Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission

Icon of the Archangel Gabriel

O ye incorporeal angels who stand before the throne of God, luminous with the brilliance thereof and everlastingly shining with radiance. As secondary luminaries, entreat Christ, that He grant unto our souls peace and great mercy.

O immortal messengers of the truly incorruptible Life, ye most blessed ones who received life from the first Life, ye have become holy beholders of the eternal Wisdom, full of light, and reflecting lamps shown forth as is meet.

O ye archangels and angels, principalities, thrones, dominions, six-winged seraphim, and divine, many-eyed cherubim, instruments of wisdom, virtues and powers most divine. Pray ye to Christ, that He grant our souls peace and great mercy.

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HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
FATHER THOMAS O’CONNELL, PASTOR
FATHER MICHAEL MAPLES, ASSISTANT PASTOR
FATHER DEACON RON VOLEK, PASTORAL ASSISTANT
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH
307 BLACK OAK RIDGE ROAD PO BOX 817
SEYMOUR, TN 37865
PHONE: 865-609-1081
www.hrbcc.org

Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!

Divine Liturgy begins at 4 p.m. Every Sunday
Ninth Hour Prayer precedes Liturgy at 3:30 p.m.

Potluck supper follows Liturgy on the third Sunday of the month
Also at this time non-perishable foods and items for those in need

MARCH 30, 2008
THOMAS SUNDAY

Our Offerings
Mar. 23: $450

Our Resurrection Celebration Is More Than a One-Day Affair

The days between Pascha and Pentecost constitute the most joyous holiday season of the Byzantine Catholic year. The fasting days of the Great Lent are over. Christ has been raised from the dead. The Church is full of the light of His divine life. We have nothing to do but delight in the joyful celebration of His divine presence!

The sad fact, however, is that it almost never happens this way. In fact, just the opposite occurs. During Lent we build up a certain spiritual momentum, which instead of fulfilling itself in the 50 days from Pascha to Pentecost, comes to a screeching halt after the final words of the last service on Pascha. All that is gained in the Great Fast and Holy Week is lost. All that we experienced of our Lord Jesus Christ, being victorious and alive, is forgotten. We return to “normalcy.” How sad and dull!

The season from Pascha to Pentecost is—and should be—a wonderful period. Following Pascha, it begins with Bright Week, when the Paschal Liturgy is celebrated daily. The Second Sunday of Pascha, St.nbsp;Thomas Sunday, commemorates Christ’s appearance to His disciples in the same way He appears to those of us gathered together as His people, the Church. The next Sunday is dedicated to the Myrrh-Bearers or ointment-bearing women.

Once again, we hear all the songs of Great and Holy Friday, but now we sing them victoriously in the context of the Resurrection. The season continues with the events of the Gospel of St. John setting the tone. It is as follows:

At the half-way point between Pascha and Pentecost, we celebrate the Feast of Mid-Pentecost — which gives us the experience of “drinking the waters of true worship,” and the new life of the Kingdom of God — which wells up in us by the Spirit of Christ, who is risen from the dead.
On the Sunday after Mid-Pentecost, we remember the Samaritan Woman, who announced that Jesus Christ was truly the Messiah and Savior. It is a reminder that we are called to proclaim the universal salvation of humankind in the Resurrection of Christ, the Light of all.
On the Sunday before the Great Feast of the Ascension, we commemorate the Blind Man while offering thanks for the gift of spiritual sight given to us so that we might see and know the meaning of life through the victory of Christ the Messiah.
Forty days after the Resurrection, we celebrate Christ’s Ascension into heaven, the finalization of the Resurrection. As Christ enters into divine glory at the right hand of God the Father, He takes us with Himself into the depths of divinity.
And finally, on the fiftieth day, we experience that “great and final day” of Pentecost. It is the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, the “seal” and “pledge” and divine “guarantee” of His presence in our midst of the Kingdom of God, and the birthday of the Christian Church in the history of the world.

Each Sunday from Pascha to Pentecost is an experience of the mystery of the victory of Christ. Each week has its sacramental and paschal theme. There is water involved in every one of the Gospels: the pool of the paralytic; the well of the Samaritan woman; and the anointing and washing of the eyes of the blind man.

All this is for us. It tells us of our experience of the Risen Christ and witnesses to our own washing and anointing, to our own eating and drinking, and to our own dying and rising with Him.

Hymn to the Theotokos

The angel cried to the Lady Full of Grace: “Rejoice, O Pure Virgin! Again I say, rejoice! Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb! With Himself, He has raised all the dead! Rejoice, all you people! Shine! Shine! O New Jerusalem! The glory of the Lord has shone on you! Exult now and be glad, O Zion! Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son!”

PASTORAL PONDERINGS

We now find ourselves in the 50 day period of the Easter season that concludes on Pentecost Sunday. During these 50 days the church invites us to rejoice in the new life of Christ, which was initiated in us through our baptism. Even so, the full realization of God's reign is still to come. Rather than discouraging us, we should be filled with anticipation. The passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit are all one piece…and just the beginning. All the days of eternity await us.

After the crucifixion, even the apostles wavered in their faith, hiding behind locked doors, shaking in their sandals. It wasn’t until they actually saw the risen Lord that their courage and faith returned. Yet Thomas refused to believe without proof. “Peace!” Jesus tells Doubting Thomas and all of us too. “You believe because you see. How blessed you are when you believe without seeing.”

—Father Thomas O’Connell

Last updated: 13-Apr-2008