The First Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary is the Resurrection. St. John Paul II said, “The gospels do not tell us of the appearance of the risen Christ to Mary. Nevertheless, since she was so specially close to the Cross of her Son, she must also have had a privileged experience of his Resurrection.”
St. Maximus the Confessor wrote, “The other women saw the stone rolled away and the angel sitting on it; but when and how this took place, they did not know this at all. Only the immaculate Mother of the Lord standing there knew everything. And because of this, she received the good news of the Resurrection before everyone else, and before everyone else she became worthy of the longed for height of every good thing and divinely beautiful vision of her Lord and son.”
Dr. Pius Parsch wrote that there is a threefold resurrection on Easter Sunday: “a symbolic one in nature, an historical one in Palestine, a spiritual one in the Church and in individual souls.”
Regarding the symbolic resurrection in nature, Parsch wrote, “Spring with its transformation of hill and meadow is, accordingly, a great symbol of an event in sacred history and of an event now taking place within the Church. Springtime is nature executing her Easter liturgy.”
Parsch pointed out that in the mind of the Church Easter is the feast of Christ’s full triumph. He wrote, “The early Christians kept but one feast, Easter. And they were right in doing so, for the Easter solemnity embraces all the events in the life of Christ.”
Regarding the spiritual resurrection, Parsch wrote, “Just as spring produces new life in the realm of nature, Easter effects spiritual renewal in the Church. Easter is our common birthday as children of God.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, ‘so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life’ Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace.”
Parsch point out that “Easter is the greatest feast in the Church’s calendar. It is the feast from which all others stem, every Sunday is Easter in miniature.” Holy Mother Church sanctifies each Sunday with the celebration of Holy Mass.
St. Bede said, “The women came early in the morning to the sepulchre, from this we have an example given to us, that having cast away the darkness of our vices, we should come to the Body of the Lord. For that sepulchre also bore the figure of the altar of the Lord, where is contained mystery of Christ’s Body, not in silk or purple cloth, but in pure white linen. The spices which the women bring signify the odour of virtue and the sweetness of prayers by which we ought to approach the Altar. Angels are said to have stood by, so also at the time of consecration they are believed to stand by the mysteries of Christ. Let us then, whenever we approach the heavenly mysteries, after the example of the devout women, because of the presence of the Angels, or from reverence to the Sacred Offering, with all humility, bow our faces to the earth, recollecting that we are but dust and ashes.”
In the evening of Easter Sunday, two disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread. St. Gregory the Great said, “The disciples set the table, they offer food, and God, whom they did not recognize in the explanation of Holy Scripture, they recognize in the breaking of bread. It is not by hearing the commandments of God that they have been enlightened, but by putting them into practice. Thus, whoever wants to understand what he has heard must hasten to accomplish with his works the part he has already managed to understand.”
基督為我們開拓新生命
玫瑰經榮福五端的第一端是耶穌復活。聖若望保祿二世說：『福音沒有告訴我們復活的耶穌顯示給瑪利亞。儘管如此，因為她跟她兒子的十字架是那般的接近，她應該對祂的復活有特許的體驗。』聖瑪息莫寫道：『其他的女人看見石頭已由墓穴滾開了，天使坐在上面；但這件事幾時和怎樣發生，他們一點都不知道。只有那位站在那裡我們無染原罪的主的母親知道一切。因此她在任何人之前知道這喜訊，在所有人之前堪當渴望已久的一切好事和她的主和兒子至聖美麗的形象。』
Pius Parsch博士寫道，復活主日有三重的意義：『 大自然上這是一個標記，在巴勒斯坦這是個史實，在教會和個別的靈魂中這是靈性的。』
關於大自然上的標記，Parsch寫道：『山丘和草地的轉變是春天的標記，相應地，在教會內在神聖的史實中，這是一件大事的標記。春季是自然界執行她的復活節禮儀。』
Parsch指出在教會的腦海中，復活節是基督完全勝利的瞻禮日。他寫道：『早期的基督徒只保守一個瞻禮日，復活節。他們這樣做是對的，因為復活節包含了基督生命的全部事跡。』
關於靈性上的復活，Parsch寫道：『一如春天在自然界產生新的生命，復活節在教會內讓靈修再更生。復活節是我們天主子女們的一個公共的生日。』
天主教教理說：『逾越奧跡有兩個層面：基督藉死亡救我們脫離罪惡，藉祂的復活使我們獲得新生。這新生首先是那使我們重新獲得天主恩寵的成義。「因為基督怎樣藉著父的光榮，從死者中復活了，我們也怎樣在新生活中度生」 (羅 6:4)。成義在乎戰勝罪惡的死亡及重新享有聖寵。』
Parsch指出：『復活節是教會日曆中最大的瞻禮。它是其他瞻禮的主幹，每一個星期日都是一個小的復活節。』慈母教會以奉獻聖彌撒去聖化每一個星期日。
聖伯達說：『婦女們清早來到墳墓那裡，它給我們一個例子，拋開我們邪惡的黑暗，我們會來到我們主的身旁。那墳墓也帶有我們主人祭台的形象，那裡有基督身體的奧秘，不在絲綢或紫袍卻在純白的布匹中。婦人帶來的香料表徵著品德的氣味和祈禱的甜美，我們都應同樣地去接近祭台。有說天使們站在一旁，同樣在奉獻中，相信他們也站在基督奧秘一旁。因此，讓我們靠近這天堂的奧秘時，在知道那些熱心婦女例子後，因為天使們的臨在，或對神聖奉獻的尊重，以最大的謙悲，俯首向地，回想我們不外是塵土。』
在復活主日的黃昏，兩位門徒在耶穌擘餅的時候認出了耶穌。聖額我略一世說：『門徒備好餐台，他們奉上食物，在天主給他們解釋聖經的時刻，他們認不出主，他們在擘餅的時候認出主來。他們不是在聽到天主誡命時給開啟了，卻是在履行時被開啟。所以任何人如果願意明白他所聽到的，應趕快按他所能明白的去實踐。』