CHRIST IS RISEN!                INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Today, as we celebrate the Feast of Feasts, the Resurrection of Our Lord, we bear in mind the great gift that is ours—forgiveness.  All that was endured during the Passion was done so that we might no longer be captives of our past misdeeds, but that we could put the past behind us and enter unhindered into the eternal glory that awaits us, prefigured in the Resurrection.  Again and again the Lord calls upon us to cast off whatever holds us earthbound, repent and accept the forgiveness that is ours.  It is indeed an incredible gift that we receive in knowing that we can walk away from our past and be freed from our sins, but with this gift also comes a responsibility.  As we have forgiven, so too we must also forgive.

We are never truly free as long as we refuse to forgive others.  We can never truly celebrate the victory of Christ over sin and death as long as we hold another captive in the recesses of our hearts.  If we truly want to celebrate the freedom of the Resurrection, we have to free ourselves of hatred, anger, judgment, and ill will.
In the Paschal Stichera we sing,

“Let us embrace one another.  Let us call brethren even those who hate us and because of the Resurrection let us exclaim:  Christ is Risen…”

Let these not be mere words to us, but rather a call to action.  Let us allow the Resurrection of Our Lord to truly free us in every way, so that His love, which is ours, may radiate from us to all those we meet.

Bestowing my archiepiscopal blessing upon you, God’s people, I remain