The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls it ‘the Feast of feasts, the Solemnity of solemnities’
By Father Randy Stice
In every celebration of Mass, wrote Pope Pius XII, Christ “continues that journey of immense mercy that He lovingly began in His mortal life.” In His journey with us in the liturgy, the celebration of each of His mysteries “brings its own special grace for our salvation.”1 The Second Vatican Council spoke of the special graces of each celebration: “the Church opens to the faithful the riches of her Lord’s powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all time, and the faithful are enabled to lay hold upon them and become filled with saving grace.”2 It is the Holy Spirit, says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, who makes present the special graces of Christ’s mysteries: “in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”3
The saints taught and experienced the unique graces of each Mass. In his preaching on the different feasts, St. Bernard of Clairvaux “tried to show the particular graces each feast had for the Brothers, and how they could make them their own” because “it is in the Church and through her liturgical feasts and sacraments that we enter into the mysteries of Christ’s earthly life, and share in their redemptive power.”4 St. Thérèse of Lisieux described how her sister Pauline introduced her to the graces of each feast: “How I loved the feasts! You knew how to explain all the mysteries hidden under each, and you did it so well that they were truly heavenly days for me.”5 And St. Faustina, the Apostle of Mercy, wrote in her diary, “Almost every feast of the Church gives me a deeper knowledge of God and a special grace.”6
Since we are entering the Easter season, I’d like to look at the special graces of Easter, the liturgical celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Easter, says the Catechism, is “the ‘Feast of feasts,’ the ‘Solemnity of solemnities…‘the Great Sunday.’”7 Chronologically, Easter comes near the middle of the liturgical year, but it is its source and center. “Starting on Easter as from its light-filled center, the new time of the resurrection first sweeps through the year….moving out to both sides from this center, the year is progressively transfigured by the liturgy.”8 The unique graces of each liturgy are an important part of this progressive transfiguration.
St. Faustina carefully recorded the graces she received during Mass throughout the liturgical year, including accounts of Easter in 1937 and 1938, the last two years of her earthly life. In 1937, she wrote, “During the Mass of the resurrection, I saw the Lord in beauty and splendor, and He said to me, My daughter, peace be with you. He blessed me and disappeared, and my soul was filled with gladness and joy beyond words. My heart was fortified for struggle and sufferings.”9 The following year, just months before her death, she received a special experience of the Trinity. She wrote, “During Mass, I thanked the Lord Jesus for having deigned to redeem us and for having given us that greatest of all gifts; namely, His love in Holy Communion; that is, His very own Self. At that moment, I was drawn into the bosom of the Most Holy Trinity, and I was immersed in the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These moments are hard to describe.”10
The prayers of the Easter liturgies indicate some of the special graces of this solemnity. The collect (opening prayer) for the Easter Vigil asks God to “stir up a spirit of adoption.” St. Faustina experienced this when Jesus addressed her as “my daughter.” This collect also asks that we might be “renewed in body and mind.” The collect for Mass during the day includes a similar petition, that we may, “through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life.”
Two other prayers for the Easter Vigil indicate additional graces. The prayer over the gifts asks for “the healing of eternity,” and the prayer after Communion asks that God may make us “one in mind and heart.” Where do we need renewal, healing, unity, and renewal in our lives? Pope Francis reminds us that because of the power of the resurrection now present in the world, “in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life.”11
Christ’s resurrection “permeates with its powerful energy our old time.”12 It is, says Pope Francis, “a vital power” and “an irresistible force” by which “goodness always re-emerges,” “beauty is born anew,” and we “have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed.”13 This Easter may we encounter Christ in His journey of immense mercy with us in the power of His resurrection and experience the unique graces of His transforming mysteries.
1 Mediator Dei, 165
2 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 102
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 1104
4 Love Without Measure: Extracts from the Writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Publications, 1990, p. 69
5 Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, third edition, ICS Publications, 1996, p. 41
6 Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul, 481
7 CCC, 1169
8 The Wellspring of Worship, second edition, Jean Corbon, Ignatius Press, 2005, p. 181
9 Diary, 1067
10 Diary, 1670
11 The Joy of the Gospel, 276
12 CCC, 1169
13 The Joy of the Gospel, 276
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.
