We are now in the 40 days’ Easter period, commemorating the glorious victory of Christ over death and sin. The Word of God points out a deep relation to the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ through the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you…” (Rom 8:11f).

New life – the life of the risen Christ should be manifested in us through the Holy Spirit. The condition is to walk by faith and to give all our plans, worries and everything to Jesus. Let us not cling to anything, be it our thoughts, hurt feelings, doubts about God and His Word, or self-pity. Let us give our all to Him. He will then work through us in power, maybe in secret only, but our union with Him in faith will bear fruit for eternity.

At the end of May, we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit fill you again and endow you with the true divine joy and His gifts. It is not enough to receive gifts; we need to receive the Giver! Let us do our best to live in the presence of God, seeking His will, so that our decisions, words and acts would not be our own but of God. To abide in and walk with God, we need practical faith. Indeed, we need to walk by faith like Abraham. And we need to revive our faith ever anew in all trials. No manifestation of a living faith is in vain or without response!

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.”

The Spirit of God brings light. This enables you to realize a truth that you previously did not see at all, or saw only in a distorted way. For example, He reveals that what seemed like a coincidence in your life was not a coincidence at all; now, after several years, you recognize this. What you saw as a loss was actually a gain. The harm that troubled you turned out to be ultimately beneficial. What you saw as misfortune was merely a barrier that prevented an even greater misfortune. At the time, you couldn’t understand this.

The Spirit of God gives us understanding, particularly with regard to spiritual matters. He convicts us of sin. He opens up the Scriptures. Certain previously incomprehensible passages in Scripture suddenly touch your heart deeply, leading you to a personal awareness of sin and of God’s forgiving love.

The Spirit of God brings us into an intimate relationship with our Saviour, so that we may come to know Him better and love Him more. The greatest obstacle to loving God is original sin within us – our tendency to believe lies and commit evil. Without the Spirit of God, all truths, whether from Scripture or the catechism, are merely a letter that kills, as God’s Word says. But the Spirit gives life! (2Cor 3:6) Jesus said to the apostles, and He says to us as well: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” (Jn 16:12-13)

“We were buried with Him through baptism into death,

that just as Christ was raised from the dead…,

even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

The verse speaks not only of Christ’s death but also resurrection. Again, it draws our attention to baptism, saying that we are buried with Christ through baptism into death, which means renunciation of our own will at the present moment. The consequence is that we live a new life, or rather that Jesus lives in us. He then works in us through the power of His resurrection.

One reality is Christ’s historical resurrection in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, and the other reality is our union with His resurrection in baptism. Baptism itself is not enough. In order for you to have light in your house, you need electric wiring in the walls, a switch and a bulb. You are connected to the source of energy. But if you don’t switch the light on, your house will be in darkness. Only when you do, the bulb will shine. We can compare baptism to the wiring and the switch to active faith. Christ lives in me in power through baptism and active faith.

“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins

and rose again for our justification.”

What is the focus of this Word of Life? It is on the resurrection. The previous verse says that the Father raised Jesus from the dead (We believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead /v.24/), but we also read in the next verse that Jesus Himself rose again by His own power. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30) Jesus shares the same divinity as the Father. So does the Holy Spirit. We read in Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” It tells us that the whole Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – is involved in the resurrection. The three of them are one, one God in three Persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The resurrection is a manifestation of God’s power. His almighty power created the universe, millions of galaxies, and billions of stars. He sustains it all. He also created our earth. He is the Supreme Lord and Lawgiver. He has the power to intervene in the laws of nature, and we call such an occurrence a miracle.

When the Scripture speaks about Peter’s first encounter with the Risen Lord by the tomb, it makes no mention of a dialogue. It was a mere glance… But now Jesus asks Peter: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” My prayer should not be just a reflection on Peter’s encounter with Jesus. During prayer, I should realize the presence of Jesus – Jesus is here now; He sees me and knows me. Jesus is here, the same Jesus as by the Lake of Gennesaret. With an aching heart, I confess together with Peter: “I betrayed You, I denied You.” Looking back on my life from early childhood, how many times I have denied Jesus! I have denied Him by every single sin, be it a weakness when sin was stronger, or fear, or pride, when I was afraid to confess Jesus.

Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see.

Jesus spoke these words when He appeared to the apostles on Sunday evening. They were shocked by the Saviour’s appearance and thought they were seeing a spirit, rather than the real Christ with His glorified body. Jesus urged them to look closely at His hands and feet and to touch Him to convince themselves that it was truly Him. He even asked them to give Him something to eat as further proof that He was in His resurrected body. They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb, which He ate in front of them. The bones of the fish remained as a testament to His real presence.

Let us remember that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He appears in a special way to certain favoured individuals, through whom He reminds believers of certain truths. He also often calls people to repentance and faith in Him in various ways. However, Jesus has also promised us His spiritual presence, saying: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.” (1Cor 15:20-21) It is written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” But breaking the commandment, he sinned and became a dead soul. He lost the divine life. All his descendants are born dead souls, deprived of the divine life. “The last Adam – Jesus became a life-giving Spirit.” This is the only solution for a dead soul – to receive a life-giving Spirit. How? By repentance. It means to stand up against the system of lies and pride which manipulates reason and to accept the basic realities and truths concerning earthly and eternal life: the reality of death, the reality of personal sin, the reality of God’s judgment and consequently of just eternal punishment. Another reality is to acknowledge God as the Creator of the whole universe and of all living creatures on earth. To receive the love of God, which is in Christ. He took the just punishment for our sin.

