811 discourse vii: the death of death wood [of the tree of knowledge], and [so] through this wood [of the Cross], it must be killed. This little boy, on whose shoulders is placed the authority, rightly ought to be dreadful to it. Till now it has devoured even giants, but now, it cannot even swallow a little boy. Indeed, He “humbled [H]imself and become obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8), truly not only undergoing it, but destroying, extinguishing, and eradicating it. Do you [death] hear how this humble Crucified One insults you, the proud mocker? “From the hand of death I will free them” (us, I say, us whom you have destroyed until now), “I will redeem them from death: I will be your death, O death” (Hos 13:14) [LV].68 What is said, is done. “Death, which entered through a tree, has been conquered by a tree” (St. Augustine, Sermon 10, On the Saints).69 And so, we who thus were prisoners, slaves to sin, indeed, fuel for death, have now been freed from this tyranny through the Cross, through the wounds, through the death of our King Jesus Christ. Already, we are made His coheirs, sons of God. O death of Christ most victorious, which brought death to death, and has brought to us immortality. “And the dead,” in truth, “in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess 4:16). 3. Three Evangelists come together to a conclusion that Jesus “uttered a loud cry, and breathed [H]is last” (Mk 15:37). Being about to vanquish death, He cries out? Why? I reckon that this most terrible beast began to flee because it felt its own annihilation was near. However, He, the lion of the tribe of Judah, checked it with His roar and killed it. Evidently, it was usual for Christ to rise up against death with a great cry. Lazarus — Christ’s friend, whom you well remember — fell asleep with the sleep of death and was giving an offensive odor, after being already four days in the tomb (cf. Jn 11). However, so to stir up the one sleeping and to expel the sleep of death from his eyes, “Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb […] [H]e cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The dead man came out” (Jn 11:38, 68 This Scripture quotation was translated directly from the Latin Vulgate in order to best convey the meaning intended by St. Stanislaus. 69 The source of this text was not able to be found.
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