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| Prayer Before and Prayer After |
Wonderful Qualities of the Body of the Risen Saviour
“Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory according to the operation whereby also He is able to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3, 21).
First Prelude: Behold the risen Saviour, radiant in the splendor of His glory.
Second Prelude: O Jesus, give me grace to realize the wonderful prerogatives of Thy glorified Body, that despising earthly things with my whole heart I may love Thee alone.
First Point: The Beauty of the Body of the Risen Saviour
How glorious must have been the divine splendor of the sacred Body of Our Lord and Saviour! His divine countenance illumined with heavenly glory,—His sacred wounds radiant as so many suns! When St. Teresa had seen only a hand of the King of Glory, she was so enrapt that she was loath to love anything further on this earth. The exquisite beauty of the Body of Jesus will, for all eternity, be the source of the purest heavenly delight and bliss. It is the light that illumines the city of God, which according to St. John “hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon to shine in it” (Apoc. 21, 23). We will rejoice with our Saviour in His unsurpassed glory, which, though His due from the first moment of His life, He willed to merit by manifold sufferings, and to impart to us in the measure of our renunciation of sensible gratifications. Would we participate in the glorious fruits of Christ’s resurrection, we must lead a new life, by crucifying the old man, subduing the works of the flesh, and dying spiritually. It is our paramount duty ever to vanquish our evil inclinations, especially pride and self-love. Oh, that we would heed the exhortations of our risen Saviour, Who would lead us to glory through mortification and self-denial! That we would strive with all our energy to circumvent the snares of the Evil One, who, by enticing us to sensible gratifications and the false fleeting pleasures, seeks to hinder us from fixing our attention on the things of heaven. My body, too, shall one day shine in the splendor of the transfiguration, if I have fought a good fight. The more I shall have mortified it here, the more brilliant and radiant shall it be. What an incentive to virtue and what an inexhaustible source of consolation!
Second Point: The Impassibility of the Glorified Body of Christ
The entire life of Christ was an uninterrupted chain of sufferings. In infinite love, He subjected His Body to all human miseries,—cold, hunger and fatigue, sufferings, and lastly to a most painful death. Having reunited Itself with the Body after the resurrection, the Soul of Christ imparted to His Body the incapability to suffer, and from that moment the Body, too, enjoyed consummate bliss. Christ had merited this glorious prerogative as Man, by the sufferings which He endured in order to make reparation to the outraged honor of the heavenly Father, and to redeem the world. We, too, must suffer if we would enjoy a similar glory, such as we read of in the Apocalypse: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away” (Ap. 21, 4). Let us accept all the reverses of daily life, not with dislike and impatience, but willingly, and sanctify them by patience and perfect resignation to the loving dispensations of Divine Providence, for the more we suffer with Christ here on earth, the more shall we be glorified with Him in heaven. Should it not be our earnest endeavor ever more to inflame our love by accepting cheerfully the daily little trials and sufferings of our vocation? Oh, that our love may approach in intensity, the heroism of the saints, who deemed themselves fortunate to offer their blood, even life itself, for the Saviour. In consequence of their ardent love for the Saviour, they seemed insensible to even the greatest torments. Did not the Apostles glory when they were deemed worthy to suffer contempt for the name of Jesus? We admire such love in the martyrs, who, when stretched on the rack or the red-hot iron, besought their tormentors to inflict upon them still greater pain. They would cheerfully have sacrificed their lives, even a thousand times. What composure and peace would I manifest in sufferings if I loved Jesus more ardently! Do I bear in mind that I must grow strong in suffering the daily little reverses, if I would learn to bear greater trials?
Affections: O my risen Saviour, with holy reverence, and ardent love, I contemplate the marvelous beauty of Thy sacred Body and adore Thee, glorious Conqueror of death, with all the angels who behold Thy inexpressible glory and bliss. How could I ever find anything irksome or unbearable, after Thou hast shown me, by Thy victorious triumph, that the sufferings of this life are the seed of future glory? Should I not banish from my heart all earthly affections and fix my thoughts and desires on eternal, imperishable things, which alone are worthy of my desires? Do Thou, O glorious Victor, complete in me the work of Thy mercy and draw my heart and mind to Thee, that I may live in Thee, labor with Thee, and one day be glorified with Thee in heavenly bliss.
Resolution: If little sufferings weigh me down, I will, in all humility, confess that my love of the Saviour is still very slight and rouse myself to new fervor.
Spiritual Bouquet: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.”
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