1st Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection

By Ivonne Hernandez

St Peter Julian Eymard's Words:

"It is true that the glory of the Saints and of the blessed is a flower that blooms only in the sunshine of Paradise and in the presence of God. This dazzling glory cannot be ours on this earth; people would offer us adoration. But we receive the hidden seed of it which contains it in its entirety as the seed contains the ear of wheat. The Eucharist deposits in us the leaven of resurrection, the source of a special and brighter glory, which after having been sown in our corruptible flesh will shine in our risen and immortal body." [1]
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“The last (effect of the Eucharist) is to make us share in His glorious Resurrection. Jesus Christ sows the seed of His own life in us; the Holy Ghost will quicken it and through it will give us a new life, but a life of glory that will never end.” [2]


MEDITATION:

The mystery of the Resurrection speaks to us of faith. We see in the Risen Christ the promise that we will rise up with Him one day, and in the Eucharist we receive the seed of that promise, of a life of glory that will never end.

“The Eucharist deposits in us the leaven of resurrection.” Leaven is a pervasive presence that permeates everything, transforming it into something better.[3] The Eucharist, being the Risen Lord Himself, sows the seed of His own life in us, transforming us until we become what we eat.
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We need to look for that little germinating plant in each other, amid the weeds in the garden, and be careful not to trample on it. We need to look for the saints God has placed in our lives, those whose flower is not yet in full bloom, but that might need our help to fertilize and tend to their garden. Helping each other to grow in Holiness as we remain close to the Eucharist and encouraging one another, we will then join St Paul when he says: “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18)

It is this faith in a life of glory with Christ that keeps us growing here below. It is this faith that sustains us when we remember that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:24) We can’t skip over Good Friday to get to the Resurrection. We must patiently wait for the light that dispels all darkness. In the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist we have the hidden seed of the Risen Lord in its entirety. We have the flicker of light that will become dazzling in the sunshine of Paradise, in the presence of God.



SEND:


When you meditate on the mystery of the Resurrection, ponder on these words from St Peter Julian: “The Eucharist deposits in us the leaven of resurrection.” Keep them in your heart the next time you receive Holy Communion.


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[1]Eymard, The Real Presence, p.276
[2] Eymard, The Real Presence, p.74
[3] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/leaven