“Peace be with you!”
Christ is risen! Hallelujah!
From a Sermon by St. Francis de Sales. April 12, 1594. Works VII, 167
The joy was undoubtedly great in Noah’s ark, when the dove, who had recently gone out as if to spy on the state in which the world was, finally returned carrying in his beak the olive branch, a sure signal of the cessation of the waters*, and that God had restored to the world the happiness of his peace. But, O God, of what joy, of what feast, of what joy was delighted the troop of the Apostles, when they saw the holy humanity of the Redeemer return among themselves after the resurrection, carrying in his mouth the olive of a holy and pleasant peace: Pax vobis, and showing them the unmistakable marks and signs of the reconciliation of men with God: Et ostendit eis manus et pedes.
No doubt their souls were then fully soaked with consolation: Gavisi sunt discipuli viso Domino. But this joy was not the principal fruit of this holy sight; for their wavering faith was strengthened, their terrified hope was assured, and their almost extinguished charity was kindled. This is the discourse I have undertaken, but which I cannot do well, nor can you, listen well, unless the Holy Spirit assists us. Let us invoke him, therefore, and to better invoke him, let us employ the mediation of the Blessed Virgin. Ave Maria.
Now these three things remain, faith, hope and charity; but the greatest of these is charity; 1 . Cor, 13. Faith for understanding, hope for memory, charity for the will. Faith honors the Father because it rests on omnipotence; hope honors the Son, for it is founded on his redemption; charity honors the Holy Spirit because it embraces and cherishes goodness. Faith shows us bliss, hope makes us yearn for it, charity puts us in possession. They are necessary, but now; for in Heaven there remains only charity. Faith does not enter into it, for it is seen all; hope still less, for it is possessed in everything; but the only charity takes place there, to love in everything, everywhere and at all our God.
Our Lord does nothing but teach us these three lessons: how to believe, hope and love; but especially in these forty days when he conversed after his resurrection with his Apostles, and more particularly in the apparition recited today.