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Chapter 86MedVC.1.86

De resurrectione Domini, et quomodo apparuit Matri suae

The Lord Rises in Glory

Christ rises from the sealed tomb in glory, accompanied by angels.

The Lord Jesus came with a glorious multitude of angels to the tomb on the Lord's day, very early in the morning, and receiving back that most holy body, he went forth from the tomb, though it was sealed, by his own power in rising again.

The Women Set Out; the Mother Prays

The women go to the tomb while the Blessed Virgin remains at home, pouring out her grief and longing to the Father.

At that same hour — namely, very early in the morning — Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, having first asked leave from the Lady, set out with ointments toward the tomb.✦1 The Lady, however, remained at home and was praying, saying: Father most merciful, Father most loving, as you know, my son is dead, fixed to the cross between two thieves, and I buried him with my hands; but you are powerful, Lord, to restore him to me unharmed.2 I ask your majesty that you return him to me. Why does he delay so long in coming to me? Send him back to me, I beg you, because my soul finds no rest unless I see him.3 O my dearest one, what has become of you?4 What are you doing?

A Mother's Restless Longing

The Virgin's prayer intensifies as she recalls Christ's promise of the third day and gives voice to her unrelenting sorrow.

Why do you hold back? I beg you, don't put off coming to me any longer; for you yourself said: 'On the third day I will rise again.'✦ Isn't this the third day, my son? Not yesterday, but the day before — that was the great and bitter day, and I am still in it. In. Ltem digae. How great that day was — Tre Marii guen vadni admot mento.

The Third Day Dawens in Her Heart

The Virgin recognizes the third day has come and calls her beloved Son to return, using spousal and scriptural language of hope.

, Chapter. 87–88. Greatly — a day of calamity and of death, of darkness and of gloom, of separation and of… death? So then, my son, today is the third day.✦ Arise then, my glory, and all my good, and return.✦ More than anything, I long to see you. Let your return comfort me — how deeply your departure has grieved me. Come back then, my beloved — come, Lord Jesus; come, my only hope; come to me, my lily.✦✦

Christ Appears to His Mother

The risen Lord appears to the Virgin in glory; she recognizes, adores, embraces, and examines him, and they bless God together.

So she was praying like this, shedding sweet tears, when suddenly the Lord Jesus came in the whitest garments, his face serene, beautiful, glorious, and joyful, and he said to her, as if from the side: Hail, holy parent. But she, turning at once, said: Is it you, my son Jesus? And she knelt down, adoring him. To whom her son said: My sweetest mother, I am the one — I have risen, and I am still with you. And as they rose up, she herself, with tears of joy, embracing him and pressing face to face against him, held him tightly, resting completely over him, and eagerly supported him. Afterward, when they sat down together, she looked carefully and curiously at his face and at the scars of his hands, searching through everything, to see whether all pain had left him. And he said: Revered mother, all pain has departed from me — I have overcome death, and sorrow, and all hardships — and from now on I will feel nothing of what remains. And she said: Blessed be your Father, who has restored you to me; exalted, praised, and magnified be his name forever.

Reunion in Joy and the Great Passover

Mother and Son rejoice together; Christ recounts his descent to hell, and they celebrate the true Passover.

So they stand and talk together with joy, celebrating the Passover in delight and love. And the Lord Jesus tells her how he freed his people from hell, and all the things he did during those three days.✦ Behold, now indeed, the great Passover!✦

Read the original Latin

Veniens Dominus Jesus cum honorabili multitudine angelorum ad monumentum die dominico summo mane, et reaccipiens corpus istud sanctissimum, et ipso monumento clauso, processit propria virtute resurgendo. Eadem autem hora, scilicet summo mane, Maria Magdalene, et Jacobi, et Salome, licentia petita prius a Domina, coeperunt ire cum unguentis ad monumentum. Domina autem domi remansit, et orabat, dicens: Pater clementissime, Pater piissime, sicut scitis, mortuus est filius meus, inter duos latrones cruci f uit affixus, et ego eum sepelivi manibus meis: sed potens estis, Domine, eum mihi restituere incolumem. Rogo majestatem vestram, ut eum mihi reddatis. Quare tardat tantum ad me venire? Remittite, obsecro, eum mihi, quia non quiescit anima mea, nisi videam ipsum. 0 fiii mi dulcissime, quid est de te? quid agis?

