Clergy Reflection: Thursday Of The Third Week

Thursday of the Third Week

There are five Sundays in Great Lent, followed by Palm Sunday and then Pascha. Thus, halfway between the beginning of Lent and Palm Sunday, we are reminded to venerate the Cross. It can be easy to imagine, because we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ with such joy, that the death of Christ was simply a passage to His rising from the dead—but no, it is not. The Church reminds us this week that we must stop and venerate the Cross, like a marker posted visibly on the road, lest we get lost. In one of our prayers, we begin by saying “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One.” This prayer specifically ends with the words “for through the Cross, joy has come to all the world.” On Holy Friday evening, stop and listen carefully— the hymns are festive, as the death of Christ has freed us all.

Fr. Panteleimon Klostri