Archdiocese of Washington
By: Msgr. Charles Pope
Just about all of the Resurrection Accounts in the Gospels present the apostles and disciples on a journey to deeper faith. In stages they come out of the darkness of despair and this world into the light of faith. Matthew’s (28:1-10) account that is read at the Easter Vigil this year, and which can also be read at Masses during the day, is no exception. I have also commented on the Johanine Gospel that is often read on Easter Morning Here: From Fear to Faith
Let’s look at the Easter journey that Mary Magdalene and Mary, (likely, Mary the Mother of James and Joses) make out of darkness into light. Mark (16:1) adds that “Salome” went with them. Salome was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and John. From Luke (24:10) it also appears that Joanna, wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward was with them. Hence, though Matthew only mentions the two by name, it would seem that our analysis includes these four women. As these women journey through the events of Easter Morning we see their faith deepen and brighten. In a condensed sort of way, we also see the whole life of the Christian as we, journeying in stages, come to deeper faith and a brighter vision of the paschal mystery that our life is.
Lets observe their journey in four stages.
Stage 1 – Disturbance at Dawn . The text says,
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.
Note that in this first stage, it is still quite dark. The text here says, with hope, that the new day was dawning. The Greek word however properly means as the first day “approached,” or drew on, without specifying the precise time. Mark 16:1-2 that it was very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun – that is, not that the sun “was risen,” but that it was about to rise, or at the early break of day. Luke 24:1 that it was “very early in the morning;” (in the Greek text, “deep twilight,” or when there was scarcely any light). John 20:1 says it was “very early, while it was yet dark” – that is, it was not yet full daylight, or the sun had not yet risen.
So the point is, it is still quite dark, but dawn is near! And all this creates for us who read an air of great expectation. An old Song by the Taize Community says, “Within our darkest night, you kindle a fire that never dies away!”
Next, there is a great earthquake! Sometimes God has to shake things up to open new doors and new vision. And in our life too, there are often violent shakings. But, remember, we are at the dawning of a new day. In just a few short years we’ll be with God, if we are faithful. And so it is that this earthquake is not unto destruction, but is unto the opening of the tomb that has claimed our Lord, and unto the opening of tombs that have claimed us, emotionally, spiritually, mentally and so forth. This earthquake, frightening though it may seem, serves only to draw these women deeper into the paschal mystery and toward the risen Christ.
Now, note, they haven’t seen him yet or even heard he is risen. There is only this earthquake. But it has a purpose. Yet, for now, it is barely dawn, and things are still very unclear to them..
Stage one: Disturbance at dawn
Stage Two: Declaration: Do Not Be Afraid. The text says,
Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Note that the angel summons them to deeper faith. He exclaims, “Do not be afraid.” Now, to most of us this may merely seem a slogan; one we often hear when we are perceived by others as anxious. Frankly, when others say this to us, it is both annoying and unhelpful. But in this case, the Angel presents a basis on which their faith should grow and their anxiety dissipate.
That they should not be anxious or afraid is rooted in the Lord’s promise and in his word. The angel is reminding them that the Lord had promised to rise on the third day, and that he has done, just as he said. The Lord, who had raised others from death, and healed multitudes, has now done just exactly what he promised.
Hence, the angel summons them to grow in their faith by pondering the Word of Jesus Christ and coming to trust in his promise.
The angel also presents evidence to them, the evidence of the empty tomb. He invites them to connect the dots between the promise of Jesus and the present data of an empty tomb.
So, it’s getting brighter, by the power of God’s word and the application of that word to the present situation.
We too must journey through this stage as we become more deeply immersed in God’s Word and apply it to our present situation. As we grow in knowledge and remembrance of God’s promises and his word, our anxiety begins to flee. This happens especially when, like these women, God helps us to connect his word to what is actually happening in our life. We start to notice the empty tombs, the many signs of God’s favor and blessing. Things start to add up and we begin to connect the dots between faith and experience. And as we do this it gets brighter and our faith grows stronger.
Stage two: Declaration: “Do not be afraid!”
Stage Three – Deepening Dispatch. The text says,
Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
Learn by teaching – Having been instructed in the paschal mystery, and grown deeper in their faith, the Lord sends them to inform others. An interesting aspect of teaching is that we often learn more by teaching than we ever learned merely as a student. Hence we grow in our faith as we begin to teach and testify to it. And simply the fact of teaching and witnessing causes us to grow.
