Patristic Wisdom for Easter

Therefore my heart was glad,
And my tongue rejoiced exceedingly;
My flesh also shall dwell in hope.
For You will not abandon my soul to Hades
Nor allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You made known to me the ways of life;
You will fill me with gladness in Your presence;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps 16:9–11 LXX)

See how He himself cries out and gives thanks to the Father because His soul is not in the usual way left abandoned in hell, but is glorified by swift resurrection, and has passed to the kingdom of heaven. This is attested in the gospel in various passages: My soul is sorrowful even unto death, and elsewhere: I have the power of laying down my life and of taking it up again. You must not think that this is to be accepted complacently, because you find in Psalm 29 what seems to be the opposite view: What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to corruption? The objection is resolved by this reasoning: in that passage, He says that He goes down to corruption when pierced by the impact of the impressed nails and lance, for transfixion of solid flesh is reasonably accounted corruption. But in the present passage He says justly that the corruption of putrefaction which ravages the generality of human flesh does not take place, for when on the third day it happened that His flesh was given fresh life, it was demonstrated that it could not have suffered corruption.

Filling to the brim is adding to fullness, and he who does so pours into a vessel already full. That joy fills in such a way that it is all preserved forever. The verse also shows that all just men in that blessed state will be filled with the joy of the Lord’s presence, and He attests that He can be filled among them because He is the Lord. But let us examine a little more carefully why He says here that He will be filled with delights at the right hand of the Father, whereas earlier He said: For he is at my right hand, that I will not be moved. The fact is that in this world, in which He suffered scourgings in the flesh which He assumed, was struck with slaps, and was spattered with spittle yet defeated by none of its hardships, it was fitting to say that the Lord was always seen at His right hand. He overcame the opposition of the world because He moved not an inch from the contemplation of the Father. There He has now laid aside the hardships of this world, and His humanity is filled with the glorification of His whole majesty and rules united to the Word with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Even to the end signifies perfection and eternity, for His glory abides in its perfection, and will be limited by no season.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 15.10, 11