The Paschal Life by Marianne Dorman

PREFACE

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The great Fifty days ring out with the glorious message of certain triumph over all earthly doom and despair because it has the message of life and vitality and the answer to all man's frustrations and fears. What more wonderful news could there be for the world that God the Son, born in very insignificant surroundings, and dying as a common criminal on a cross is the victor; despite what all this world could do to Him, even death. By the Spirit the Father raised Christ from death, and thus the sting has been removed from the grave, and the risen Lord becomes "a life-giving Spirit". (1Cor.15:45) The Resurrection rings out victory. As St. Paul reminds us "O Death, where is is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and sin gains its power from the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."(1Cor.15:55-7)

As St. Gregory Nazianzen, one of the great Cappadocian Fathers of the fourth century exclaimed:

Today is salvation come unto the world, to that which is visible, and to that which is invisible; Christ is risen from the dead, rise you with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return you. Christ is freed from the tomb, be you freed from the bond of sin. The gates of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; be you renewed.

These glorious Fifty days begin with the Easter Vigil Liturgy. On this great night we recall all the wonderful deeds God has done for His people in bring them forth from darkness into His marvellous life. So the deacon chants:

This is the night when the pillar of fire

destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night when Christians everywhere,

washed clean of sin

and freed from all defilement,

are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

The celebration of the Christian Pascha began very early amongst Christians, as early as the apostolic church. There is evidence of its liturgy in Paul's letter to the Ephesians:

Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.

(Eph. 5:14)

The importance of this night in the early church is again illustrated in this hymn by Gregory Nanzianzen:

But, O Pascha, great and holy and purifier of the world,

for I shall speak to You as to a living person.

O Word of God and Light and Life and Wisdom and Might,

for I rejoice in all Your names.

O Offpsring and Expression and Signet of the Great Mind;

O Word conceived and Man contemplated, Who bearest all things,

binding them by the Word of Your power;

receive this discourse, not now as firstfruits,

but perhaps as the completion of my offerings,

a thanksgiving, and at the same time a supplication,

that we may suffer no evil beyond those necessary

and sacred cares in which our lives have passed,

and stay the tryanny of the body over us.

As mighty and wonderful as the Resurrection of Christ is, it is not complete nor effectual for us without the Ascension. The Jacobean prelate, Lancelot Andrewes in his 1622 Easter day sermon clearly demonstrates this:

The Resurrection itself is for an end, it is not the end; it is but a state yet imperfect, but any entry to a greater good, which unless it leads us and brings us to, `non habetur propositum', it is short, short of that it should be. ... To rise is nothing but to ascend out of the grave, ... to rise as high as heaven, then we are truly risen. ... The resurrection itself is no Gospel, not of itself unless 'ascendo' follow it.

Christ had to return to His Father's home in order to fulfil His promise to His apostles that He would always be with them. His Ascension enabled the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them and His Church ever since. To realize the implication of all this we only have to compare the lives of the apostles during the Resurrection days with those after the Ascension. As we ponder on the events of that first Pentecost morning we behold the power of the Spirit in transforming and mending lives. Peter and the apostles simply cannot contain their experiences of the Ascended Lord in their lives. Not only do they desire to share this knowledge with others, but they ardently desire for every man, woman and child to possess the Living Christ too. Peter addresses the lame man at the Gate Beautiful with these words, "I have no silver or gold; but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk." (Acts. 3:6)

The early Church manifested what it meant to live in the power of the Risen and Glorified Lord. People repented and were baptized as they responded to the preaching of the Gospel; they sold their goods and lived communally; they prayed and celebrated the Eucharist daily; they cared for one another through acts of charity. Their lives took on that other dimension, that essential dimension of entering eternal life now.

Wherever Christ is in this world, there is also found the gifts of the Holy Spirit: humility, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, patience, temperance and above all love. It is only these attributes which bring peace to a hostile world and heal the broken-hearted and the injured. It is only through the power of the glorified Lord that each man, woman and child can live without any fears whatsoever. To those who believe in Christ are freed from any kind of yoke, that strangles and finally kills. Instead they savour that serenity and security of living within the Kingdom of the Lord who reigns for ever and ever. Their lives do express that tremendous joys which rings out in the Easter Proclamation sung at the Easter Vigil Liturgy.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choir of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour,

radiant in the brightness of your King!

Christ has conquered! Glory fill you!

Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!

The risen Saviour shines upon you!

Let this place resound with joy,

echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

It is important for us to realize that Pentecost is not a separate festival but the culminating celebration of these joyful Fifty days during which we have truly experienced the liveliness of our faith. Nevertheless Pentecost does have its own distinctive message with new surging of energy, making our hearts afresh and fearless. Just as the Christian Pascha is born out of the Jewish one, so the Christian Pentecost is rooted in the Jewish Feast of Weeks, held fifty days after the Passover when the first-fruits of the harvest were offered to the Lord. St. Paul speaks of Christ being "the first-fruit". Our Lord is not only the "first-fruit" for "all who have fallen asleep", (1Cor 15:20) but the "first-fruit" of this new life begun with Calvary's victory. The more we ponder on Easter and Pentecost, the more we shall realize how interwined these two celebrations are - Christ and the Holy Spirit with the Father are all united. This indeed unfolds as we read the set lessons for this time. It is no accident that we read side by side St. John's Gospel with all its beauty and mystical appeal and uncloaking the harmony and unity of the Three in One, and One in Three, with The Acts of the Apostles, in which the real life experience of the blessed Trinity in the apostles' preaching and ministry are vividly presented by Luke.

The unity of all these are celebrated at the end of the Feast of Weeks on Trinity Sunday when the creative, redemptive and sanctifying works of God are all praised and honoured. On this day we give thanks for all God's goodness as so aptly summed up in one of the loveliest prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, the General Thanksgiving: "We bless You for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life, but above all for Your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory."

Often the Trinity is seen as being too complex for our understanding. How can God be one in three and three in one? Perhaps at no other time of the Christian year is it easier to see how the Three persons are One, and One in Three. As St. Irenaeus explained, "the Lord redeems us ... and pours out the Spirit of the Father to unite God and man. ... The Word of The Father and the Spirit of God, united with the material substance of Adam, God's primal handiwork, had made man living and perfect, receptive of the Father."

The overwhelming joy of the great Fifty days is that the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit are always active. The Church is the Living Christ. Corpus Christi celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday honours that Living Christ and assures us that Christ and the Spirit are always present within the Church. After the gifts of bread and wine are placed on the altar through the operation of the Holy Spirit (the epiclesis) they become the Body and Blood of the crucified and risen Lord.

The institution of the Eucharist has this special place of honour and celebration on Corpus Christi, even though we know it was instituted by Our Lord on Maundy Thursday. The reason for this is that the Passion of our Lord with its fast moving events on Maundy Thursday through to Good Friday in a sense dwarfs the institution of the Eucharist. Thus on this day we can truly express our thanks for the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation as we reverence our dear Lord in His most holy and wonderful Sacrament. On this day all over the world, processions are held to proclaim and praise Jesus as Lord in His Sacrament:

Blessed and praised be Jesus Christ

In the most holy Sacrament.

Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest!

Just as this series of meditations began with life, that new and risen life in Christ which transforms everything, so it ends with the gift of Life, Christ's Body and Blood given to us day by day. Christ told us He is the "Bread of heaven" and the "Bread of Life," and as such He is our daily food for our pilgrimage towards heaven where I shall "never, never part from You".