The Holy Paschal readings reveal to us the richness of divine love and the divine economy for salvation, as well as the method of passing from death to life, meaning they explain to us what the Holy Trinity has done for our salvation and how we can accept this love and this salvation in our lives.
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1- The Divine Economy in Salvation (Divine Economy):
+ The Holy Paschal readings speak of the great love and salvation that the Lord proclaimed through His death and resurrection, and about our Savior, (Hebrews 2:10), our Lord Jesus Christ, all glory be to Him.
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+ It does not present to us readings of an event that happened in a week, but rather proclaims love and salvation in:
– His economy since eternity è thus explaining to us the work of the Trinity in salvation – as in the readings of Great Friday Eve.
– And in preparating for it è as in the prophecies and symbols that came in the Old Testament, as well as the references to it in the Pauline, Catholic, and Acts readings throughout all the Paschal readings.
– And in its occurrence è in the incarnation, the cross, the resurrection, ascension, and the fullness of the Spirit in the Gospels.
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– And in the life of the church through è in the Pauline Epistles, the Catholic Epistles, and the Acts, and also referenced in the prophecies.
– And in the glory of His eternal inheritance è in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation.
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+ It is as if the holy church, through its many readings, brings us into time to see what divine love has done for our salvation, and we discover that in His salvation we have transcended time to return to eternity:
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– We see the divine economy for salvation (Acts 15:18); (Romans 16:25); (2 Timothy 1:9).
– It guides us in the Old Testament beyond the words of the prophets to witness His divine plan (Hebrews 1:1); (2 Peter 1:21).
– It transports us to the time of His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection, allowing us to realize how much He loved us to the end (Jeremiah 31:3); (John 13:1).
– We live His salvation through His Holy Spirit in His holy church (Ephesians 3:10).
– The readings take us to eternity (Book of Revelation) to see the inheritance prepared for all who loved the Lord and accepted His salvation.
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+ That is, the journey of readings is a journey backward, forward, and upward, taking us into time and bringing us out of it, standing us on the ground to witness events, and lifting us above them to see our salvation within them.
+ Therefore, the journey of readings is not a journey of scriptural information or psychological emotions with melodies, but a journey with Christ and in Christ, so that we may be assured that in Him we die and rise and are filled with His Holy Spirit, and we realise His love and divine economy for our salvation. In this week, we get from the power of His sufferings, death, and resurrection what allows us to see His presence in everything in our lives—in our joys, sorrows, and simple deeds (1 Cor 10:31), and even in our confusion and depression, which are counted among the path of our salvation (2 Cor 4:8). Thus, the readings and melodies of the holy Pascha fill us with the richness and glory of His presence, experiencing how we live, move, and exist in Him (Acts 17:28).
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The readings of the Pascha move in three stages:
1- The first stage: The first part of the readings serves as an introduction to the Holy Pascha, the Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday, which outline the entrance to salvation, announcing who the Savior is, who is about to redeem humanity, and how He revealed the glory of His love for humanity on the cross.
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The readings of Saturday speak of the Lord of life and its source in the resurrection of Lazarus.
And on Sunday, they speak of the King who willingly entered Jerusalem with the Passover lambs to present and proclaim the Kingdom of the New Covenant.
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2- The second stage: Then comes the second part of the readings (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) to explain the economy of salvation, the story of the fall, and humanity’s need for the Savior after the corruption of human nature, the inability of man to save himself, and the futility of all human means and ways in attaining salvation and liberation from the bondage and authority of Satan: –
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These three days are the ones during which the Passover lambs remained in Jerusalem in preparation for being offered as a sacrifice during the feast. Therefore, the Lord was keen, after His entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, not to leave Jerusalem and the small villages around it until the time He offered Himself as the Passover sacrifice.
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– Therefore, the church rite explains in the readings of the three days God’s economy from the beginning for the salvation of humanity, as if reminding us of the necessity of having the lamb in the liturgy during the psalms until the time of its offering.