But note the text, “Behold, I have told you.” The true faith is received from God, not invented by us. St. Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing.” Do NOT go and invent your own faith; that is a very bad idea! We receive the faith from God through the Church and the Scriptures approved by the Church. These women have first been instructed by God’s angel, and only after that, are they told to go and tell someone. We too, are instructed by the Church. Our Faith comes from what is heard and we pass on what we have heard.
So, these women are sent. And, as they go, we shall see that they have a great breakthrough. But prior to that breakthrough, they are sent to witness, to proclaim. And this very act for them, and for us, deepens the faith even more.
Stage Three: Deepening Dispatch.
There is one final stage they must attain. For they are still only able to say what others have said, they have not yet personally seen the Risen Lord. That comes next.
Stage Four: The Discovery that is Definitive. The text says,
Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Here we see an important and powerful stage that, frankly, too many Christians ignore. Note that, in this moment, they go from inference to experience. Inference is a form of knowledge based only on what others have said. But experience, includes personal witness. Experience means that I myself can personally vouch for the truth of what I proclaim. As we have seen, inference is a necessary stage of our faith (do NOT go and invent your own religion). But the Lord invites us deeper to more personally experience the truth of what the Church has always proclaimed and what her Scriptures have always announced.
Inference to experience – These women have heard from the angel, that Jesus is risen, and they receive the teaching with joy. But, on the way, on the road of their life, they come to personally meet the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Suddenly the truth of what they have been taught is made quite personal to them and experienced as real. They have gone from inference to experience. And now, they will tell not only what they have heard from others, but also how they have personally experienced it as true.
We too are invited to do the same. I need to be able to say, “In the laboratory of my own life I have come to personally experience as true all that the Church and her Scriptures proclaim.” I am now a first hand witnesses to Jesus, for I have experienced him personally in my life. I have met him in my prayer and in my experience. He is alive and real to me, and he is changing my life. I have done more than hear about the Lord, I have met him. I do not merely know about him, I KNOW him.
Stage Four: The Discovery that is Definitive.
Do you know the Lord, or do you just know about him? Have you met him, or just heard about him. On Easter Sunday morning we have observed a group of women go from the darkness of this world to the light of the normal Christian life. And what is the normal Christian life? It is to be in living, conscious contact with God in my life and to personally know the Lord of all glory. It is to be in a living and transformative relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Painting above The Resurrection by Annibale Carracci
Easter Day and Easter Season
Easter Day and Easter Season
EASTER DAY
Ideas for Family celebration of Easter - Regina Cæli Lætare, Alleluia - Readings
"Christ is Risen, Alleluia"
"He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia, Alleluia"
With these joyous words Christians have greeted one another on Easter Day for nearly two thousand years. And every Easter the words proclaim anew the faith and hope of every Christian in the Good News of God's profound love of mankind, a love that conquers death. This Easter greeting is still used today. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches this proclamation is made during the Easter service as each person kisses the Gospel book.
Whenever Christians greet one another with these exultant phrases, we affirm the unity of believers throughout all times and ages until He comes again in glory. Every Christian family can establish the custom of exchanging this historic greeting, which is also a profession of faith, on Easter morning. It would set an appropriate tone of rejoicing for the entire day (and a reminder, also, for young children who may be so excited about their Easter baskets that they tend to forget why we are celebrating.)
Mass on Easter Day is the most splendid and exuberant celebration of the Church. For this is the Sunday of Sundays, the day of Resurrection of Christ, the center and foundation of our faith. As Saint Paul said, "If Christ be not risen, your faith is vain" [I Cor. 15:14, 17]. Thus Easter is the pinnacle of all feasts of the Church year, which began with Advent, or the expectation of the coming of the Messiah, sent by God to provide the means for our Salvation. The culmination of the entire liturgy is the Easter feast. Families who attend Mass on Easter Day join millions of Christians all over the world -- past and present -- in joyous affirmation of our redemption through the love of Christ, our hope of salvation, and our faith in the resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to come. Although the Easter Vigil and Mass fulfills the obligation for Easter Mass, the Easter Day celebration is a highlight that many will not want to miss, and it is permissible to attend both.
Alleluia
Every element of the festive celebration of Mass on Easter Day resounds with the great Alleluia the triumphant word of praise for God of men and angels.
Alleluia (or hallelujah) is a Hebrew word adopted by the Christian Church. (Another familiar Hebrew word is amen, "so be it.") Hallel is the greatest expression of praise in Hebrew. Combined with Jah, the shortened form of the name of God, JHVH (meaning "I AM"), it becomes Hallelujah. Alleluia is a Latinized spelling.
