Short homily. He got up, it's not here" (Saint Mark, XVI). After the days of mourning, here is the day of joy and rejoicing. Today, words of jubilation resonate in the Church, songs of triumph echo, which indicate the excess of his joy after the tears and after the pain. "These are the days which the Lord hath made" (Psalm., 117). Men call those days in which they had victories "their day"., or performed beautiful deeds and glorious deeds. With greater reason this great day, we can proclaim it the day of the divine Savior. If in the past days we have seen the Man-God defeated by the efforts of His enemies, today we will admire it, we will represent him as a victorious man who triumphs: 1.° Of death, under which he had to succumb, and which gives us the certain certainty that we will rise again one day like Him. 2.° Of infidelity, in which His Apostles and all men would remain eternally without His resurrection. 3.° Of the devil, then undisputed master of the world. 4.° Of sin, which was the cause of Jesus' death, even though he was innocent, as it was the cause of the death of all men. Nothing is more valid to stop our unrest, of Fedeli, than the thought of Jesus' resurrection and ours. These are the four most notable victories that Our Lord Jesus Christ reports on this great day. These are the reasons that justify the Church's great joy even now. Now in the resurrection of Jesus we see both a miracle and an example: a miracle for our faith, an example for our life. And the example that Jesus victorious over death gives us, of infidelity, of sin is to imitate Him too in achieving our greatest victory. What is this great victory? The Holy Spirit will teach us «that the patient man is to be preferred to the strong one; and whoever rules his heart, he is worth much more than those who conquer cities" (Prov., XVI, 32). Who is truly powerful? Who brings beautiful and useful victories? He who resists the devil, who wins the world, that tames the passions, who subjugates himself. This is the answer that Jesus Christ gives us today with His example, and which resounds from His infallible word. (…) The Holy Fathers agree: «We walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, says Saint Augustine, and if we know how to overcome our passions and our vices, if we force them to be subject to us, we make a ladder to climb high" (Discourse on the Ascension.). And Saint Bernard: «A very meritorious kind of martyrdom is to mortify and conquer, with the spirit, the works of the flesh; the martyrdom of iron and fire seems more terrible, but that is more painful for its duration" (Serm. 4.° of Ascension). Cheer up, so, or athletes of Jesus Christ; let us fight the good fight like valiants; fight against evil, to sin, death of the soul; fight against the devil; fight the world. For faith, for immortality, for eternal life!
[From the Preacher's Handbook, Houdry – Damn, Vol. IV, part I, pag. 552 and sec., Imprimatur 1934].