The Threshold of Holy Week

We stand on the threshold of Holy Week. The Lenten Fast is coming to an end, and we embark on the journey of the days leading to our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. It’s important to remember that in our Orthodox Faith, we are not merely “remembering” in the sense of commemorating past events. Rather, as we do every Divine Liturgy, we participate in the present reality of those events. We often find the liturgies using present tense language, for example: “Today has salvation come to the world.” One of the central aspects of Orthodox Theology is that we participate by God’s grace in His divine energies, God’s actions in the world. We don’t merely contemplate His presence, we don’t merely “remember” what God has done in the past, but the grace and power of all that He has done for us is made present to us, as we are joined to Him in prayer, the sacraments, and in the liturgies of the Church. So it is that Holy Week is an invitation to participate in the events of our salvation in Christ. I encourage you to attend as many services as you are able, and to participate personally in the great Mystery of God’s love and self-giving for your life and the life of the world. May we arrive at the Resurrection of our Lord and our Paschal Celebration with joy and gratitude, having walked the Way of the Cross with Christ.

 

Blessings,

Fr. David