RevJKashinskiy Posted April 21, 2019 Report Share Posted April 21, 2019 Dear brothers and sisters! Christ is risen! Read the vigil, the Vigil of Easter, we hear, provide us the contents and way for our lives. The content is love, the unspeakable, incredible, unselfish love of God. "And God saw all that He had created, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. What exactly did God see? The reflection of His love in Creation, in the Universe; the beauty and kindness of all that exists. The love of God never ceases to act in Creation: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Redeemer thy Lord" (Isaiah 54,7-8). And the pinnacle of that love — we beheld it yesterday on the cross — is the sacrifice, the giving of God to us sinners, to us who do not recognize His love. Son of man, in whom was no form nor Majesty on the cross (cf cf 53,2), once again shines with the light that was in Him from the depths of time, from eternity: the light of light, as we proclaim in the Symbol of our faith. Christ the Lord became again the Most beautiful Son among men (cf. PS 44). This is the fate of our brothers and sisters, who will soon be Baptized and Anointed: they, having joined Christ Crucified, will already participate in the light of His resurrection. "All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. So, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6,3-4). When you receive the love of Christ in Baptism, you begin to imitate it, pass it on, you begin to love. The fruit of this love, this bestowal of Ourselves, we find in the people who are born from the resurrection of Jesus, whose image is Isaac: "I swear, says the Lord [Abraham], that since you have done this work, and have not spared your son [Isaac], your only one, for Me: then I bless you, and multiplying multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the shore of the sea" (Gen. 22: 16-17). From the resurrection of Christ is born a large nation that inherits the people who came out of the loins of Abraham. We are part of this people who will live forever: we are promised not a piece of land, not a perishable abode, we are promised an eternal abode, eternal life in the glory of Jesus Christ. But today's readings also convey the way, the way our eyes turn to God, which is in our heart from the very beginning: "Seek the Lord when you can find Him; call Him when He is near. Let the wicked leave his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways are My ways, says the Lord" (Is 55,6-8). We are this new nation, turned to God, the God of the living, not the dead: "What do you seek of the living among the dead? He is not here: He is risen" (Luke 24.5-6). Our brothers and sisters will receive the Holy Communion for the first time today; thus they call us to seek It in the Eucharist, which is the Body of Christ the risen, to whom we belong, the bread of the life of this people, born on the cross, and living the resurrection of Christ. Through Baptism, experienced as a meeting with Christ here and now, our personality, transformed from within, wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever relationships we establish, will be a part of that organism, a visible, tangible part of that Body, the people we are — the living organism of Christ in the world. The resurrection of Christ tells us that the law of the new man born by Baptism in the death of Christ is love: where hatred, malice, division reigns, let me be love — said St. Francis — love that pours out of the Holy Sepulchre and makes us want to look at everything as Christ the risen looks. Love also defines a new path for the Christian people, a path to the eternal glory of Christ the risen. God is light, let this light draw us to him. Christ is risen! rev. J. Kashinskiy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tru2u Posted June 29, 2019 Report Share Posted June 29, 2019 We are Easter People! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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