Today we celebrate the culmination
of the Easter Triduum which also marks the end of Mass which began on
Holy Thursday. We last left Jesus' corpse being laid to rest in a tomb
which had never been used. It is believed that when Jesus died on the
cross, his soul descended into Hades. For souls to be in Hades it means
that they are 'in limbo', which means that they are neither in Hell nor
Heaven. It is said that when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and
sin entered the world, the gates of heaven were sealed and no other soul
were admitted to heaven, even the souls of righteous men such as
Abraham, Elijah and Moses to name a few. As such, when Jesus died and
descended into Hades, he went there to free the good souls that were
deserving of heaven and so in the same way Jesus' body was revived with
new life, the entombed souls were now set free into the glory of heaven.
It is wisee that Jesus' death had purpose, to save us and to also save
the righteous souls who were suffering.
The
Gloria Saturday liturgy depicts Jesus coming out of the tomb and it is
the most beautiful liturgy. This liturgy is sectioned into four main
parts; The Service of Light, which reminds us, the faithful, that Jesus
is the Light of the World, the Liturgy of the Word, which retells the
marvels which God has done for his people, the Liturgy of Baptism, since
new life is granted to us, we welcome new members into the Faith and
where the faithful renews their baptismal promises and finally the
Liturgy of the Eucharist where we now partake of the newly risen Christ.
Tonight
we all rise out of the tomb with Christ and he promises us new life,
and so we must do-away with the old habits and welcome new habits which
are pleasing to God. The Epistle which we will hear from Paul's letter
to the Romans 6:3-11 states that in the same way which we were baptized
with Christ, we are given a new life and as Christ died, was buried and
rose from the dead, we also do the same so our life is with God in
Christ Jesus. It would be unfair to allow ourselves to fall back into
the hands of sin. God's Holy Spirit is there to help us when we may feel
weak.
Let us all not hesitate to rise with Christ into new life! Happy Easter!
--B.Durham, 2015
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