<\/p>\n
Christ is Risen!!!<\/p>\n
Today, on the third Sunday after Pascha, we commemorate the holy Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodimus \u2013 the secret disciple of the Lord \u2013 and the myrrh-bearing women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Cleopas, Salome, Joanna, Martha and Mary \u2013 the sisters of Lazarus \u2013 and Suzanna, along with others who came with them to the tomb of the Lord. The myrrh-bearing women are specifically remembered on this Sunday because they were the first to see the risen Lord, and Joseph and Nicodemus because they were the ones who buried Him.<\/p>\n
The great mercy of God reveals itself in the narration of today\u2019s gospel: the frail women, bravely carrying the sweet spices to the Lord\u2019s tomb, become the first witnesses of His resurrection from the dead. The frail women, desiring faithfully to serve the Lord, Who has fallen asleep, are the first to see the empty tomb. Faithful to the Lord even after His death, they are the first to learn that He is alive.<\/p>\n
How harmonious is this narrative with the words of the Lord: \u201cThey that are faithful to the end, shall be saved!\u201d How often, in our times, the faithful behold and come to know the great mercy of God! Thus, some, at the time of attentive prayer, unexpectedly behold the grace of the Holy Spirit, descending upon the holy gifts during the Divine Liturgy. Others see different mysteries of God, not asking Him for visions, but only having a desire to serve Him faithfully.<\/p>\n
Let us remember the words of the Lord to Thomas, words which we heard last Sunday: \u201cBlessed are they, who have not seen, and yet believed,\u201d and let us not seek visions, lest we fall into beguilement and the deception of the devil. Let us ask help of the Lord, that we may keep the faith to the end, and together with the myrrh-bearing women, may obtain salvation. Amen.<\/p>\n
Priest Viatcheslav Davidenko<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The great mercy of God reveals itself in the narration of today\u2019s gospel: the frail women, bravely carrying the sweet spices to the Lord\u2019s tomb, become the first witnesses of His resurrection from the dead. The frail women, desiring faithfully to serve the Lord, Who has fallen asleep, are the first to see the empty tomb. Faithful to the Lord even after His death, they are the first to learn that He is alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2189,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions\/2189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcdiocese.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}