Alleluia! He is Risen! After completing our 40-day journey through the desert of Lent, and having once again entered into Christ’s Passion during Holy Week, we now rejoice anew in the victory of Christ risen from the dead!
There is a phrase in the liturgy that has caught my attention in a particular way over the past few years that serve as a sort of reference point for the entire Easter Season for me. The phrase comes from the Easter Prefaces, which you will recall happens after the Offertory and before the Holy, Holy, Holy, leading us into the Eucharistic Prayer. All of the Easter Prefaces begin their conclusion with the same phrase: “Therefore, overcome with Paschal joy.”
I think it is important to highlight that this joy is not just any joy, but it is Paschal joy. How is Paschal joy different? According to a quick search on an online dictionary, joy is generally defined as an emotion of happiness and delight. Feeling joy is a great thing, and our faith can elicit very positive emotions. But in the theological sense, joy is more than just an emotion. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, according to St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, explains Christian joy in this way:
The joy referred to here is more than a passing worldly joy. It is deeper than an emotional experience. It is rooted in God and comes from him. Since it does not have the world for its origin but, rather, comes from God, it is more serene and stable than worldly joy, which is merely emotional and lasts only for a time.
(https://blog.adw.org/2013/01/a-brief-treatise-on-the-fruits-of-the-holy-spirit/)
So, this helps us understand what joy is, but the Church is pointing out a specific kind of joy, Paschal joy. Paschal joy comes from the glorious truth that Christ has risen from the dead! Life is victorious, sin has been defeated! On the day of our Baptism, we became partakers in this victory, and because of that, we have great hope that will shall share in the Resurrection at the end of our earthly journey. This means that even if we are suffering, even if we are discouraged with how our life here on earth may be going, even if we feel sad at the circumstances of our lives or the world around us, we raise our eyes to God and see the victory that has already been won, and the hope we have for what lies ahead for us. Therefore, despite how we might feel, we can and should be overcome with Paschal joy as we celebrate this greatest of all feast days.
In 50 days, we will celebrate Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church, but we do not need to wait until then to enjoy the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Remaining in the state of grace, receiving the Eucharist regularly, and keeping up our daily prayer with the Lord will fan the flame of the Holy Spirit within us and we will experience the abundance of those fruits in our lives, including joy. If we begin to feel down and discouraged with what is happening in us or around us, we can simply cry out: “Come, Holy Spirit”, who will remind us of the victory Christ won for us through His death and Resurrection, and meditating on that, how can we not be overcome with Paschal joy?
On behalf of Bishop Paprocki, Fathers Paul Lesupati, Dominic Rankin, Dominic Vahling, Deacon Larry Smith, and the entire Cathedral Parish staff, we wish you all a very blessed Easter!
Father Alford