pay their grateful devotions to Peter, on whom Christ has built His whole Church. Jesus our Savior, Mary Mother of God and of men, Peter the visible head of Christ’s mystical Body, these are the three divine manifestations whereby we first entered, and have maintained our place in, the Christian Church. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Easter Monday.)

The longtime Abbot of Solesmes, France, later discoursed on the meaning of today’s Gospel reading about the meeting on the road to Emmaus as found in the Gospel according to Saint Luke:

Let us attentively consider these three travelers on the road to Emmaus, and go with them in spirit and affection. Two of them are frail men like ourselves, who are afraid of suffering; the cross has disconcerted them; they cannot persevere in the faith unless they find it brings them glory and success. O foolish and slow of heart! says the third: ought not Christ to have suffered, and so to enter into His glory? Hitherto, we ourselves have been like these two disciples. Our sentiments have been more those of the Jew than of the Christian. Hence our love of earthly things, which has made us heedless of such as are heavenly, and has thereby exposed us to sin. We cannot, for the time to come, be thus minded. The glorious Resurrection of our Jesus eloquently teaches us how to look upon the crosses sent us by God. However great may be our future trials, we are not likely to be nailed to a cross between two thieves. It is what the Son of God had to undergo: but did the sufferings of the Friday mar the kingly splendor of the Sunday’s triumph? Nay, is not His present glory redoubled by His past humiliations?

Therefore, let us not be cowards when our time for sacrifice comes; let us think of the eternal reward that is to follow. These two disciples did not know that it was Jesus who was speaking to them; and yet, He no sooner explained to them the plan of God’s wisdom and goodness, than they understood the mystery of suffering. Their hearts burned within them at hearing Him explain how the cross leads to the crown; and had He not held their eyes that they should not know Him, they would have discovered from his words that their instructor was Jesus. So will it be with us, if we will allow Him to speak to us. We shall understand how the disciple is not above the Master. (Matthew 10:21)  Let us, this Easter, delight in gazing at the resplendent glory of our Risen Lord, and we shall exclaim with the Apostle: No! “the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

Now that the efforts made by the Christian for his conversion are being recompensed with the honor of approaching the holy banquet clothed in the nuptial-garment, there is another consideration that forces itself upon our attention, from the reading of today’s Gospel. It was during the breaking of bread that the eyes of the two disciples were opened to recognize their Master. The sacred Food which we receive, and whose whole virtue comes from the word of Christ, gives light to our souls, and enables them to see what before was hidden. Yes, this is the effect produced in us by the divine mystery of our Pasch, provided we be of the number of those who are thus described by the pious author of the Following of Christ: “They truly know their Lord in the breaking of Bread, whose heart burneth so mightily within them, from Jesus’ walking with them.” (Book 4, ch xiv) Let us, therefore, give ourselves unreservedly to our Risen Jesus. We belong to him now more than ever, not only because of his having died, but also for his having risen, for us. Let us imitate the disciples of Emmaus, and, like them, become faithful, joyful, and eager to show forth, by our conduct, that newness of life of which the Apostle speaks, (Romans 6:4) and which we owe to ourselves, seeing that Christ has so loved us, as to wish his own Resurrection to be ours also.

The reason for the choice of this Gospel for today is that the Station is held in the basilica of St. Peter. St. Luke here tells us that the two disciples found the Apostles already made cognizant of the Resurrection of their Master: He hath, said they, appeared to Simon! We spoke yesterday of the favor thus shown to the Prince of the Apostles, which the Roman Church so justly commemorates in today’s Office. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Easter Monday.)

The chastisements of these our days will be pass in the blink of an eye, which is why we must always put First Things first and consider all that happens in the light of Last Things we beg Our Lady to send us the graces to make reparation for our own many sins and thus to be more perfect in our intentions when all men, having been converted to the true Faith, will exclaim:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus, Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus, qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, pray for us.