From the time of the apostles the proclaiming of the Alleluia was a revered custom in ordinary life as well as in connection with the liturgy of the Church. Farmers and tradesmen sang it as they worked, and mothers taught their children to pronounce it before any other word. According to Father Francis Weiser, "in the Roman Empire the Alleluia became the favorite prayerful song of oarsmen and navigators. The Roman poet-Bishop Sidonius Apollinaris (480) described how the river banks and shores of Gaul resounded with the Alleluia song of the rowing boatmen." [Weiser, pp. 28-29] ("Alleluia" fits the familiar tune of the Song of the Volga Boatman. Try it!)
In Christian homes on Easter morning children and parents might greet each other with "Alleluia", then light a specially decorated Easter candle. This word of praise on Easter morning inspired Handel to write his famous Hallelujah Chorus. Playing a recording of this magnificent Chorus from Messiah on Easter morning is a memorable way of awaking the household to the joy of the day and the promise of the coming Easter Mass and celebration.
The Lord's Day
Every Sunday is a celebration of the Day of the Lord's Resurrection. Every celebration of Mass commemorates all the Easter Mysteries, the Lord's Supper at which Christ instituted the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and His Resurrection, the historic events on which Christianity is based. And each Sunday celebrates the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (fifty days after Easter) which established the Church.
Every Sunday, then, is a "little Easter." Every Sunday is Christ's feast day. This is why the Sundays during Lent are excluded from the forty days of penance; and why saints' feast days are not ordinarily celebrated on Sunday. All Catholics are seriously obliged to participate in the Church's celebration of Mass on Sundays.
From the earliest days of the Church the celebration of the Eucharist was made on the first day of the Jewish week . We know this because specific reference is made to the Lord's day in Acts 20:7: "And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled together to break bread Paul discoursed with them"; and I Corinthians 16:2: "On the first of each week, let everyone of you personally put aside something and save it up as he has prospered"
The word Sunday, dies solis, or "day of the sun" is a pre-Christian word retained by the Church (in English speaking countries) because it emphasizes the belief that Christ is the "Sun of Righteousness." Saint John, in Revelation 1:10, refers to the dies dominica, "the Lord's day.
Ideas for Family Easter Celebrations
- Everything we have done as a family during the forty days of Lent has led us to this day. It is time for rejoicing! It is appropriate to bring out the best of everything for the feast of Easter Day. Flowers, china — the works. If you can, though, have food that doesn't take a lot of last-minute preparation, so that instead of fretting too much in the kitchen, like Martha, you have time to rejoice with Jesus, like Mary.
- Easter baskets and Easter egg hunts and lawn rolls are surely a universal occupation of American children on Easter morning along with chocolate eggs and bunnies and marshmallow peeps and jelly beans and green Easter grass all over the carpet and keeping the dog and the baby out of the chocolate! Nearly every family has its own special customs and traditional foods for Easter.
- "Alleluia Egg -- an egg painted gold, or perhaps with Alleluia written on it. The child who finds the Alleluia egg is accorded a special honor such as getting to light the Christ Candle and say a prayer at mealtime, or being allowed to cut and serve the Easter cake; or choosing the next family activity.
- In addition to the requisite excess of candy eggs, we hope you've included in the basket something a little more lasting, like the inexpensive little books of Bible stories for the younger children; perhaps a medal or picture or a biography of a child's patron saint; even a recording of religious music would be welcomed by some older children.
- Decorations for the Easter table do not have to be lilies, but could be any spring flowers arranged in a pretty bowl or basket. Daffodils would be nice for their sunshiny color. Candles really ought to be part of the table decorations, not only because they are so festive, but because of the allusion to the Light of Christ.
- Write the name of each family member or guest on an Easter egg to use as a place card.
- Make an Easter lamb cake. You can buy a lamb-shaped cake mold to bake it in. Decorate it with white frosting sprinkled liberally with flaked coconut to represent wool, and give it eyes of raisins or chocolate chips. Little children just love these lamb cakes and bigger ones can help with the decorating.
- Another cake idea (simpler but pretty) is to make cupcakes, decorate them with green colored frosting sprinkled with green shredded coconut "grass" (just add a few drops of green food coloring to a tablespoon or so of water, then stir in the coconut until it is nicely dyed.) With few jelly beans (or, even better, one or two coated chocolate "bird eggs") on the top, each little cake will become a colorful Easter egg nest.
- Make colored deviled eggs. Peel hard-cooked eggs and dye them in a cup of water to which you add a few drops of food coloring and about a tablespoon of vinegar. Either leave the eggs whole to decorate the meat platter, or make deviled eggs. Either way they are pretty — especially on a bed of bright green parsley.