– Perhaps the Gregorian liturgy tells the story of divine love in creation, after the fall, and until redemption, so that we may live this divine love in every liturgy we celebrate.
– Engineer Fouad Naguib Youssef states that these three days represent the inability of the law to save and announce the end of the temple of the Old Testament and the Kingdom of Israel.
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Through the pains of labor that Christ endured physically and psychologically in this critical phase of the history of salvation, the Church is born and rises upon the ruins of the old temple, strengthened by the weakness of the crucified.
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For it to arise, it was necessary for Christ to announce the end of the Old Covenant and the end of Israel’s salvific role. Israel failed to uphold the eternal covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants, and to fulfill the covenant, it was necessary for the new Israel to arise in the Church, so that Jesus could complete the eternal covenant through and within it.
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Therefore, the readings of the three days present an indictment of Israel, based on the judgment of God’s final departure from His old temple. Thus, the temple became useless, and it was justly destined for destruction: ” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13). (Engineer Fouad Naguib Youssef)
3- The third phase: Then the third part (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) concludes with the announcement and completion of salvation and the passage of humanity from death to life.
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Therefore, we find in the readings of these four days:
– The Lord reveals Himself as the Passover of the New Covenant (Thursday).
– He offers Himself for the salvation of the world (Friday).
– The Church has the right in Christ to enter paradise and the passage from death to life (Saturday Eve).
– And it can rejoice in the glory of His resurrection on Sunday Eve.
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2- The Method of Crossing from Death to Life (The Human Role):
+ The readings of this Holy Pascha also outline for us the path and method of crossing from death to life, and how we die every day and every moment to the world, and how we receive, live, and possess the new life when the richness of divine love is revealed to us.
+ What the Church offers in its readings during the Holy Week is the method of life in Christ, the daily and ongoing crossing from death to life, and how the death of the world, which is in sin, desire, conflicts, self, ingratitude, and hatred, comes to an end, and how we freely receive the life of Christ that exists in His love, divine righteousness, joy, peace, generosity, hope, and victory over death, the devil, and sin.
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+ How our lives on earth unfold each day, from the scent of death fading from our organs and our inner being, to a radiance of life that illuminates our souls, selves, and bodies until everything in the world comes to an end within us, “the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no claim on me” (John 14:30), and the filling of our entire inner being with the life of God, “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).
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As Saint Clement of Alexandria says:
[As man is snatched from destruction, he is lifted to the heavens, planting the dead in immortality and transforming the earth into heaven.]
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Therefore, we chose to die by our own will to the world and what is in it, and to the self, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live (to fill our being with the life of Christ and the radiance of His light within us)Bottom of Form,but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20)
+ The purpose of the readings of this holy Pascha is to outline the path and method not to live the readings and the liturgy for one week a year, but to renew within us the act of dying to the world and living in Christ, so that it becomes a way of life and daily conduct and an unceasing struggle in order to attain the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24) (Colossians 2:18).
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+ Therefore, we see in the readings of the Holy Pascha seven bridges for crossing from death to life.
+ But before we begin the crossing from death to life in Christ, the Church pauses in its readings for a moment to know first who our Savior is, and who is the Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world (Saturday of Lazarus).
– He is the Prince of Life, and He alone holds the authority over the abyss and death, and He is able to recreate man and bring him back to life after his death, even if it has been four days, and even if he has begun to decay.
– Today, the Lord raises Lazarus with authority, power, and a clear, direct command: “Lazarus, come forth.” He rejects the words of Martha and Mary, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died,” for with the Lord, there is no expression of “if” because He is above time and space. Therefore, He declares His divinity with utmost clarity: “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is capable of bringing about the Day of Judgment or the Last Day, as it is linked to His person, presence, and will, and not to a specific time, place, or condition.
– Hence, the Saturday of Lazarus comes, and “faith” serves as a condition for crossing the bridges of faith that allow us to see the glory of God, a faith that transcends human calculations, logic, and reasoning, a faith that guides us in every step of the journey from death to life.
