211 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year that lets you endure magnanimously all adversities with peace of mind, so that you may receive from Him personally the olive crown of peace in the city of the heavenly Jerusalem, and you may enjoy forever the peace you have gained through steadfast battles against the devil, the world, and the flesh. After Holy Communion 1. “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (Jn 20:20). The apostles could not help but to rejoice when they caught sight of the risen Lord, whom they had been bitterly mourning as dead. Indeed, who knows whether they ever experienced a greater joy than the one that overwhelmed them on seeing Jesus risen from the dead? No doubt this joy, comparable to the one they experience now in Heaven, was still a lesser joy for this reason only: that they contemplate the entire Most Holy Trinity there, while here they saw Jesus alone, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. But you are wondering why, since you received the same Son of God risen from the dead, you were not filled with any joy, with any increased delight. Instead, you are overwhelmed perhaps by sadness, and are filled with sorrow. Ah, miserable one! It is sin, imperfections, and uncorrected faults that brought this evil on you! Perhaps the reason is also that inconsiderate joy in which you exulted on those days dedicated to pious sadness, while the Most Holy Mother was bewailing the cruelest death of her dearest Son; the holy sinner was weeping over the death of her Lord; the pious disciples were mourning the cruel sufferings of their Master; and even the stars, the rocks, the earth, and other creatures were bearing witness to the great sorrow caused by the horrible death of their Creator. [f.47r] 2. “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22). O highest grace! O gift than which nothing greater can be attained! What more wonderful benefits, favors, and charisms besides the Holy Spirit could the Lord impart to His disciples? He who possesses Him seems to have everything! He who is
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