Commemoration of the Appearance of the Sign of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem at the Third Hour of the Day during the Reign of Constantine (351); the Holy Martyr Acacius (286-305)
Acts 15:5-34; John 10:17-28
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read John 10:17-28
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Our Lord Jesus Christ willingly died on the Cross, obedient to the Father, for our salvation. We are called to believe this central truth of our Christian faith. Yet, has the passage of time lessened the impact of Our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross and His rising from the dead? If we think of it as some remote event that happened 2,000 years ago which doesn’t really impact us and we live the Christian faith out of habit or family tradition, well, perhaps we answer ‘yes’ to this question. To answer ‘yes’ is to miss the point entirely.
Yes, Our Lord came into this world as an incarnate human being, as a man. For what purpose? To die. He came at a moment in human history: at the beginning of the 1st century. He was born into a community: the Jewish people of 1st century Palestine. As human beings, we do experience this in a chronological way: it is a moment in the past. But if we see it merely as a moment in the past we do not confess the Christian faith in its fullness. As Christians, we are always looking to the future and we are always moving forward. We are always looking to Christ’s second coming and we are called to always move forward on the path of holiness, of theosis, of union with God. Ours is a dynamic faith -a dynamism that comes from the Holy Spirit that animates our life and the life of the Church. And, what is most important, is that we do not celebrate the Resurrection as a historical event. Yes, it is historical and has to be, but for us, the Resurrection is a NOW event. The Paschal Mystery, the saving Resurrection of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ is revealed to us at every Divine Liturgy as we partake not merely of Christ’s body and blood but of His resurrected body and blood. For us, we should celebrate the Resurrection as if it just happened this Sunday. Why? Well, because it did.
Indeed, the light of the Resurrection constantly lights our path in this life with radiant hope, every day, every hour, and at every breath. And its radiance will be fully revealed to us when, please God, we encounter the Risen One face-to-face.