~ IT’S BRIGHT TIME! — Like Christmas, Easter is more than a chocolate-hazy day– it’s an extended celebration, a state of soul, a holy season of the church. The Orthodox Church has the delightfully-named ‘Bright Week‘ after their amazing marathon Pascha & Feast vigil– Bright Monday, Bright Tuesday, and so on.
After all, the incarnation of the Son of God in time and space changes everything. The Resurrection on Sunday means that it’s a New Day, an eternal day breaking in on ordinary clock-time. So Easter Day is sometimes called the 8th day of the week: an irruption of final reality into our fallen and distorted Matrix-reality; moreso, Easter is an in-breaking into our hearts and minds of the Risen Christ: he came that we might believe, and be saved.
….Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
A blessed Eastertide to all Christians around the world this day– and our Eastern Orthodox brethren, whenever their Pascha is this year– may the joy and victory of the Risen Christ be yours this and every day. As I said over here a while back,
“Jesus comes to restore the image of God in man; to show us what a true man, a full humanity is like; and by his grace to begin that transformation in us. On the cross he offers forth his own life, to straighten our bentness, and to remake us into his better image, our truest selves. This is, he tells us, the purpose of his coming (St. John, 6:38-40): “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
May we who believe fight this good fight for our day and time, and for the good of all; may those who are uncertain or disbelieve yet act as if they do, so we may do good together, and seek a better world than Utopia or HRC or the earthly-minded dare hope for or imagine. We may suffer and struggle, but the victory has been won: the very ground of reality is eternal victory won for us by God in Christ.
A Swift Sunrise 