That Combat Stupendous
Gospel Reflection for April 5, 2026, Easter Sunday - John 20:1-9
1 And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre; and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 She ran, therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith to them: They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre.
4 And they both ran together, and that other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying; but yet he went not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen cloths lying,
7 And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place.
8 Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. (John 20:1-9 DRA)
Today, on this glorious feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Our Lord, we are blessed to hear one of the few remaining sequences in the Roman missal: Victimae Paschali Laudes – Praise the Paschal Victim. Its beautiful poetry recalls the mission of the Church Militant, the spiritual warfare we wage against the world, the flesh and the devil on a daily basis. This is “that combat stupendous,” as the sequence calls it, the battle raging around and within us every moment of every day, but one which, since it is invisible, tends to be ignored, denied, in preference to more ‘practical’ concerns like food, work and sleep. All the while, whether we know it or not, we are picking a side – God or Satan – in whose armies we will be enlisted for all eternity. We are being remade, day by day and choice by choice, into a devil or a saint, into the image of God or the image of Satan, yet most of us are too distracted by our cares and worries, our petty grievances and our entertainments to even notice.
This is the profound and arresting truth that Christ shines into our minds and hearts today. But ultimately, “that combat stupendous” refers above all to Christ, whom the sequence calls the “Prince of life” who nevertheless “died” and now “reigns immortal.” This struggle, in which “Death and life have contended”, is one we cannot win or even fight on our own. Christ has already won it for us, and by His grace, we are clothed with the armor of God and empowered to fight it ourselves, imitating His perfect charity against the worst that the world, the flesh and the devil can throw at us. Christian saints, whose virtues vastly exceed even the greatest heroes of the Old Testament, show us that it really is possible to be conformed to Christ and merit eternal life through Him, to be divinized into His perfect likeness and one day receive the reward of resurrection.
Today’s great Paschal Mystery and sequence recall one of Christ’s most enigmatic parables: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him, may not perish; but may have life everlasting.” (Jn 3:14-15) The Prince of life became death; Christ the sinless reconciles sinners to the Father by becoming sin for us. Out of the infinite methods God could have chosen to accomplish our salvation, He chose the paradox, the irony of the Cross and the empty tomb.
Like the bronze serpent, forged by Moses and held aloft so that any Israelite who looked upon it would be saved from the punishment of their sin – by the very instrument of their punishment, they would be saved – so Mary Magdalene, the women, St. Peter and St. John look into the tomb – the starkest consequence of sin, the fate that awaits every one of us because of our participation in the Fall by our daily sins, our rejection of Life for death – and by looking not only with their bodily eyes but with the eyes of faith, they are saved.
So, even though they will still die bodily, they are already resurrected in spirit and promised the resurrection of the body in the End Times. Moses, by God’s command, made the instrument of death for the Israelites into a beautiful icon of salvation, demonstrating God’s power over sin; likewise, Christ made the instrument of death for countless people, the Cross, and the clearest sign of death, the tomb, into icons of His victory over sin and death.
All we must do is resolve to love God as Christ does and love our fellow man as He showed us, and one day our own tombs will also be found empty. Even now, the sepulchre of a heart deadened by sin can be restored to newness of life by faith, hope and love through the grace of His Sacraments, just as St. Peter, who only three days before had denied Christ, was now allowed to pilgrimage to the holiest site on Earth, and for his faith, he would soon be given the chance to confess and return to Christ.
The same option is offered to each of us today. No matter how far we think we have fallen, we cannot do worse than St. Peter, Christ’s closest friend and the leader of His Church, yet Christ still offered him a second chance in John 21, and He offers each one of us the same today.
This Easter season, may we be inspired by the example of the holy women and the two most fervent apostles to love Our Lord with all our mind, heart and strength, to pour ourselves out in love for Him and our neighbor as He did for us on the Cross, and, when we are hit with all the fiery darts of temptation, persecution and suffering that Satan can muster against us, may we keep our eyes fixed on the Cross and on the empty tomb, the signs of Christ’s victory – and ours.
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