Because they penetrated so deeply into the mysteries of Christ’s
sufferings, St. Francis and St. Clare were able to enter full-heartedly
into the joy of His Resurrection.
Because
their lives were centered on the Church’s liturgy, they could appreciate
as few have
the
new age of the Resurrection (which) fills
the whole liturgical year with its brilliance.
Catechism #1168
The Easter joy of Francis and Clare was rooted in the Cross.
Their rejoicing was anchored in God
who
so loved the world that He gave His only Son that the world might have
life through Him.
What the Church of their time legislated as THE EASTER DUTY (You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season), they understood as the present CATECHISM’S guaranteeing
the
minimum reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood
in connection with the Paschal feasts,
the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.
Catechism #2042
And so a Cardinal (and future Pope) of the Church could write to
St. Clare of
that glorious joy with
which I discoursed with you on the Body of Christ when I was celebrating
Easter with you.
It was a
glorious joy that gave depth and meaning to an enclosed lifetime of
penance, which bore its own bright witness to the unchanging fact that
THE
RESURRECTION OF JESUS
is the crowning truth
of our faith in Christ.
Catechism
#638
ALLELUIA!
