WEBVTT 00:00:01.079 --> 00:00:05.559 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:09.240 of the Holy Spirit, I greet you from my heart 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:14.339 on this bright day of Pascha. We're preparing 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:18.100 now for a bright Monday, and then bright Tuesday, 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:22.239 and Wednesday, and all through the week. One 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:27.300 week of Pascha. It's exhausting, isn't it? And 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:33.320 we feel our human weakness. About now, we celebrated 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:39.200 in the night. So much labor went into the celebration. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:44.479 Any great celebration, any party, any gathering 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.140 that's worth anything is going to have some work 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:51.740 put into it. And if it's for God, and if it's 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:55.100 from our heart, if it's for... Honoring the resurrection. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:58.079 And not just honoring the resurrection. But entering 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:02.039 into the reality of Christ's resurrection. And 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:07.040 our own baptism. Which is what Pascha is all 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.200 about. Our own death with Christ. We have died 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.879 to sin. Death has no more dominion over us. And 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:18.739 we have risen to Christ. And his life. And now 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:22.400 we walk with the spirit. Anything like that. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.079 is going to have such a tremendous amount of 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.180 work. Decorations, the flowers, the Easter eggs 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.840 hanging from the chandelier, the continual lighting 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:35.280 of lamps and extinguishing of lamps, the live 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.700 streaming, which we never had before last year. 00:01:39.459 --> 00:01:42.840 People in church, which we didn't have last year. 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.959 How wonderful this is. This has to be the most 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.120 joyous Pascha ever. For many reasons, one of 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:56.730 them is that. The message of the cross, the message 00:01:56.730 --> 00:02:01.170 of the resurrection, has to be something new, 00:02:01.269 --> 00:02:07.230 vital, and radical for each one of us. This isn't 00:02:07.230 --> 00:02:14.610 a celebration of life after death. This is the 00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:19.319 celebration of the goodness of creation. Because 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:22.759 God made us body and soul. He created this world. 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.599 Yesterday we heard that incredible canticle. 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.759 Praise him, stars and light. Praise him, waters. 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:35.219 Praise him, oceans. Praise him, mountains. Praise 00:02:35.219 --> 00:02:39.020 him, frosts and cold and heat and summer heat. 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:43.199 Everything praising God, the creator of all things. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:47.389 The resurrection is the... validation of the 00:02:47.389 --> 00:02:51.270 goodness of creation. And only Christ is the 00:02:51.270 --> 00:02:54.610 leader of that. And that's why it's radically 00:02:54.610 --> 00:03:00.669 different and new for us. We will be raised in 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:05.909 glory. The state of our soul is up to us. Oh, 00:03:05.949 --> 00:03:11.810 of course, the Lord's grace is given to us. But 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:17.680 we have to act and respond. Synergy. Responding 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:21.500 to God's grace. And so if our soul is filled 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.780 with holiness and goodness and the life of repentance 00:03:24.780 --> 00:03:29.560 and the kingdom of God, then when our body is 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:36.259 raised, what glory we will experience. We say 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:41.099 at the Panikita, O Lord, grant rest to the soul 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:45.240 of thy servant with the saints. in the bosom 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:50.620 of Abraham, where there's neither sorrow or sighing 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:56.219 or sickness, and death is no more. But that's 00:03:56.219 --> 00:04:01.370 just the waiting period. Today, we are... Living 00:04:01.370 --> 00:04:04.150 as if we have passed the waiting period and we 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:06.550 are in the time of the resurrection. We are in 00:04:06.550 --> 00:04:09.129 the time when Christ has already come. This is 00:04:09.129 --> 00:04:11.689 what today is about. This is what Pascha is. 00:04:11.810 --> 00:04:14.150 That's why we put all this effort into this. 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:18.389 And the message of the gospel is quite realistic. 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:23.189 How did it end? It didn't end with the story 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:27.750 of Christ, triumphant. It didn't end with the 00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:30.339 story of the apostles. Going out and preaching 00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:37.060 the Lord. It ended with Thomas saying. Unless 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:40.959 I say. I will not believe. That's the message 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.060 for Thomas Sunday. Next week too. But the message 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:48.519 for today. And Thomas Sunday continues. And Christ 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:52.139 appears to him. But the message for today is. 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:57.839 How deep and hungry. Are we for faith. And knowledge 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:03.550 of God. How much do we want to know the Lord? 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:09.329 Has he appeared to us in our soul? In any way 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:12.430 whatsoever? Through someone else? Through the 00:05:12.430 --> 00:05:16.250 scriptures? Certainly at the Divine Liturgy and 00:05:16.250 --> 00:05:19.069 the Eucharist. For we sing, having beheld the 00:05:19.069 --> 00:05:21.209 resurrection of Christ, we sing like we saw it. 00:05:22.050 --> 00:05:26.069 So we must have had an experience. And in that 00:05:26.069 --> 00:05:30.680 case, we can answer Thomas' question. And his 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.120 statement, unless I see, I will not believe. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:37.560 I didn't see the Lord. Show me. The apostles 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.759 could not. Because they were as yet unchanged. 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:47.540 But we've been changed. We've been transfigured. 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:50.279 We have been given the Holy Spirit. We've been 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:54.480 given the life of the kingdom of God. We see 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:58.129 Christ has risen. trampling down death by death. 00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:01.230 How many times do we have to hear that he has 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:06.889 defeated the devil, number one, that he has overcome 00:06:06.889 --> 00:06:09.689 the poison of sin by his death on the cross, 00:06:09.949 --> 00:06:12.589 number two. This was just in the hymns we just 00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:16.329 heard. And number three, by being raised from 00:06:16.329 --> 00:06:20.649 the dead by the glory of the Father, he has gathered 00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:25.009 us all up into himself, and we will be raised 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:27.560 with him. So this is the message. This is why 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:30.620 we rejoice so much. And we continually sing all 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:33.500 week. And we go through all this beautiful effort. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:40.399 The singing. The decorating. The chanting. The 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:45.980 eating. That's part of it too. Because we have 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:50.839 fasted. Oh, you have fasted. And you who have 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:54.240 been negligent of the fast. We heard last night. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.959 The table is richly laden, but don't make the 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:02.259 mistake. There are two tables. It's the table 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:05.220 of the kingdom in which we're fed by Christ himself, 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.319 and then we rejoice and we go home and we share 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:11.779 the riches that he has given us with everyone 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:16.139 else. Acts told us last night, the reading from 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:23.060 the book of Acts, said, be ye witnesses. What 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:26.660 have we seen? What have we witnessed that we 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.800 can speak of Christ? Let that be something that 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.779 you ponder in your souls, brothers and sisters. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.220 Christ is risen. He is risen.