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To celebrate the great Pascha of the Lord is to accept the life freely bestowed upon us, and to extend its light into our lives day by day. For Christ is truly risen. This defines the value of existence in a world given the calling to strive to belong to God alone. One characteristic of ...
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O Christ, before Your precious Cross, death was fearsome to men.But after Your glorious Passion, man became fearsome to death.(Doxastikon for Vespers, Feast of the Holy Martyr Callistratus) The Gospel readings which the Church appoints for the Paschal season share a singular purpose. They call out to us, that our certainty may grow: that Christ, ...
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Any discussion of the Paschal season, that is, the season our Church's liturgy presents to us following the Feast of Pascha, presupposes an understanding of its purpose and requirements. This, in turn, requires an awareness of the season that prepared us for it: Great and Holy Lent. Without delving into excessive detail, those familiar with ...
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If we take an honest look at ourselves, searching for an answer to this awesome question, we might find many among us who believe that Christ is truly Risen. Yet, this same reality makes it plain that for many, this belief seems almost seasonal, applied only at certain times.
Read moreThis paralytic man is a third narrative among the stories of the Paschal Sundays. We have already gone through two stories in the first two Sundays: the story of Thomas and that of the Myrrh-Bearers, and we are left with two stories, the Samaritan Woman and the Blind Man. A paralytic without any hope in ...
Read moreWe gathered to discuss the event of Jesus' appearance to His disciples and to Thomas (John 20:19-31). The brother whose turn it was to speak to us, led us with words that revive the heart. What struck him first was that the disciples, after Jesus appeared to them and commissioned them with what God the ...
Read moreThe Gospel passage read by our Church today on Thomas Sunday recounts two appearances of the risen Jesus (John 20:19-31). In the first appearance, Jesus reveals Himself alive to the disciples’ assembly, then in the second to Thomas, who was absent during the first appearance. Let us reflect a little on this salvific event. Why ...
Read moreFollowing Jesus' crucifixion and burial for three days, some women proclaimed that the Lord appeared to them alive (Matthew 28:9-10) and instructed them to tell His disciples to meet Him in Galilee. This is a universal call to all of Jesus' brethren and disciples in every generation. Galilee not only reminds us of "the first ...
Read moreThe forty-day fast practically ends on this day. Tomorrow, after we follow Jesus in His entry into Jerusalem, the Church will call us to join another fast, the "Great Week Fast", which used to be, in ancient times, the preparatory fast for Pascha. The convergence of the two fasts, the forty-day fast and the Great ...
Read moreThis is the word of the risen Jesus to "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary". His complete word to them is: “go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:10). Two things strike me in this word. The first is the fragrance of the first love that ...
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