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An Easter Sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx ¹

At the time when the sons of Israel were leaving Egypt, it was prescribed in the Law that a lamb was to be slaughtered and eaten. This was called the paschal feast. It was also prescribed that for seven days they should eat unleavened bread – that is, bread without leavening. And this was called the feast of unleavened bread. The Evangelist brings this out when he says: The festival of unleavened bread, called the pasch, was approaching. This first feast, when they killed the lamb , was called only the pasch; the latter was called both the pasch and the feast of unleavened bread. It seems to me, then, that the first feast symbolizes the Lord’s passion and the latter his resurrection. That the first symbolizes the Lord’s passion is sufficiently well known. In it the true Lamb was slain and by his blood we have been saved from the hand of Pharaoh – that is, the devil. The feast is called the pasch – that is, the passing over – because Christ at his passion passed over from this world. As the Evangelist says: Before the day of paschal feast Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.

Yet let us take a look at how the other feast symbolizes the Lord’s resurrection. And first of all let us reflect on how profoundly that divine majesty humbled himself and to what depths he descended for us. He who is the creator, made himself a creature. He who was Lord, made himself a servant. He who was rich, made himself poor. He who was great, made himself little. And the Word was made flesh. He was bread and he fed the angels. But he did not feed us. And so we were wretched, because a rational creature is always wretched if he is not fed this bread. We were, however, so weak that in no way could we taste that bread in all its purity. We had within us a corrosive leaven that robbed us of our pristine strength. We had become so unlike that pure and untainted bread that we could not taste it at all. This leavening which we had within us was twofold. We had within us the leavening of mortality and we had within us the leavening of iniquity.

You see now how far removed we were from that bread in which there was neither mortality nor iniquity. How were we to ascend to it? How were we to taste it? What things are so contrary to one another as mortality and immortality, iniquity and justice? We are mortals and sinners; he is immortal and just. How were we to come together? He saw this, he who is caring and merciful. Because we could not ascend to him, he came down to us. He took upon himself one part of our leavening and so adapted himself to our weakness. He did not take to himself the whole leaven that was in us, but a certain part of it. If he had taken on the whole of it he would be as we are and he would not be able to help us. If he had taken none of it he would be so distant from us that we would not be able in any way to approach him. And so we would remain forever in our wretchedness. We have said that there was a twofold leavening in us: mortality and iniquity. The one he took on and by it was made like us. The other he avoided so that he could profit us.

The leavening of our mortality therefore he accepted, and abode in the purity of his justice, so that he would be the sort of being who could come down to us and yet remain the sort of being to whom we ought to ascend. You see now, brothers, how that pure bread is leavened for our sake. To this leavening of mortality belongs hunger, thirst, sorrow, misery. All of this our Lord took on himself. He chose to take on this leavening, but he was not obliged to remain in ferment. First he showed this leavening in himself through a wondrous compassion and then he purged himself of this leaven through a wondrous charity. He purged himself of this leavening in such a way as to show his wonderful charity for us. Therefore he willed to purge himself from the leavening of mortality in the way in which we have to purge ourselves from the leavening of iniquity.

We ought to know that our iniquity is the cause of our mortality. And therefore when we are fully purged of iniquity we will doubtless also be purged of mortality. We ought meanwhile to realize that our iniquity is twofold. It comes from the nature in which we were born and from the evil which we later brought to it. From both of these the Lord purges us. He offered for us a sacrifice – his own blood – and through this sacrifice we are purged. And therefore what we suffer now from the corruption of our nature is no longer iniquity but infirmity. From the corruption of our nature come the impulses of concupiscence which we suffer unwillingly. From this come the impulses of lust, anger, pride, ambition. But if we do not consent to them, God does not impute them to us, because the pure sacrifice was offered to offset the corruption of our nature. Note, then, by the workings of his compassion in us in baptism we are purged of all sins, both those which came from nature and those which we added voluntarily.

1The Liturgical Sermons of Aelred of Rievaulx – Sermon 12 – Cistercian Fathers Series – #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 – pg 194