“Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself!

Touch Me and see.“

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.”

It is night. Jesus is in the tomb. The soldiers guard the tomb. Where is the Mother of God this night? How does she spend this night? Where are the Apostles? What is their state of mind? What do they feel? Horror and fear. And what about the women who had followed Jesus? What about the soldiers, enemies? What is the spiritual atmosphere in Jerusalem like? Christ is in the tomb. The enemies rejoice over Him…

But this is not the end! JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD! We do not know when exactly, the Scriptures do not say whether it was at midnight or at one or two o’clock in the morning. It is not important when exactly it happened. The whole night is holy. After Jesus’ death His spirit descended from the Father’s hands into the place called Sheol, or Hades, and crushed its gates. Then His spirit returns into the body. His body is not only raised to life but also transfigured. It means that Christ’s body is glorified. Jesus comes out of the tomb. He passes through the stone walls. The soldiers still guard the tomb but it is now empty. In the morning, an angel rolls back the stone from the door of the tomb but Christ does not come out. The angel just reveals that Jesus is not there. The tomb is empty, Jesus left the tomb. Where in Jerusalem is His spirit and His glorious body this night? Tradition has it that He first appeared to the Blessed Virgin.

“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.“

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.

Contemplating the Lord’s passion is an ancient tradition. It helps you realize more deeply what Jesus suffered for your sake. From this knowledge comes true respect, love and gratitude.

It is recommended to contemplate the Lord’s passion especially on Thursday evening and Friday, the day of Christ’s redemptive suffering and death.

Reflection

(a verse from a Lenten hymn, e.g. Kyrie eleison)

1. Jesus washes the apostles’ feet: On Thursday evening Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with His apostles.

At the beginning, Jesus washed the apostles’ feet. Thus He gave them the example of humility. He warns them against betrayal, behind which is the devil. Only a humble person can overcome the devil. Humility is truth, and truth makes you free. (We sing “Yehoshua” to the melody “You Are Our Peace”)

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 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.“

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.“