Spiritual Quote of the Day (Karl Rahner, on Easter, ‘Our True and Eternal Life’)

“The Holy Saturday of our life must be the preparation for Easter, the persistent hope for the final glory of God. If we live the Holy Saturday of our existence properly, this will not be a merely ideological addition to this common life as the mean between its contraries. It is realized in what makes our everyday life specifically human: in the patience that can wait, in the sense of humor which does not take things too seriously, in being prepared to let others be first, in the courage which always seeks for a way out of the difficulties. The virtue of our daily life is the hope which does what is possible and expects God to do the impossible. To express it somewhat paradoxically, but nevertheless seriously: the worst has actually already happened; we exist, and even death cannot deprive us of this. Now is the Holy Saturday of our ordinary life, but there will also be Easter, our true and eternal life.”—German Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner (1904-1984), Grace in Freedom (1969)

The image accompanying this post, The Resurrection, was painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (ca. 1445-1510) around 1490.

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Pope Francis, on Jesus, ‘A Specialist at Turning Our Deaths Into Life’)

“Jesus is a specialist at turning our deaths into life, our mourning into dancing (cf. Ps 30:11). With him, we too can experience a Pasch, that is, a Passover– from self-centredness to communion, from desolation to consolation, from fear to confidence. Let us not keep our faces bowed to the ground in fear, but raise our eyes to the risen Jesus. His gaze fills us with hope, for it tells us that we are loved unfailingly, and that however much we make a mess of things, his love remains unchanged. This is the one, non-negotiable certitude we have in life: His love does not change. Let us ask ourselves: In my life, where am I looking? Am I gazing at graveyards, or looking for the Living One?” —Pope Francis, “Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter: Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Apr. 20, 2019

The depiction of the Resurrection of Jesus in the accompanying image is by the German painter and graphic artist Bernard Plockhorst (1825-1907).

Spiritual Quote of the Day (St. John Chrysostom, on How ‘Forgiveness Has Risen From the Grave’ With Easter)

“Let no one grieve at his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it.” — Eloquent Archbishop of Constantinople and early Church Father St. John Chrysostom (c. 349-407 AD), “Easter Sermon”

The image accompanying this post is the fresco painting The Resurrection, by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca (1415-1492)

Quote of the Day (Dorianne Laux, on Dying and Rebirth, at Easter)

“Once upon a time . . .

we begin our saddest stories.

Once bitten. Once burned.

Once in a blue moon. Once more

unto the breach. We die a while

into each other’s arms and are

reborn like Lazarus, like Jesus.”— Dorianne Laux, “Error's Refuge,” published as part of “Two Poems,” Oxford American, Fall 2015

George Stevens’ The Greatest Story Ever Told will undoubtedly be broadcast countless times this Easter Sunday. Though that is not my favorite film about the life of Christ (that honor goes to Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth), it does have one scene of such striking visual power that it throws the rest of the movie (dominated by distracting cameos by the likes of John Wayne and Shelley Winters) into sharp relief. It is the moment caught here, where Jesus commands his dear friend Lazarus (who had died a few days before) to come out of his tomb.

The appearance of Lazarus, it can be seen in this Renaissance-like tableau, has social as well as obvious individual implications. Those on the spot are stunned by what they have just seen, and their witnessing to the event will make them all the more receptive, not too long later, to the idea that Jesus himself could perform a similar miracle with Himself rising from the dead.

Quote of the Day (St. Augustine, on Easter)

“And He departed from our sight, that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here.”—St. Augustine, Confessions (A.D. 398)

(The image accompanying this post is a detail from the painting Resurrection, by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca.)

Quote of the Day (St. John Chrysostom, on Easter)

“O death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?  Christ is risen and life is freed, Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep.  To Him be glory and power for ever and ever.”—St. John Chrysostom (Ca. 347-407), “The Easter Resurrection Homily”

The depiction of the Resurrection of Jesus in the accompanying image is by the German painter and graphic artist Bernard Plockhorst (1825-1907).

Quote of the Day (Thomas Merton, on Easter Sunday)

“All the apple trees came out in blossom Good Friday. It rained and got colder, but today is very bright with a pure sky. The willow is full of green. Things are all in bud.

"And in my heart, the deepest peace, Christ's clarity, lucid and quiet and ever-present as eternity. On these big feasts you come out on top of a plateau in the spiritual life to get a new view of everything. Especially Easter. Easter is like what it will be entering eternity when you suddenly, peacefully, clearly recognize all your mistakes as well as all that you did well: everything falls into place.”—Thomas Merton, diary entry for Easter Sunday, March 28, 1948, in The Intimate Merton: His Life From His Journals, edited by Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo (1999)

Quote of the Day (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, on Easter)

“'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees

Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.”--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Spanish Student: A Play in Three Acts (1840)

Quote of the Day (St. John Chrysostom, on Easter)

“O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”-- St. John Chrysostom, “The Easter Homily of St. John Crysostom”

I took the photo accompanying this post for a photography class assignment a couple of years ago. To me, it sums up the grace of this beautiful day. The setting, for those who care to know and visit it, is Edgemont Memorial Park in Montclair, NJ.