Come Awake! Come Awake! Come And Rise Up From the Grave!

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Christ is Risen! Alleluiah! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluiah!

"Something strange is happening - 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. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross,...

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Speech of St. Gregory Nazianzen for Good Friday

Let us sacrifice not young calves, nor lambs that put forth horns and hooves, in which many parts are destitute of life and feeling; but let us sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise upon the heavenly Altar, with heavenly dances. Let us sacrifice ourselves to God; or rather let us go on sacrificing throughout every day and at every moment with the temptations, struggles and joys of our life. If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up the Cross and follow. If you are crucified with Him as a robber, acknowledge God as a penitent robber. If even he was numbered among the transgressors for you and your sin, do you become law-abiding for His sake. Worship...

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The Liturgies of Holy Week

For the whole of the Church, The liturgies of Holy Week draw us into the central drama of our faith. They are celebrations of and immersions into the singular action of our Lord's passion, death and resurrection. As our Jewish brothers and sisters, when they celebrate their yearly Passover, no longer say, "my ancestors were freed from slavery" but, rather "Now I have been freed from slavery", so too with us. In our full, conscious and active participation in the liturgies of Holy week we can no longer say, "those people who knew Jesus were freed by his death and resurrection" but "Now I have been freed...because I have been there. I have walked...

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For The Forth Sunday of Lent - Continued Treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop

Christ Healing the Blind Man, El Greco 1560 John 9:1-41 - Christ is the way to the light, the truth, and the life The Lord tells us: I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In these few words he gives a command and makes a promise. Let us do what he commands so that we may not blush to covet what he promises and to hear him say on the day of judgment: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?” If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?” he will tell you: “I commanded you to follow me. You asked for advice on how to enter into...

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