Vigils Reading – 2nd Sunday of Easter

From a commentary by

ST CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA

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By his miraculous entry through closed doors Christ proved to his

disciples that by nature he was God and also that he was none other than their

former companion. By showing them his side and the marks of the nails, he

convinced them beyond a doubt that he had raised the temple of his body, the

very body that had hung upon the cross. He had destroyed death’s power over

the flesh, for as God he was life itself.

Because of the importance he attached to making his disciples believe in

the resurrection of the body, and in order to prevent them from thinking that

the body he now possessed was different from that in which he had suffered

death upon the cross, he willed to appear to them as he had been before, even

though the time had now come for his body to be clothed in a supernatural glory

such as no words could possibly describe.

We have only to recall Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain in the

presence of his holy disciples, to realize that mortal eyes could not have endured

the glory of his sacred body had he chosen to reveal it before ascending to the

Father. Saint Matthew describes how Jesus went up the mountain with Peter,

James and John, and how he was transfigured before them. His face shone like

lightning and his clothes became white as snow. But they were unable to endure

the sight and fell prostrate on the ground.

And so, before allowing the glory which belonged to it by every right to

transfigure the temple of his body, our Lord Jesus Christ in his wisdom

appeared to his disciples in the form that they had known. He wished them to

believe that he had risen from the dead in the very body that he had received

from the blessed virgin, and in which he had suffered crucifixion and death, as

the Scriptures had foretold. Death’s power was over the body alone, and it was

from the body that it was banished.

If it was not Christ’s dead body that rose again, how was death conquered,

how was the power of corruption destroyed? It could not have been destroyed by

the death of a created spirit, of a soul, of an angel, or even of the Word of God

himself. Since death held sway only over what was corruptible by nature, it was

in this corruptible nature that the power of the resurrection had to show itself in

order to end death’s tyranny.

When Christ greeted his disciples with the words: Peace be with you, by

peace he meant himself for Christ’s presence always brings tranquility of soul.

This is the grace Saint Paul desired for believers when he wrote: The peace of

Christ, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. The

peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, is in fact the Spirit of Christ,

who fills those who share in him with every blessing.