Do you believe that Christ was raised from the dead? Believe the same of yourself. Just as his death is yours, so also is his resurrection; if you have shared in the one, you shall share in the other. As of now the sin is done away with. John Chrysostom (345-407 A.D.)
In this breath of time before that dark and terrible Friday
of sin-spawned horrors,
followed by the miracle of Sunday morning
with angels and a tomb stone rolled and a glorious, empty silence,
we pause, take stock.
Penetrating light of the Holy Spirit,
search every secret place of my heart.
What are we in the scope of such a Plan,
the Plan in the mind of the Father before the beginning,
magnificent, and unimaginably Grace-infused?
In these forty days, we ponder the mystery of evil,
each of us with our stained history, gross failings,
a great catalogue of transgressions.
Ah, but beyond our ability to apprehend
is the mystery of Love.
And here in this breath of time
we do not just pause.
We rest.
The great catalogue of our transgressions
has been drained of its power
and destroyed.
The Cross, horrific, beautiful,
has driven a stake through our guilt,
and the blood of the Christ has washed us clean.
Therefore, in this breath of time,
we do not grieve,
but rejoice.
. . .how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14