Sermons & Letters 251

Although all the solemnities, beloved, that are celebrated in the churches for the honour of God are holy and venerable, yet today's day of the Lord's resurrection holds a special festivity. This is so precisely because all the other days contain in themselves only the joy of the living, but this day contains also the gladness of the dead. This festival therefore is shared alike by those below and those above, because the Lord, rising from the dead, gave a festival both there, where he conquered death, and here, where as victor he returned from death. And therefore the Psalmist well speaks of this day in particular, saying: This is the day which the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it (Ps. 117:24). For announcing the Lord's resurrection

he proclaimed a day of saving exultation not only to those above but also to those below; for when the Lord descended into the dark gloom of the underworld, there too there was then, beyond all doubt, a most splendid day, where the Saviour shone forth. Whence the evangelist beautifully says: And that light, he says, shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5); because, although the Lord descended even into the darkness, yet he did not feel the obscurity of the darkness. In that horror of night the light of his eternal nature kept the inviolable splendour of his majesty; and thus the light was not overcome by the night, but the night by the light. Let us therefore rejoice, beloved, and exult in the Lord.

For today the light of salvation has been given to us by the Lord, according to what the same Psalmist says in what follows: God is the Lord, and he has shone upon us (Ps. 117:26). And what more did he add? Appoint, he says, a solemn day amid the great throngs, even up to the horn of the altar (ibid.). I see this too fulfilled today in the church of God, for since everything up to the horn of the altar is filled with religious assemblies, this fullness of the holy Church has fulfilled the Scripture. This day therefore, beloved, is a day of resurrection and of life. The delightful rejoicing makes it the more welcome after the Lent, because to the sorrow of affairs there have been joined days of relaxation, so that recompense may at once follow upon patience, according to that word:

They who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Ps. 125:5). Whoever therefore you are who have sown in tears, take up the rewards of exultation. Let each one know that the greater the seeds of God he has sown, the greater the fruits of joys he shall gather. The appearance of the blessednesses to come is therefore already contained in things present. For just as now there is relaxation after restraint, so also in the time to come there shall be rest after labour.

Wherefore I beseech you, beloved, together with the whole Church, but especially you who, regenerated unto new salvation, have put on white garments, that you keep pure and unstained the gift which you have received, that you preserve the brightness of your attire also in your manner of life, and that your hearts may be as white as your garments. You heard the evangelist saying today that whosoever believe in God, these are the sons of God. For he gave them, he says, the power to become the sons of God, to those who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). Therefore you too are now not brought forth from the conception of the flesh, but begotten of God the Father.

It remains that you preserve, by the conduct of a holy life, the dignity of your holy origin, and truly according to that which the Apostle says: As newborn infants, desire the reasonable milk without guile, that you may grow in it unto salvation (1 Pet. 2:2). And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your bodies (Phil. 4:7), through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.