We are now placed in yet another situation where, because of circumstances and because of the global pandemic, we're obliged to spend this holy period of Pascha at home. How do we deal with this? How do we benefit from the prayers of the Holy Pascha when we desire so badly to be at church? Is there a way for us to benefit while being at home? Let's go ahead and listen in together and see how we can truly maximize the potential and the benefit of the prayers of the Holy Pascha even while being at home.
Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
My beloved, it has surely been quite an interesting past almost 14 months now. 2020, we discovered that the world was undergoing a global pandemic by the name of COVID-19. We thought that by 2021 it would be gone. We had hoped that maybe last Pascha would be the only Pascha that we would have to stay away from church and here we are yet again. And many of us around the globe are in situations where we are spending the holiest week of the year, Holy Pascha, many of us are spending them at home yet again, with the church inaccessible to us because of restrictions and government guidelines.
The question is: Is there a way for us to benefit even while being at home? Is there a chance for us to be able to connect to our fullest potential, even though we don't have access to the church? And now, while many of us are struggling with the fact that we are not at church, this does not mean that God is distanced from us. We can still access the Lord. We can still bring ourselves into His presence and benefit. But we must first agree that Pascha cannot simply be something that we participate in as if we were spectators. We now have to enter into Pascha. We now have to make it our journey to Golgotha. If we make it our own, if we identify with it, then regardless of where we are, whether we be at church or whether we be at home in complete isolation in front of an icon of Christ with candles lit, even there, we can take the fullest of benefits from praying the prayers with the church.
But this would require for us to have a very specific mindset: a mindset where we are not spectators. We are not people who are simply watching others pray at church, because we're tuning in to the livestream, but rather, we are bringing ourselves into the presence of the Lord, as if He were truly there, manifested before us. This cannot simply be like any other prayer or any other thing that we watch on a screen. We cannot simply look at it as if to be entertained.
When the deacon stands for prayer, we stand with him. When the priest is doing and leading the prostrations, we do the prostrations with him. When the readings are being read, let me
read along and follow. Let me sing along the chants. Let me live the Pascha as if it were my own journey and not simply as a person who is there to watch it unfold on a screen. This would require for us to recognize that the obstacles that are set before us are not real obstacles.
We know that the church is closed. We know that there's no gatherings. We know that Pascha is happening, but we cannot think to ourselves that it's happening somewhere else, away from us. We must realize that Pascha is something that we must make our own. We must identify with it. And for this to happen, we must come to the Lord and tell Him: Lord, I empty myself before you. I empty myself before you and I make sure that my hands are empty so that I can receive from you. Because for those of us whose hands are full, then we cannot possibly receive what it is the Lord that wants to give us during this very specific week.
So, let us come together, my beloved. Let us all get down on our knees and pray and tell Him: Lord, we don't want this Pascha to go by unfruitful. We don't want to go through this journey and come out the same. We want to be transformed. We want to make it our own. And so, if we do this, then surely, the Lord will grant us our heart's desire. Surely, He will make even this Pascha one that is an expression of how it is that we desire to be with Him, one where He reveals Himself to us.
So, how do we make it our journey? What we are going to suggest to you is very specific prayers to keep in mind throughout the entire week. Prayers that reflect what it is that is happening every single day when Holy Pascha begins. Let's begin with Palm Sunday...
On Palm Sunday, the Lord enters triumphantly into Jerusalem. He's hailed as a king. They lay down before Him their cloaks. They put palm leaves and they chant and they say Hosanna in the Highest. We should not only remember this as a historical fact as if somehow we're only remembering what happened on the day that He entered into Jerusalem. We must cry out and make our prayer: Come, O Lord, and reign in me! Come, O Lord, and reign in me! Make it your own. Make that day a day where you tell Him: Lord, let me bear everything before you. Let me prepare the way. Let me invite you to come and to reign in me.
We have a person by the name of Methodius of Olympus who says something very beautiful. He says:
''Instead of our garments, let us spread our hearts before him.'' (Methodius of Olympus, Oration on the Palms)
Instead of our garments, let us spread our hearts before him. Let us do this. Let us spread open our hearts and tell Him: Lord, as you entered into Jerusalem, come also and reign in me. Be king in my life.
On Monday of Holy Pascha, when we pay attention to the prayers and the prophecies, we see how it is that the the Lord enters into the temple. He cleanses it and then, there are the cursings that happen because of all the hypocrisy that He sees. This is where you and I need to recognize that there is a cleansing that is required. If there is anything within me that needs to be turned over, any demons within me, any demons of lust, of anger, of envy, of greed, of all of those different types of passions, may the Lord fashion His whip and chase them out! May He come within me and search me the same way He searched Jerusalem! May the Lord expel from me any sort of evil and sinful addiction!
This is where you and I can now ask the Lord, who we have invited to be king, to also come in and to cleanse us from within. And so, our prayer becomes: Cleanse me, O Lord, from within. Cleanse me, O Lord. This is the request that we have. This is how we make Monday of Holy Pascha our own journey. And as you read through the prayers, as you attend the prophecies, say that prayer so it can become your journey.
