Keeping the Inexplicable and Child-like Joy of Pascha
a 13 May 2019 article by Father Gabriel Bilas
on the website of Saint Mary Magdalene Church
Christ is Risen!
There are a lot of good things on social
media these days, but one of the positive benefits is being able to instantly see videos of the Paschal Celebrations throughout
the world. To see the joy radiating from all Orthodox Christians on that
Great and Holy Night is something that always brings a smile to my face!
We can look at videos
like the one form Saint Elizabeth‘s Convent in Minsk. The sisters,
who are gathered up in the balcony overlooking the mass of people crammed into the Church, begin to blow bubbles down on the
faithful, while the choir sings: “The Angel Cried….”
Do I condone bubble
blowing in Church? NO, probably not…. But the video serves as a great
example of what Pascha is all about: inexplicable and Child-like Joy! The
Grace in the Church that day is so powerful that even if we don’t fully grasp the magnitude of what has happened in
our minds, we can still feel it with our hearts! We
gain new life as we celebrate the glorious reality that Christ is risen from the Dead, trampling down death by his own death
and upon us all, bestowing ever-lasting life!
The Paschal Joy is
so great, and so unique, that it cannot possibly be contained in just a few hours!
The celebration goes on for 40 glorious days! The Church remains adorned in festive white covers, and our Lord’s
Burial Shroud that was on the tomb on Holy Friday continues to sit on the Altar table as a reminder of the empty tomb for
40 days!
During the Divine Liturgy, we hear that
hymn to the Theotokos “The Angel Cried,” where our ears always seem to perk up as we are remined of that glorious
feeling of the Resurrection… for 40 days! We continue to great each other and the rest of the world with festive greeting
of “Christ is Risen” ..... for 40 days!
For the rest of the
world, it sometimes feels as if the day after Easter is a normal day (with the exception of the celebration of going to get
the 50% off Easter candy at Walmart). I had a
good friend of mine call me on Bright Friday, and I greeted him with “Christ is Risen,” and his response
was “Indeed He is Risen…but wasn’t that last week?” For
some, the Resurrection is a one-day event, but for the Ancient Christian Church, we carry on like it happened yesterday!
Explaining the 40 days before Pascha is somewhat easy to do
and to understand, especially with outsiders. I can use an image that I’m
sure is fresh in most of our minds: this morning, as we had a few days of decent weather this past week with which to clean
up our yard and our gardens. We spend Great Lent cultivating and preparing the soil of our hearts. When we fast and increase our prayers, we learn how to literally pull out the
weeds from our lives that might choke the Seed of Life that our Lord bestows upon us all at Great and Holy
Pascha.
The reasons we celebrate for 40 days AFTER
Pascha is to ensure that the new life and joy that was planted into the depths of our hearts can take root and spread
to the rest of our lives in the world. This is a key time for us
as Christians! Just because we plant flowers doesn’t mean that the weeds will never come back!
The seeds of Pascha need watering, sunlight, and some careful attention, if they are to grow!
That being said, I want to end my homily this morning by sharing with you a few ways to keep your personal Post-Pascha
celebration going, in order to allow those seeds of grace to grow more fully.
First and foremost, I strongly encourage each and every one of you to shout, “Christ is Risen” DAILY. Years ago, I was visiting a Monastery in Detroit, where a wonderful Archbishop
was visiting from Jerusalem during Bright week. We entered into the quiet
and empty Church, and with a tremendous smile and the innocence of a small child, this pious Archbishop started chanting with
power “Christos Anesti…” The light from his face was radiant
when he belted the Paschal Troparion! It was beautiful, powerful, and a small
habit that I learned to do every day that I walk into the Church or in front of my icon corner.
Brothers and Sisters, no matter what kind of mood you are in, how bad of a day you are having, or how many people
upset you in the morning rush hour, there is nothing more fulfilling than learning the various “Christ is Risen”
melodies…. And belting them out. If you are not comfortable
singing in front of people, go find a field, and make like Julie Andrews from the Sound of Music… and let it go!
Second, use the Pascha Greeting with everyone you come into contact with!! Write it on your personal email, say it to your kids, and use it during your before
and after prayers at meals. Don’t say “hello” when answering
the phone: say “Christ is Risen!” (maybe this will stop the telemarketers
and social security thieves from calling!). Say it often brothers and sisters, because there is no greater joy than proclaiming
the Greatest Truth the world has ever known to one another!
Finally, and this one I cannot stress enough, never forget that Every Sunday is Pascha. The Russian word for Sunday is “voskresenie”, and that is fitting,
since it is at every Sunday Divine Liturgy that we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
The weekend services are precious to us …. and are absolutely, 100% necessary for us to be able to live as Christian
in the midst of a fallen world.
Always remember the wonderful lesson that
we take from the Gospel reading on Saint Thomas Sunday:
when we miss one Sunday…. we miss a LOT!
May God give us all
the strength to continue to expand the love and joy that we receive over these next few weeks, allowing us to spread hope,
life, and light to a world that is literally thirsting for something as positive as
God rising form the dead!