You can get dozens of holiday ideas from household magazines and the food section of newspapers. The main difference in the celebration and festivities in a Christian household is that we know what we're celebrating and why!
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
Family Activities for Easter Week
Easter, the most important feast of the Church year, has an "octave", that is, it is celebrated for eight days — through the following Sunday or ""Low Sunday", the Octave of Easter Day.
- Catholic schools have a holiday on Easter Monday. If the weather permits, this would be a good day to go to the park or zoo if you live near one, or to go on a walk looking closely for signs of spring, promise, rebirth, reawakening.
- An alternative is to go to an art museum to look at Christian art; or to the library in search of some of the beautifully printed reproductions of medieval Books of Hours (the Très Riches Heures painted by the Limbourg brothers for the Duc de Berry is one of the finest.). These wonderful books are filled with fascinating pictures depicting virtually every event in the life of Christ, and most children would enjoy looking at and talking about these pictures with you. (This could take place of the bedtime story this week.)
- Making a table-top tableau of a scene from the Bible can occupy children for hours. These can often be highly entertaining interpretations of the original Bible stories. To get the children started, cut the top and one side off a small cardboard box (a shoe box is fine) to use for the "stage". Figures and other props can be made of modeling clay or play-dough. Other bits and scraps you have around the house — cloth, yarn, string, scraps of cloth or colored paper, pipe cleaners, etc. — can be used, too. (Another idea is to use scraps to make collages on cut-open brown paper grocery bags.)
- Families may pray the Divine Mercy novena, beginning Good Friday and ending on the Octave of Easter, which Pope John Paul II named Divine Mercy Sunday.
The Regina Cæli and Salve Regina
Throughout the Easter Season — until Pentecost — the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) is said as the mealtime Angelus prayer. The "Hail Holy Queen" (Salve Regina) forms part of this prayer.
See separate Regina Caeli page for these traditionl prayers in Latin, English and Spanish versions.
Queen of Heaven, rejoice! Alleluia!
For the Son you were privileged to bear, Alleluia!
Is risen as He said. Alleluia!
Pray for us to God. Alleluia!
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia.
Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world
through the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus
Christ, grant, we beseech you, that through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may
obtain the joys of everlasting life: Through the same
Christ our Lord. Amen.+
Hail, Holy Queen
Hail, Holy Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy mother of God:
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit thou hast prepared the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother, to become the worthy habitation of Thy Son; Grant that by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice, we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
V. May divine assistance remain with us always.
R. Amen.
Readings:
Year A
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8
Jn 20:1-9 or Mt 28:1-10
or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Lk 24:13-35
Year B
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8
Jn 20:1-9 or Mk 16:1-7
or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Lk 24:13-35
Year C
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8
Jn 20:1-9 or Lk 24:1-12
or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Lk 24:13-35
1. The first day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, to the sepulcher, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
2. Then she runs, and comes to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and says to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.
3. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.
4. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.
5. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying: yet went he not in.
6. Then comes Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeing the linen clothes lie,
7. And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself:
8. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed.
9. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
CHRYS. The Sabbath being now over, during which it was unlawful to be there, Mary Magdalene could rest no longer, but came very early in the morning, to seek consolation at the grave: The first day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, to the sepulcher.
AUG. Mary Magdalene, undoubtedly the most fervent in love, of all the women that ministered to our Lord; so that John deservedly mentions her only, and says nothing of the others who were with her, as we know from the other Evangelists.
AUG. Una sabbati is the day which Christians call the Lord's day, after our Lord's resurrection. Matthew calls it prima sabbati.
BEDE. Una sabbati, i.e. one day after the sabbath.
THEOPHYL. Or thus: The Jews called the days of the week sabbath, and the first day, one of the sabbaths, which day is a type of the life to come; for that life will be one day not cut short by any night, since God is the sun there, a sun which never sets. On this day then our Lord rose again, with an incorruptible body, even as we in the life to come shall put on incorruption.
AUG. What Mark says, Very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, does not contradict John's words, when it was yet dark. At the dawn of day, there are yet remains of darkness, which disappear as the light breaks in. We must not understand Mark's words, Very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, to mean that the sun was above the horizon, but rather what we ourselves ordinarily mean by the phrase, when we want any thing to be done very early, we say at the rising of the sun, i.e. some time before the sun is risen.
GREG. It is well said, When it was yet dark: Mary was seeking the Creator of all things in the tomb, and because she found Him not, thought He was stolen. Truly it was yet dark when she came to the sepulcher.
