[LA] The liturgy of this Friday of the Octave of Easter is marked by a profound exultation in the victory of Christ over death and by the mystery of baptism, through which the neophytes and all the faithful are grafted into this same redemptive victory. In the traditional calendar, the Station of this day takes place in Rome in the Church of Saint Mary to the Martyrs, the ancient Pantheon. The choice of this majestic basilica, once a pagan temple dedicated to all the gods of Rome and subsequently purified and consecrated to the Most Holy Virgin Mary and to all the Christian martyrs, illustrates in a magnificent way the victory of the Lord over the idols and the darkness of paganism. Just as that imposing building was rescued for the true worship, so too humanity, once captive of sin and death, is purified by the baptismal waters and consecrated as a living temple of the Holy Spirit, uniting itself to the ineffable glory of the martyrs and of all the saints who witnessed the Resurrection with their own blood.
📖 Introit (Sl 77, 53. 1)
Edúxit eos Dóminus in spe, allelúia: et inimícos eórum opéruit mare, allelúia, allelúia, allelúia. Sl. Atténdite, pópule meus, legem meam: inclináte aurem vestram in verba oris mei.
The Lord led them full of confidence, alleluia, and the sea covered their enemies, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Sl. Listen, my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
📖 Epistle (I Pe 3, 18-22)
Reading from the Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle. Beloved: Christ died, once for all, for our sins, He, the Just, for the unjust, to lead us to God. Being indeed dead in the flesh, He received eternal life according to the Spirit. By this Spirit He also came to preach to the souls that were in prison. These were formerly unbelieving, when they trusted in the patience of God. This was in the time of Noah, while the ark was being built in which a few persons, only eight, were saved by water. In a similar way Baptism now saves you, not purifying from the stains of the flesh, but imploring a good conscience before God, by virtue of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Our Lord, who is seated at the right hand of God.
📖 Gospel (Mt 28, 16-20)
At that time, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain that Jesus had indicated to them. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; however some still had doubts. And approaching, Jesus spoke to them, saying: All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all peoples; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all days until the end of the world.
🕊️ The universal authority of Christ and the waters of baptism
The encounter of the disciples with the risen Lord on the mountain, in Galilee, carries a profound spiritual symbolism. As Saint Bede teaches, the very ascent to the mountain indicates that, to contemplate the magnificence of the Resurrection, we must elevate our hearts, passing from the lowest passions to the most sublime desires. There, Christ declares that "all power has been given to Him in heaven and on earth". Saint Jerome and Saint Bede explain that this power was not given to Him with regard to His divinity—for as God He is coeternal and equal to the Father—but rather with regard to His glorified humanity, which now extends His reign over all the peoples of the earth. It is with this supreme authority that Jesus revokes the ancient restriction of preaching only to Israel and sends the Church to all nations. However, Saint Jerome warns about the divine order of this mandate: first one teaches, then one baptizes, for the soul must embrace the truth of the faith before the body receives the sacramental sign. The baptismal immersion occurs in the trinitarian formula, which, according to Saint Hilary and Didymus, attests to the indivisible essence of God. And so that the weight of this universal mission and the requirement to observe the commandments do not discourage the Church, Christ seals His words with an unshakeable promise: "Behold, I am with you all days". Saint John Chrysostom clarifies that this guarantee was not given only to the Apostles, who would not live on earth until the end of the world, but to the entire mystical body of the faithful. It is the promise that, in the present afflictions, Christ Himself acts in us, facilitating obedience to His law until we attain the benefits that will subsist forever.
The Epistle of Saint Peter deepens this salvific reality by connecting the redemptive suffering of Christ and His preaching to the spirits in prison with the waters of the flood, which prefigure our Baptism. Just as Noah’s ark saved a small remnant from the deadly waters, the wood of the Cross and the waters of the baptismal font save us from eternal perdition. Saint Thomas Aquinas enlightens us by affirming that the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity in baptism imprints an indelible character on the soul, grafting the faithful into the definitive victory of Christ over sin and death. Baptism is not only a ritual ablution or the purification of external stains, as the Apostle emphasizes, but the imploration and the guarantee of a good conscience before God, extracting all its efficacy directly from the Resurrection and the glorification of Our Lord at the right hand of the Father. This elevation of Christ assures, as Saint Gregory the Great reminds us, that the purified faithful will also be elevated to eternal glory.
The synthesis of this glorious spiritual reality is given to us in a sublime and poetic manner by the Introit of the Mass: The Lord led them full of confidence, and the sea covered their enemies. What in the Old Testament was the crossing of the Red Sea, where the people of Israel were freed from the slavery of Pharaoh, is today the reality of Holy Baptism. The waters that drowned the Egyptians are the same sacred waters that drown our sins and destroy the power of the devil over our souls. Clothed with all authority in heaven and on earth, the Lord withdraws us from slavery and introduces us into the freedom of the children of God. He leads us in hope—in spe—because His continuous presence among us until the end of time, as promised in the Gospel, is the unshakeable certainty that the storms of the world will not prevail against those who, worshiping Him on the mountain of faith and nourished by His Sacraments, keep with love everything that He has commanded us.