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– Therefore, we can consider the readings of Saturday as the only entrance to understanding and opening our eyes to the mystery of the cross. The church today asks each one of us, through the voice of the Son of God in His words to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.”
+ The readings of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday guide us towards the purification of the soul and its preparation for union with the Bridegroom in the readings of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
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- We see in the readings of Sunday the purification of God’s temple from all kinds of trade and deception, a reference to the purification of the soul’s temple from the spirit of the world, its deception, and hypocrisy, especially for those who serve His holy name.
- The readings of Monday come to proclaim the judgment of formal piety without fruit, and the Lord’s constant need from our lives, our service, and our existence: “He went to see if he could find fruit on it” and this is His constant request from the churches and pastors. (Matthew 21:34).
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- Purification requires vigilance, care, and constant self-review without leniency or complacency, and this is what we see in the readings of Tuesday.
- It warns against the foxes of betrayal, the love of silver and leadership with Judas, and it shows the glory of human love with the woman pouring the fragrant oil, in the readings of Wednesday.
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- And He unites with us on His altar in the readings of Thursday.
• And He reigns with us on His cross when we completely surrender our will to Him in the readings of Friday.
• And He brings us to His paradise, and to what is unseen in the readings of Saturday Eve.
• Thus, we experience the joy and power of His resurrection in the readings of Sunday Eve.
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It means to cross in Christ from death to life,we need to
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- live in constant purification (Sunday readings).
• show the fruits of the Spirit in our lives (Monday readings).
• remain in a state of vigilance and continuous alertness (Tuesday readings).
• offer to the Lord the most precious we possess (Wednesday readings).
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- unite with Him in the Eucharist and wash the feet of others (Thursday readings).
• go with Him to death with a complete free will (Friday readings).
• pass through Him and with Him to paradise (Saturday night).
• experience the power of His resurrection in the readings of Sunday night.
And let us beware of:
• The corruption of our temple (Sunday readings).
• Our formal lives (Monday readings).
• Our negligence and lack of vigilance (Tuesday readings).
• So that we may be counted as traitors of His love (Wednesday readings).
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- And our pride and laziness prevent us from uniting with Him (Thursday readings).
• So we flee from His cross (Friday readings).
• And we become enslaved to what is seen (Saturday night readings).
• So we do not witness His resurrection.
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In another way, crossing from death to life always requires that:
• We let God reign over our lives, hearts, and entire being (Palm Sunday).
• It requires us to reject the falsehood of life, form, and appearance without the fruits of the Spirit within us (Monday of Holy Pascha).
• We must live in a state of constant vigilance and have our lamps filled with oil (Tuesday of Holy Pascha).
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- Our life and love will be like a bottle of fragrant oil and a sweet fragrance spread everywhere (Wednesday of the Holy Pascha).
• And we will bow to wash the feet and pray until blood, so that we may unite with Him (Maundy Thursday).
• And we will walk with Him to Golgotha and be crucified with Him until death (Great Friday).
• Thus, we will pass through Him and with Him to light, joy, and resurrection (Holy Saturday and Sunday of resurrection).
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As the readings announce to us who the Messiah of salvation is:
• Sunday: The King è He reigns over everything. (Between purification, healing, and praise, and between losing the purpose of worship.)
• Monday: The Holy One è He always purifies. (Between our fruits and our leaves – between our change and our form.)
• Tuesday: The Judge è He will come to judge. (Between vigilance and surprise.)
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- Wednesday: The Groom è The Love dtink offering. {between the ladder of love and the Abyss of Betrayal}.
• Thursday: The Servant è washing feet and the prayer of blood. {Between washing people’s feet, touching the threshold of heaven, and between pride and laziness}. • Friday: The Silent Lamb è The Sacrificed and the Completeness of Surrendering to the Will. {between the completeness of surrendering to the will, the revelation of the completeness of Love, and between escaping the cross}.
• Saturday: The One who crosses è What is not Seen {between overcoming what is seen to perceive what is not seen}.
• Sunday: The Risen and Victorious è between the greatness of fear and the intensity of joy.
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