And sees the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
AUG. Now took place what Matthew only relates, the earthquake, and rolling away of the stone, and fight of the guards.
CHRYS. Our Lord rose while the stone and seal were still on the sepulcher. But as it was necessary that others should be certified of this, the sepulcher is opened after the resurrection, and so the fact confirmed. This it was which roused Mary. For when she saw the stone taken away, she entered not nor looked in, but ran to the disciples with all the speed of love. But as yet she knew nothing for certain about the resurrection, but thought that His body had been carried off.
GLOSS. And therefore she ran to tell the disciples, that they might seek Him with her, or grieve with her: Then she runs, and comes to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.
AUG. This is the way in which he usually mentions himself. Jesus loved all, but him in an especial and familiar way. And says to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him.
GREG. She puts the part for the whole; she had come only to seek for the body of our Lord, and now she laments that our Lord, the whole of Him, is taken away.
AUG. Some of the Greek copies have, taken away my Lord, which is more expressive of love, and of the feeling of an handmaiden. But only a few have this reading.
CHRYS. The Evangelist does not deprive the woman of this praise, nor leaves out from shame, that they had the news first from her. As soon as they hear it, they hasten to the sepulcher.
GREG. But Peter and John before the others, for they loved most; Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.
THEOPHYL. But how came they to the sepulcher, while the soldiers were guarding it? an easy question to answer. After our Lord's resurrection and the earthquake, and the appearance of the angel at the sepulcher, the guards withdrew, and told the Pharisees what had happened.
AUG. After saying, came to the sepulcher he goes back and tells us how they came: So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher; meaning himself, but he always speaks of himself, as if he were speaking of another person.
CHRYS. On coming he sees the linen clothes set aside: And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying. But he makes no further search: yet went he not in.
Peter on the other hand, being of a more fervid temper, pursued the search, and examined every thing: Then comes Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and sees the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Which circumstances were proof of His resurrection. For had they carried Him away, they would not have stripped Him; nor, if any had stolen Him, would they have taken the trouble to wrap up the napkin, and put it in a place by itself, apart from the linen clothes; but would have taken away the body as it was. John mentioned the myrrh first of all, for this reason, i.e. to show you that He could not have been stolen away. For myrrh would make the linen adhere to the body, and so caused trouble to the thieves, and they would never have been so senseless as to have taken this unnecessary pains about the matter.
After Peter however, John entered: Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed.
AUG. i.e. That Jesus had risen again, some think: Ah, but what follows contradicts this notion. He saw the sepulcher empty, and believed what the woman had said: For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. If he did not yet know that He must rise again from the dead, he could not believe that He had risen. They had heard as much indeed from our Lord, and very openly, but they were so accustomed to hear parables from Him, that they tool; this for a parable, and thought He meant something else.
GREG. But this account of the Evangelist must not be thought to be without some mystical meaning. By John, the younger of the two, the synagogue; by Peter, the elder, the Gentile Church is represented: for as though the synagogue was before the Gentile Church as regards the worship of God, as regards time the Gentile world was before the synagogue. They ran together, because the Gentile world ran side by side with the synagogue from first to last, in respect of purity and community of life, though a purity and community of understanding they had not.
The synagogue came first to the sepulcher, but entered not: it knew the commandments of the law, and had heard the prophecies of our Lord's incarnation and death, but would not believe in Him who died. Then comes Simon Peter, and entered into the sepulcher: the Gentile Church both knew Jesus Christ as dead man, and believed in Him as living God. The napkin about our Lord's head is not found with the linen clothes, i.e. God, the Head of Christ, and the incomprehensible mysteries of the Godhead are removed from our poor knowledge; His power transcends the nature of the creature. And it is found not only apart, but also wrapped together; because of the linen wrapped together, neither beginning nor end is seen; and the height of the Divine nature had neither beginning nor end. And it is into one place: for where there is division, God is not; and they merit His grace, who do not occasion scandal by dividing themselves into sects.
But as a napkin is what is used in laboring to wipe the sweat of the brow, by the napkin here we may understand the labor of God: which napkin is found apart, because the suffering of our Redeemer is far removed from ours; inasmuch as He suffered innocently, that which we suffer justly; He submitted Himself to death voluntarily, we by necessity. But after Peter entered, John entered too; for at the end of the world even Judea shall be gathered in to the true faith.
THEOPHYL. Or thus: Peter is practical and prompt, John contemplative and intelligent, and learned in divine things. Now the contemplative man is generally beforehand in knowledge and intelligence, but the practical by his fervor and activity gets the advance of the other's perception, and sees first into the divine mystery.
Catena Aurea John 20
