The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian; Our Venerable Father Arsenius the Great (408-50); Arsenius the Great (450).
All-Night Vigil Feast.
Acts 12:12-17; 1 John 1:1-7; John 8:42-51; John 19:25-27; 21:24-25.
Read John 8:42-51
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death”
We are continuing the celebration of the Easter season, and today, Jesus Christ once again gives us the assurance that by keeping His word, we will never see death.
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, conquered death itself, as we are so wisely reminded by St. Paul in 1 Cor 15:54-55: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”.
The Lord Jesus Christ, being faithful to His promises (2 Tim 2:13; cf. Dt 7:9), fulfilled His mission for our salvation. What remains, is that we keep His word, meaning listen to Him, follow His commandments of love, hold on to the truth, for indeed He is the way and the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6).
While we are trying to fulfill our calling, we are confronted by the father of lies, the Devil, constantly trying to deviate us from that narrow path that leads to salvation (Mt 7:14; Eph 6:12), through deceitful methods that can cause our sinfulness to escalate very quickly from a small “white lie”, to stealing, to murder, to blasphemy.
As we strive to fulfill our calling in this life, it is necessary that we stay watchful because the Devil never sleeps and so the temptations never stop coming.
Nevertheless, “…the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thes 3:3).