On Tuesday, we see the Lord who is the teacher; the Lord who calls out the hypocrisy; the Lord who reveals the kingdom of God to His people; the Lord who prepares the way for Golgotha and He tells them about how it is that He will be victorious. And this same Lord who teaches His people, who opens their eyes, who enlightens them, has to also be the Lord who enlightens me.
And so now, my prayer on that day of Tuesday has to be: Come, O Lord, and be my instructor. Be my instructor, O Lord. Enlighten me. Open my eyes. Teach me. Show me Yourself. Reveal to me Your glory. And this is how I can make Tuesday such a blessed day as I read the prophecies, as I attend the prayers, and as I am constantly praying: Come and be my instructor, O Lord.
On Wednesday, we see how it is that the Lord is anointed and He is betrayed. Anointed and betrayed. St. John Chrysostom says that this woman who came at the feet of Jesus was someone that we should keep before us as an example. St. John Chrysostom says:
''She brings to Christ that part which is the most honourable member of the whole body, her head, and [what does she do? She] lays her [head at] his feet.'' (St. John Chrysostom, Matthew, Homily 80.1)
She lays it right there with her hair. The most glorious part of her members, she places it down at His feet and she worships Him. This is where we must also learn from this woman that on that day of Wednesday, rather than participating in betrayal, that I participate in those who have anointed Him as king, who have anointed Him as Lord, so that we may be able to say: Lord, I lay myself down at your feet, O Lord. This becomes my prayer: I lay myself down at your feet, O Lord.
On Thursday, we know that this is a day that is beautiful and jam-packed in Holy Pascha. We see how it is that this is the day that the Lord both feeds His disciples His own body and
blood and He washes their feet. The teacher, the great scholar Origen, he comments on this and he says:
''And this is the goal of the Teacher (...) [that] He wants to make the disciples like Himself.'' (Origen, Gospel of John 9)
He desires to make them exactly as He is. He wants to renew the image that is within them so that He can see Himself in them. This is the desire that the Lord has for us on this day of Thursday in this journey of Pascha. And so, my prayer should be: Lord, make me like You. Make me like you so that when You see me, You see a reflection of Yourself; when You look within me, you see a reflection of your only begotten Son, our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
And then finally, we arrive to Good Friday, this great and glorious day where our Lord reveals Himself as love incarnate. And what do we see on Golgotha that day? We see love in the flesh. We see the bridegroom who's there, dressed in His robe, ready to receive His bride. We see extreme humility. A king who can conquer everything around Him allows himself to die in the flesh for our sakes. And in His extreme humility, He is even willing to be buried and placed in the earth for our sakes.
We see the Lord who is high up on a cross where everyone thinks that He is being shamed, but we look at Him and we recognize Him as the Lord who is victorious, the Lord who is king. And that is His throne and He has accepted the cross as His throne for my sake. It is on that day of Good Friday during Holy Pascha that my prayer can be: Lord, be my king. Be my King. Come reign and be king in me.
We now arrive to Joyous Saturday. And it's on this day of Joyous Saturday that the Church remembers how it is that the Lord enters into Hades. And it's by encountering death that He destroys death for our sakes. He shines His divine light in the darkness of Hades. And this is where He frees the captives. This is where He takes His own and He finally grants them the freedom that He has always wanted to give them.
And so, our prayer during that entire day of Joyous Saturday, as we spend that night of apocalypse at church reading the book of Revelation, lighting those candles, remembering what it is the Lord has done for us, this is where we ask the Lord to come and to destroy the death that is within us: Come and destroy and free me from my death, O Lord.
And then finally, we come to that day, that glorious and most joyful day of the Holy Resurrection. This is where we encounter the Lord who is resurrected from the dead. This is where we recognize Him who has conquered death for our sakes. And now that he is risen, we get to rise with Him. This is now the fulfilment of our journey. St. Gregory the Theologian, he says, in his Easter oration, one of the most beautiful sentences that summarizes everything that we have been working towards. St. Gregory says:
''A few drops of Blood recreate the whole of creation!'' (St. Gregory the Theologian, Easter Orations)
A few drops of blood, His blood, His precious blood that was shed. Why? To recreate all of us and not just us, but all of creation. This is the fulfilment of Pascha. This is the fulfilment of everything we have done. We are now at the point where we come and then we make our personal prayer to Him. We say: Lord, come and give me new life, O Lord. Rise, O Lord, and recreate me with you. Allow me to rise with you.
Regardless of whether or not we're spending Pascha alone at home and even though we wanted to be at church, we wanted to be all together, we wanted to be able to gather and to join in this communal form of prayer as we have always done, regardless of how difficult that may be on us, this does not prevent us from encountering the risen Lord. This does not prevent us from this intimacy.
And so, while we may be alone at home, in our rooms, in our prayer corners the entire week of Pascha, do not let that be an obstacle, my beloved. Turn to Him and make this journey to Golgotha your own personal journey. Pray the personal prayers so that the Lord who had undergone all of this as a journey of love, may He also be the one who gives us this joy, this comfort, the satisfaction of knowing that while we may not be at church, we still have full access to Him.
May this holy and blessed season of Pascha be a source of great blessing to all of you! And may the Lord grant all of us new life in Him as we journey together personally with Him towards His glorious feast of the resurrection.
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