Grief And Joy

Haec dies, fratres charissimi, quam fecit Dominus, ait Propheta sanctissimus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea. Nunquid, fratres, non et hesternam diem similiter Dominus fecit? Plane, sed illam jejunio, istam laetitiae consecravit; illa discipulis luctum, haec maximum intulit gaudium. Quid ergo, fratres, agendum? Nimirum, ut ratio docet, si heri luximus cum apostolis, gaudeamus hodie cum illis, et omnibus sanctis. Neque vereamur, ne nobis dicatur: Vae vobis qui ridetis nunc, quia lugebitis ac flebitis, cum propter praeteritam abstinentiam atque tristitam, ejusdem refoveamur consolatione dicentis, ut apostolis vero ante passionem, ita nobis ante resurrectionis Dominicae diem: Et vos igitur nunc quidem tristitiam habetis: iterum autem videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis. Hoc dictum est apostolis, hoc dicitur et nobis: lucerunt apostoli pro morte, quanquam illis nimium necessaria, Christi, de cujus resurrectione gaudio inaestimabili, et immensa sunt gratulatione laetati; imitati sumus hesterno luctum illorum, imitemur hodie gaudium. Sed si eos volumus imitari, ab eisdem normam sumamus, moneo, gaudii. Dic igitur, sancte Apostole, post omnes quidem vocate, sed usque ad tertium coelum modo quem ipse melius nostri divinitus rapte; dic, inquam satisfac interrogantibus, unde debeamus gaudere. Pascha, inquit, pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus. Non ob aliud? Immolationem nam nos ipsam intellexeramus eamdem, quam Apostoli luxerant mortem, quorum et hesterno sumus imitati moerorem. Rogamus igitur, prosequere quid debeamus hodie vel qualiter agere. Subjungit atque ait: Itaque epulemur, id est, carnem Domini manducemus, et sanguinem ipsius bibamus: Non in fermento tamen veteri, neque in fermento malitiae et nequitiae; sed in azymis sinceritatis et vertitatis. Et veritatis, inquam. Quare hoc? Quia et alibi idem dicit Apostolus: Consepulti sumus Christo per baptismum in mortem: ut quomodo surrexit Christus a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus. Si enim complantati sumus similitudini mortis ejus, simul et resurrectionis erimus. Hoc igitur sensus, fratres charissimi, servamus operando quod credimus, in Christo renati, in Christo passi, in Christo mortui, in Christo sumus a mortuis suscitati, ac per hoc maxima nobis est ratio gaudi. Hanc ergo diem non sibi solum, sed et nobis quia fecit Dominus, fratres, exsultemus et laetemur in ea. Ratherius Veronensis Sermo IV, De Pascha Source:Migne PL 136.719c-720c

'This day,' dear brothers, 'which the Lord made,' says the most holy Prophet, 'let us exult and let us rejoice in it.' 1 But did not, brothers, the Lord make yesterday as well? Certainly, but that was consecrated for fasting, this day is for joy; that day was for sorrow with the disciples, this day brings in great joy. What, then, brothers, should we do? Without doubt reason teaches that if yesterday we sorrowed with the Apostles, today we rejoice with them, and with all the saints. Let us not fear, let it not be said to us: 'Woe to you who smile now, because you shall lament and weep,' 2 when on account of prior abstinence and grief, His words of consolation shall blaze forth, just as they did to the Apostles before the passion, so to us before the day of the resurrection of the Lord: 'Even you now have a certain sorrow, but again I will see you, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.' 3 This which was said to the Apostles is also said to us. The Apostles grieved for the death of Christ, certainly necessary for them, and in His resurrection they rejoiced with immeasurable joy and immense thanks. Yesterday we imitated their grief, today let us imitate their joy. But if we wish to imitate them, I bid that we take from them our measure of our joy. So speak, holy Apostle, you who were called after the others, but who was swept up to the third heaven by our Divinity for our betterment; speak, I say, and satisfy those who ask: why should we rejoice? 'Christ our Paschal lamb has been sacrificed.' 4 For nothing else? That same sacrifice we have understood, which death grieved the Apostles, the sorrow of whom we imitated yesterday. Let us ask, therefore, what we should do today, or how we should do it. He says a little after: 'Thus let us feast, that is, let us eat the flesh of the Lord, and let us drink His blood. Not, however, with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of wickedness and malice, but with the leaven of sincerety and truth.' 5 Of truth, I say. Why? Because elsewhere the Apostle says: 'We have been buried with Christ in baptism to death, so that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, thus even we shall walk in the new life. If indeed we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall be resurrected like Him.' 6 Let us guard this understanding, dearest brothers, in the doing of what we believe, in Christ reborn, in Christ suffering, in Christ dying, in Christ being raised from the dead, and in this the great reason for our joy. Thus this day which the Lord made, not only for Himself, but even for us, brothers, let us exult and rejoice in it. Ratherius Of Verona, from Sermon 4, On The Pasch 1 Ps 117.24 2 Lk 6.25 3 Jn 16.22 4 1 Cor 5.7 5 1 Cor 5.8 6 Rom 6.4-5