Christ is Risen

To a Christian, this day is considered the most important of all the days in the Christian liturgical year. It is the day when our hearts come alive again and are filled with Hope. We know and celebrate the fact that Christ defeated death, which was our last and greatest enemy. Jesus has become our "Christus Victor", meaning "Christ our Victory". In Him is total victory over death, hell, and the grave! Jesus finished what Adam couldn't complete. What Adam lost in the Garden through disobedience, Christ, who is our second Adam, redeemed through His full obedience, even unto death! Death came through sin, and sin through disobedience; But life, and that eternal, comes through Jesus Christ! He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit! It is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and who now dwells in us through Christ our Lord! We now have Hope through the full assurance that our mortal bodies, which were subject to corruption from sin, will be raised up incorruptible in the last day, and that we shall forever be with the Lord. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Without Christ's resurrection from the dead, we are forever dead in our trespasses; miserable and without hope. And if there be no resurrection, then we are to be most pitied, for our faith is most assuredly in vain. But Christ comes and dwells in our hearts by faith, and gives us a bold confidence of the eternal life to come. Therefore, in this life, let us always be ready, with meekness and love, to give an answer to every man who asks the reason for the Hope that is within us.

Holy Vigil

There is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

Passion Week

Saint Joseph of Arimathea

St Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, probably ever since Christ's first preaching in Judea (John 2: 23), but he did not declare himself as such "for fear of the Jews" (John 19: 38). On account of this secret allegiance to Jesus, he did not consent to His condemnation by the Sanhedrin (Luke 23: 51), and was most likely absent from the meeting which sentenced Jesus to death (Mark 14: 64). The Crucifixion of the Master quickened Joseph's faith and love, and suggested to him that he should provide for Christ's burial before the Sabbath began. Unmindful therefore of all personal danger, a danger which was indeed considerable under the circumstances, he boldly requested from Pilate the Body of Jesus, and was successful in his request (Mark 15: 43-45). Once in possession of this sacred treasure, he — together with Nicodemus, whom his courage had likewise emboldened, and who brought abundant spices — wrapped up Christ's Body in fine linen and grave bands, laid it in his own tomb, new and yet unused, and hewn out of a rock in a neighbouring garden, and withdrew after rolling a great stone to the opening of the sepulchre (Matthew 27: 59, 60; Mark 15: 46; Luke 23: 53; John 19: 38-42). Thus was fulfilled Isaiah's prediction that the grave of the Messiah would be with a rich man (Isaiah 53: 9). The Greek Church celebrates the feast of St Joseph of Arimathea on July 31st, and the Catholic Church on March 17th. Additional details are found concerning Joseph in the apocryphal Acta Pilati. There is also apocryphal legend telling of Joseph accompanying the Apostle Philip, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and others on a preaching mission to Gaul. Lazarus and Mary stayed in Marseilles, while the others travelled north. At the English Channel, Philip sent Joseph, with twelve disciples, to establish Christianity in the most far-flung corner of the Roman Empire, the British Isles. The year AD 63 is commonly given for this event, with AD 37 sometimes being put forth as an alternative. Comprehensive coverage of this is found in the book The Grail Church.

Lent

Candlemas

Also called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Candlemas is observed on February 2nd, which is traditionally the 40th day of the Christmas–Epiphany season. The Feast of the Presentation is one of the oldest feasts of the Christian church, celebrated since the 4th century AD in Jerusalem. There are sermons on the Feast by the bishops Methodius of Patara (died 312), Cyril of Jerusalem (died 360), Gregory the Theologian (died 389), Amphilochius of Iconium (died 394), Gregory of Nyssa (died 400), and John Chrysostom (died 407). It is also mentioned in the pilgrimage of Egeria (381–384), where she confirmed that the celebrations took place in honour of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

Epiphany