In today's gospel, we are confronted with two armies being gathered, one the army of Christ,
the other the army of Satan. For our Lord tells St. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to go and tell his disciples
to wait for them, for it had to be fulfilled what the scripture said, when the shepherd is struck, the sheep will be scattered.
But the sheep were called to be the soldiers of Christ in the conversion of the world.
And so we see here, this word is called the post-resurrection period of our Lord,
the Lord beginning to gather his soldiers.
Not by way of the tyrant, but by way of mercy, he will gather them, strengthen them, and then convince them,
convince them that truly it is he who has risen from the dead, the same Christ who walked with them,
the same Christ who taught them, the same Christ who ate with them, and the same Christ who went to be slaughtered at Calvary for them.
And once the faith of the apostles, and most especially the faith of Peter, was strengthened,
then the Lord would depart from his presence in this life, ascend to his Father in heaven,
and those soldiers of Christ would go forth until the end of time, baptizing all nations in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The second army being gathered today is the army of Satan, who is always and everywhere at opposition with the Lord,
and always seeking to destroy him, especially by the lies and calumnies that they will throw against Holy Mother,
the Church, and indeed, today, we see a striking conspiracy being perpetrated upon the Church.
For the chief priests and the scribes bribed the soldiers with a large sum of money,
and knowing full well that it would get back to Pilate, they told the soldiers that they would take care of Pilate also,
that is, they would grease his palms more earnestly than perhaps they greased the palms of the soldiers.
Why is this so?
Because lies always must be perpetrated against the Church in order to try to destroy the truth.
For she and she alone is the vanguard of truth, and all else is in opposition to her, and hence a lie.
And we know the extent of the lie perpetrated against the Church this day.
For it was a Roman law that a soldier who fell asleep on duty was to be instantly executed for dereliction of duty,
without any trial,
by the very fact that he was
caught sleeping while he was to be on guard duty meant instant execution.
And so we see very clearly that they are trying to cover up what really happened,
that is, that the Lord truly rose from the dead.
And although many times this opposition of Christ does not have the support of arms,
it always and everywhere is subtly trying to erode the faith,
that is, the faith of St.
Peter, that our Lord had called
him to give to the world.
And so we must always be on guard first to strengthen our faith by the constant prayerful study of that faith,
and then always be on guard to discern how the errors of the modern world are seeking to assail the Church.
For we see it in all manners and all shapes of form.
Scripture is attacked or scripture is contrasted with perhaps the Koran,
and we are given the impressions that the Koran has some insight to give to us,
in the spiritual life that the Scripture does not have.
And so we see a very subtle and clever deception,
for there is a separation between the Bible and all other literature.
No literature can compare to the Bible,
for the Bible alone is the Word of God.
And when we seek to put any form of literature on a par with Holy Scripture,
then we are falling into the error and we are being deceived by the forces arrayed against Christ
and His soldiers, most especially against the Vicar of Christ.
And so, this day we are truly joyful and we are also saddened,
joyful because the Lord has risen and He is now gathering His apostles,
strengthening them for their mission to go forth and to claim all the nations for the Kingdom of Christ.
But we are sad because there are men,
and there will always be men, who are in opposition to the Church and hence are in opposition to true love,
and so they do not bring life to the world as the Savior did,
but they constantly bring death to the world,
and they often try to cover it through technology and many other things.
And so, let us always live in the light of Christ,
so that we do not dwell in the darkness of this modern world.
Let us always believe, as the apostles came to believe, that He has truly risen,
and as He gathered His soldiers this day,
one day He will gather up our remains,
reconstitute them,
and then we will be brought triumphant into His Father's Kingdom.
And those who have not used the opportunity of their life to serve the Lord
will receive the just recompense for their souls.
And there will be no remorse in the faithful,
insofar as we have done all we can to convert the world to the Kingdom of Christ.
For we will see on that day all things as they truly are,
and the Lord will lay bare the secrets,
the secrets,
hidden in our heart,
and then we will be truly judged,
not according to appearances,
but according to what the Lord knows is in our heart and in our mind.
And so, let us always strive to remain in the camp of Christ,
because ultimately,
even though the modern world is trying to convince us
there are gray areas and safe places to be outside of the haven that God has established,
in the end,
there are truly no gray areas.
One is either in the camp of Christ or in the camp of Satan,
and these are the very words that our Lord would strengthen His Apostles with,
you are either with Me or against Me,
you are either for Me or against Me.
And so, we see very clearly that the Lord Himself teaches this,
and so, let us always strive to destroy the errors that were are always present in the camp of Satan,
so that those who are in the camp of Satan,
that those who now dwell under his slave ship may be freed from their prison
and brought into the freedom to be sons of God in this life
in order to be happy with him forever in the life to come.
© transcript Emily Beynon