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Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!
The Most Reverend
Issam John Darwish, BSO DD
by the Mercy of God
Melkite Catholic Eparch of Australia and New Zealand
to the Priests and Deacons, my fellow ministers at the Altar,
to the Religious and to All the Faithful
of our Holy Eparchy which is Most Beloved of Christ,
a Pastoral Letter for Holy and Glorious Pascha, 2009
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!
On this, the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I extend my fraternal best wishes to all my brothers and sisters in the Melkite Community throughout Australia and New Zealand. May you celebrate with great joy this blessed Feast made wonderful by the Divine Light and enriched with an abundance of hope.
Following the death upon the cross of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who took the body of Jesus to a tomb well-known to the Jews. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, St John the Beloved, and, the Blessed Theotokos together with certain other holy women. However, the tomb in which Jesus was buried could not contain his divine body - and after three days the tomb was empty: "He is not here, He is risen!” The body of Jesus was not subject to corruption as are ours; He is risen from the tomb and He lives for ever. After His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and to Mary, mother of James and Joseph, saying to them, "Peace be with you! Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee” (Mt 28:9) Later, He appeared to His disciples on the mountain, sending them forth to preach to the whole world, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:19-20).
It is not easy either to comprehend or to explain the Resurrection of the Master. Believers, the faith-filled, experience the Resurrection, and, touch Jesus in the depths of their hearts; but if they doubt, He says to them, as He did to His disciples, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, see that it is I myself.” (Lk24:38-39).
It is certain that the Resurrection is the absolute proof that Jesus is both God and Man. Thus, Jesus is the God of power and of the cosmos, and He deserves that we should worship Him, glorify Him and bow down before Him. This is what led the Apostle, Paul, to say, "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:9-10).
In his letters, Saint Paul, discloses his personal encounter with the Risen Jesus: "I have seen Jesus our Lord.” (1Cor 9:1) He was convinced that the Faithful must pass through death, so that like Jesus, they might come to the Resurrection: "When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him.” (Col 2:12) He desires also, as a precious wish, the participation with Jesus in his sufferings, so that he might also particpate in the Resurrection: "I want to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” The Risen Jesus, come forth from the tomb, has given us the resolve and the grace to make His Resurrection, our resurrection. Thus, we become righteous and we are redeemed.
Today, like Paul, we declare that we have seen the Lord. It is He, who risen from the dead, calls us by our name, just as He called Paul, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Just as He called Mary Magdalene after His Resurrection, so He summons us and sends us to the brethren. To them we are to proclaim that the Resurrection is a necessary and daily occurance in our lives. We are to put off our old selves and put on the new through prayer, repentance and self-sacrifice, so that the image of Jesus within us might be made anew and ever more beautiful. We must not forget that the triumph of Jesus over death is fully revealed in our own triumph, because our vocation and our hope is that God will always be with us, and, that we will live for ever.
Throughout the year, and especially during the Easter season, the liturgical services assist us to meet the Risen Jesus. In baptism we have been buried with Jesus Christ so as to rise with Him, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4) Therefore, all the hymns of the daily Divine Office and the Holy Liturgy, stress the intense joy that wells up within us at the Resurrection of Jesus: "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad; let the whole universe, visible and invisible, rejoice in the Feast, for Christ our Eternal Joy is risen.” (First Ode of Lauds)
At the Vigil of the Resurrection , the Church invites the Faithful to draw near to the Holy Altar and take the light: "Come, O Faithful, and take light from the Light that never fades; come and glorify Christ who is risen from the dead!” This Unfading Light is indeed Christ-God Himself, the Absolute Truth, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega - thus it is the light of both divine love and divine knowledge. However, this light can but remain a stranger to me if I do not feel it in my mind, in my soul and in my body, and, I must receive it as a power that penetrates my inmost being. Then, between the Risen Lord and me, there will be forged an unbreakable bond of personal friendship. God will come to me and take up His dwelling within me.
My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I take this opportunity to wish each of you a Blessed and Holy Easter resplendant with the Glory of the Lord. With you, I raise my prayer to the Lord, Jesus, risen from the dead, that He will pour out upon us His Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit to lead us into all truth, and, to bring us to the blessed freedom of the sons and daughters of God. On this truly light-filled day, the Feast of Feasts, let us ask the Most Holy Theotokos, our mother, to look upon us in tenderness and love. May she teach us that the path to the Resurrection is also the way to which we have been called.
And now to our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Risen from the dead, let all humankind and every living creature offer glory, honour, praise and thanksgiving, for ever and ever. Amen.
Your brother and servant in the Lord,
From our Eparchy at Greenacre
Holy and Glorious Pascha, 2009
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