The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

and repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in His

name to all the nations.

Who said these words and where? Jesus spoke them on Sunday evening when He appeared to the apostles gathered on Mount Zion. It was here that Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper three days earlier, on Thursday evening.

The risen Jesus reminds the astonished apostles that He had foretold several times that He would suffer, but also rise from the dead on the third day. Only when this prophecy was fulfilled were the apostles’ eyes opened.

Jesus goes on to say that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations.

We are now more than halfway through Lent. Let us make at least a little act of self-denial every day: let us suppress a negative thought or laziness or fear: “Lord, out of love for You! I turn my eyes to Your cross. How much suffering You have endured for my sake – scourging, crowning with thorns, the way of the cross, crucifixion! You shed all Your blood for me, You paid the price for me, You love me! And what am I doing for You and for the salvation of my soul? Lord, give me true zeal and help me to deny myself in particular situations, to take up my cross and to follow You.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;

so you will be My disciples.

By what will the Father be glorified? By our bearing much fruit. But we will not bear much fruit by engaging in many activities independently of God’s will. If we are independent of Jesus in our problems — that is, if we do not remain in Him and He in us, but remain only in our own will, our own ideas, and our own emotions — then we can only produce abundant confusion, which is of no benefit to the Kingdom of God.

We can bear fruit only if we abide in Christ and are Christ’s disciples. But Jesus sets a condition for each of His disciples: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that we must rid ourselves of the material means of life and the like. However, it is necessary that in every situation we renounce our own will, which refuses to submit to God’s will, and this is connected with a certain test of faith. The fruit that we then bear — spiritual fruit — remains for all eternity.

Sometimes the Lenten period is a time similar to the time which Jesus spent in the wilderness. He prayed and fasted, and was tempted by the devil. Facing certain trials, we also are exposed to attacks by God’s enemy. The enemy works through lies. He tries to instil hatred towards our closest relatives and friends and ultimately even towards Jesus and the Heavenly Father. He attacks us with all kinds of blasphemous thoughts and seeks to lay the blame on God for evil which he caused himself. God endowed man with free will and respects it. Evil is either caused by the enemy of God or it may be caused by ourselves when we are deceived by our feelings, reason, lusts or pride. God causes this evil to work for good if we humble ourselves before Him and walk in the truth, humility, discipline and love, if we bear one another’s burdens and show mercy to those who hurt us consciously or unconsciously. God is LOVE. He gave His Son for us (Joh 3:16), and in Him we have eternal life. “Whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Heb 12:6) and lays a cross on him.

St Ephraim’s prayer for Lent reads: “O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, of discouragement, of lust for power, and of vain speaking (vain thoughts and daydreams) give not unto me!” So the first problem is spiritual and physical idleness which leads to mental dullness, and the power that should be transformed into love is transformed into self-love, anger, self-pity, daydreams and unchaste thoughts and feelings. An old proverb says: “Idleness is the mother of all vices.” In this prayer, we pray for deliverance from idleness and three more spirits, namely: discouragement, lust for power or self-love, and vain speaking. In fact, our vain speaking just proves that our thoughts are vain, worldly and self-centred. Therefore we must strike at the root and change our way of thinking. But this is not a one-time act. Our worldly, futile and selfish thoughts causing us to be idle and discouraged must be changed time and again in the obedience of faith.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,

and I in him, bears much fruit.

In the parable of the vine, Jesus explains that those who believe in Him should remember to be united to Him. This is expressed in the words, ‘… abides in Me, and I in him’. The word ‘abide’ also indicates that being united to Jesus and His will is not enough in only a specific case. We must continue abiding in this spiritual union.

Think about the word of life and answer these questions:

Who is the vine? Who are the branches?

What relationship do you see between a branch and a vine?

The saints often encourage us to remember the Last Things especially during Lent: death, judgment, heaven and hell. God knows the day, hour and place of your death. There is nothing more certain than the fact that this earthly pilgrimage will end one day for each of us. And then we shall stand before the judgment seat of God. Jesus says: “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed.” We shall be judged before angels, the whole universe and all mankind. What to do so as not to hear one day the words of Jesus spoken to the foolish virgins: “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you!” What to do to hear the words instead: “Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom!” What to do? To live by faith, to believe in Jesus and His word, and not to believe the liar and deceiver who leads us away from Jesus and from His programme given to us.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross.”

What mind was in Christ Jesus? And therefore, what mind should be in us? Not the proud mind of the spirit of the world. Rather, Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

In what did His great humiliation consist? In this: Being in very nature God, co-equal with the Father, He made Himself nothing, humbled Himself and took on human nature. Jesus was obedient to the Heavenly Father also in that He accepted the means of our salvation – death on the cross.

Original sin is in every one of us. It is inborn stupidity which deceives us all our life. We must fight against it. That is why Jesus says: “Deny yourself!” Deny that lie in you which wants to harm you, leads you by the nose into self-destruction and finally into hell. That’s our pride. If someone points out our fault or tells us that we are proud, we are mortally offended. How foolish we are! We should be grateful to everyone who tells us: you are such and such. Even if someone spat in our face, we should be thankful: “Really, maybe I do not yet understand what you tell me but I am aware of my sins…” If you are humble, the devil flees. Let us walk in the truth and we will fear nothing. Or else, how shall we stand before the judgment seat of God where eye witnesses will accuse us?