“Sepulchre” is the same as tomb.  It is like a little room.  In it the coffin is not covered up with earth as it is in the grave, but is placed upon a stand.  We call such places vaults, and you can see many of them in any cemetery or burying ground.  Sometimes they are cut in the side of elevated ground with their entrance level with the road, and sometimes they are built altogether under the ground.  The one in which Our Lord was placed was cut out of the side of a rock, and had for a door a great stone against the entrance.  Our Lord was not placed in a coffin, but was wrapped in a linen cloth.  It was the custom of the Jewish people and of many other ancient nations to embalm the bodies of the dead, wrap them in cloths, and cover them with sweet spices. (Matt. 27:59).  Thus it was that Mary Magdalene and other good women came early in the morning to anoint the body of Our Lord.  But you will say, why did they not do it on Friday evening or night?  The reason was this:  The day with the Jews began at sunset—­generally about six o’clock—­and ended at sunset on the next evening.  We count our twenty-four hours, or day, from twelve at midnight till twelve the next night.  Therefore, with the Jews six o’clock on Friday evening was the beginning of Saturday.  They kept Saturday, or the Sabbath, instead of Sunday as a day of worship.  On that day, which they kept very strictly, it was not allowable to do work of any kind; so they could not anoint Our Lord’s body till the Sabbath ended, which was about six o’clock, or sunset on Saturday evening.  So, as the Holy Scripture tells us, they came very early in the morning; for Mary Magdalene and these good women were Jews, and strictly observed the Jewish law.  You must know that Our Lord Himself, the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the Apostles were Jews; and that the Jewish religion was the true religion up to the coming of Our Lord; but as it was only a figure and a promise of the Christian religion, it ceased to have any meaning or to be the true religion when the Christian religion itself was established by Our Lord.

89 Q. On what day did Christ rise from the dead?  A. Christ rose from the dead, glorious and immortal, on Easter Sunday, the third day after His death.

“Rose” by His own power.  This is the greatest of all Our Lord’s miracles, because all He taught is confirmed by it and depends upon it.  A miracle is a work that can be performed only by God, or by someone to whom He has given the power.  If anyone performs a real miracle to prove what he says, his words must be true; for God, who is infinite truth, could not sanction a lie—­could not help an impostor to deceive us.  Now Our Lord said He was the Son of God; that He could forgive sins, etc.; and He performed miracles to prove what He said.  Therefore He must have told the truth.  So all those whom God sent to do any great work were given the power to perform miracles that the people might know they were really messengers from God.