quid moram contrahis? Rogo te, ne amplius differas venire ad me; tu enim dixisti *: Tertia die resurgam. Nonne, fili mi, est hodie tertia dies? Non heri, sed prius heri, id est, nudiustertius, fuit dies illa magna, et amara sum. In. Ltem digae. quautum fuit illa, ue. Tre| Marii guen vadni admot mento.

, CAP. LXXXVII-LXXXVIII. valde, dies calamitatis et mortis, tenebrarum etcaliginis, separationis et morlis tufe. Ergo, fili mi, est hodie tertia dies. Exurge crgo, gloria mea, et omne bonum meum, et redi. Super omnia desidero te videre. Consoletur me tuus reditus, quam sic contristavit discessus. Revertere ergo, dilecte mij veni, Domine Jesu, veni spes mea unica, veni ad me, lili mi.

Illa ergo sic orante, et lacrymas dulciter emittente, ecce subito Dominus Jesus venit in vestibus albissimis, vultu screno, speciosus, gloriosus et gaudens, et dixit ei quasi exlatere: Salve, sancta parens. At illa statim se vertens: Es tu, inquit, filius meus Jesus? Et genuflexit adorans. Cui filius: Mater mea dulcissima, ego sum, resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum. Eis autem surgentibus, ipsa cum lacrymis prae gaudio amplexans eum, et vultum vultui applicans fortiter stringebat, requiescens totaliter super eum, eteam alacriter sustentabat. Postea consedentibus eis pariter, diligenter et curiose intuetur eumdem in vultu et cicatricibus manuum, et per totum quaerens, si omnis dolor ab eo discesserat. Et ille: Reverenda mater, omnis a me dolor abscessit, et mortem, et dolorem, et omnes angustias superavi, nec de caetero inde aliquid sentiam. Et illa: Benedictus sit Pater tuus, qui te mihi reddidit; exaltatum, et laudatum sit nomen ejus, et magnificatum in saecula.

Stant ergo et colloquuntur ad invicem gaudentes, et Pascha ducentes delectabiliter et amanter. Et narrat ei Dominus Jesus, qualiter populum suum liberavit de inferno, et omnia quae fecit in isto triduo. Ecce nunc ergo magnum Pascha

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Mark.16.1 — And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might come and anoint him.
  2. ↩Matt.16.21;Luke.9.22 — From that time Jesus the Christ began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Luke.9.22 — saying that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
  3. ↩Hos.6.2;Luke.24.7 — After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. Luke.24.7 — saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.
  4. ↩Ps.56.9 — You have counted my wanderings; put my tears in your flask — are they not in your book?
  5. ↩Song.2.1 — I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.
  6. ↩Rev.22.20 — The one who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
  7. ↩1Pet.3.19 — in which also he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
  8. ↩1Cor.5.7 — Clean out the old leaven, so that you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Latin 'Jacobi' (genitive) is rendered as 'Mary the mother of James' following the Gospel parallel (Mark 16:1), where the three women are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.
  2. 2 ↩The manuscript reads 'f uit' (scribal corruption of 'fuit'). The normalized text preserves the corruption; the translation supplies the intended 'was' to complete the sense of 'cruci fuit affixus' — 'was fixed to the cross.'
  3. 3 ↩Latin 'anima' rendered as 'soul' per lexeme policy (interior person before God), not 'life' or 'self.'
  4. 4 ↩The manuscript reads '0 fiii mi dulcissime' — 'fiii' is a scribal corruption, likely of 'fili' (vocative of 'filius,' 'son') or a vocative exclamation. The translation renders the intended sense as 'O my dearest one,' capturing the Virgin's tender address.

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