Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter


I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite....
Hosea 13:14

This is the Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb, a fresco by Bl. Fra Angelico (1442).  Fra Angelico liked to place Dominican saints in his scenes from Scripture.  Obviously, there were no Dominicans personally present at the Resurrection, but including one in this scene shows that he placed himself there spiritually by contemplation.  We are all called to become saints, and mental prayer is an essential element in the process.  This saint has a star over his head, so it is probably Holy Father Dominic himself.

Today only marks the beginning of Easter, which is an octave.  The really important feasts are octaves: thus the Church pauses time so that we may contemplate their meaning from various angles.  Easter means that hell and death and destruction and chaos are vanquished.  Therefore, no matter what happens, never despair.  The devil does not get the last word.

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