Christ is risen! Christos voskrese! Krisztusz feltamadt! Cristo es rescucidado!
My last post was Palm Sunday – and then we entered Holy Week. I was immersed in the services – which is only proper – as we journeyed with Christ through the anointing, the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, His Passion, the Burial, and then the Resurrection.
One year I said to a little boy “Christ is risen” and he answered me “Father, I sure hope so after all of this!” Out of the mouths of babes ….
It is something how the most modest of Byzantine rite churches, Catholic or Orthodox, can become the setting of all of those events due to the power of the services and the gift of kairos, sacred time by which we experience the power of those original events.
It is an amazing time to reflect on one’s relationship with the Persons of the Trinity, what has transpired since last Easter, and where one wants to be spiritually next Easter. Sitting in a dark church in front of the tomb with the Shroud of the body of the Dead Christ painted on it puts everything into sharp perspective.
I was pumped with oxygen from my expanded lungs, real adrenalin, and spiritual adrenalin, aka grace. But on Easter evening my body slowed down, and I spent the next four days at home, barely able to maneuver myself in the power wheelchair the first two days due to the pain and spastic muscles. And so life goes on.
Below is a link to the celebration of a priest’s 75th anniversary of ordination. I don’t think I’ll make it to that exalted number! Scroll down through the photos, taken inside the magnificent church of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Olyphant, PA. The last picture is a striking image of that dear old priest.
Enjoy, and keep the paschal joy alive for the rest of the Easter Season!
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/photos-75th-anniversary-of-monsignor-celebrated-1.1467356
Father Christopher Zugger 
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