Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun:
Alleluia!
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Blessed and glorious Easter to you.
The Lord is truly risen… The Lord is risen, even as He said. **
Yes, Our Lord kept His promise and rose from death. For He had the power to lay down His life for love of His flock, and the power to take it up again. Prophecy and promise fulfilled! In days when promises are so often, so carelessly broken and forgotten, what a great joy it is to be the inheritors of the great promise of deliverance from fear, sorrow, sin and death! As the 16th century Easter hymn by Palestrina exulted, “The strife is over,” and our Redemption has been won by the sufferings and death of Christ.
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So now we come to the end of another Lent. And though we rejoice with gratitude in the great triumph of our King, we know that for us the strife is not over, nor our own battle yet won. Though our Jesus has won the conquest, He compassionately knows that we must continue in this world our striving for Heaven and the final victory each one of us must achieve. As members together of the Church militant on earth, His Body, we continue the struggle, drawing strength from the Cross.
Not losing heart, we place all our hope in our conquering Lord and in His Cross. With joy and confidence, we renew the vows of our Baptism, renouncing evil, the world and sin. And we rejoice in the “unspeakable gifts” which His Precious Blood has purchased and bestowed. One of those gifts surely is the Mother and Queen, who stands beside each one of us in our struggles, just as she stood by Our Lord and Savior at the foot of the Cross.
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All the graces of Paschaltide to each of you – and to God’s Holy Church all over the world!
Your Carmelite Sisters
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Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
(Romans 8:37)
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