On Pascha morning, at the stroke of midnight, we celebrated with incredible joy as our Lord showed that He not only has conquered death but has mastery over it. On the cross, Christ could have sent a legion of angels to take Himself off, but chose to show His power over death by submitting to it, and blowing it up from within!
“No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down Myself…I have the power to take it again.” (John 10:18)
Indeed, Christ’s power was made manifest on Pascha, and we celebrated that reality as a parish family in what was the largest Orthodox Pascha Celebration this city has ever seen. It wasn’t just another Holy Day, it was an experience of JOY!
It is about the joy of Pascha that I want to offer a short reflection on. Pascha truly is meant to bring about a special jolt of joy in all of us…one that can only be brought about when we celebrate God rising from the dead! The beautiful thing about this joy, is that the opportunity to experience the “Joy of Pascha” doesn’t just end after the celebration concludes at 6:30 AM on Pascha morning.
We often hear the first Sunday after Pascha being called “St. Thomas Sunday”, but there is also another name you will see on the calendars: “Antipascha”. Unlike when we begin words with “anti”, like Antichrist, Antisocial, or Antibiotic, Antipascha does not mean “opposed to Pascha”. It rather means “in place of Pascha”. Why? Because dear ones…every Sunday is Pascha.
Every Saturday night at vigil, the service which begins the Liturgical Day of Sunday, we hear from one of the accounts of the Resurrection in the Gospels. We sing the same hymns we sang for Holy Saturday that begins “Blessed art Thou O Lord” and speaks of the Myrrh bearing women coming to the empty tomb. The priest and deacon come out and do a full censing of the Church with a lit candle, just as we lit the candle at Midnight on Pascha and brought the light from the altar out into the midst of the people. It is at that point in the service that the lights go on and the entire Church is illuminated once again with the Resurrectional Light. At the end of Sunday Liturgy, the priest begins the dismissal prayer with: “May He who rose from the dead…”
In a very real way dear ones, when we miss a Sunday, we miss the joy of Pascha! We deprive ourselves of Christ’s joyful presence in our lives! We deny ourselves the Holy Eucharist…Christ Himself! We deny ourselves the inner change that comes from the descent of the Holy Spirit. We reject the peace that can only be found within the walls of the Church and in the presence of Christ…in favor of a war torn, broken, and confused world, that has no answers.
Our reaction to the joy of Pascha, and the joy of Divine Liturgy on Sundays, has real and eternal meaning for us as Christians. I was inspired this week by a homily offered by St. Onuphry of Kursk, who was speaking about the day when Paschal joy will be constant.
“Indeed, beloved, everything changes in this life: Sorrow gives way to joy, and joy is followed by sorrow. But the time will come, beloved, when joy will be constant, when Pascha week will last forever in the future life. There will be eternal Pascha, and no leave-taking. There will be eternal joy…”
But then St. Onuphry offers a warning, and says that this eternal joy won’t be for everyone, but rather only those who are faithful and virtuous.
“How do we know this?” He asks. “From our disposition during this Pachal Week. While believers experience joy and peace and a special spiritual sweetness during and after Holy Pascha, unbelievers experience it as just an ordinary week like any other. They are gloomy and spiritually empty, while believers are filled with spiritual joy.”
St. Onuphry is pointing to the reality, that this present earthly life is a foretaste of eternal life. How we live now, the joy and disposition we have towards Pascha, and towards Sunday Divine Liturgies, the emphasis we place on joy that comes from a relationship with God…these are but a shadow to the eternal joy which is to come.
As Christians, we are all called to cultivate the joy of the Resurrection in the midst of a sorrowful world. We do this not just by saying “Christ is Risen”, but rather by living in that joyful reality. For us, this can’t just happen on Pascha Night. It doesn’t end when the 40 days of singing it in the Church concludes. That joy has to extend to every fiber of our being.
As St. Thomas learned in the Gospel this morning, when we miss one Sunday, we miss the joy of Christ’s real and tangible presence in our lives. Don’t allow the world to deny you Christ’s Grace! Don’t allow the world to deny you the Joy of Pascha.
May the Lord Grant all of us the eternal, unceasing joy of communion with Him, not only in this life, but in the life to come. Amen