Lazarus, Come Out!
Posted: April 23, 2016 Filed under: The Eucharist and Living the Eucharist | Tags: Christian as mediator, Lazarus, Lazarus Saturday, Mary as mediator, Participants in God's works Leave a comment
Raising of Lazarus by Andrea Fordice
In the Orthodox Church, Lazarus Saturday marks the end of Lent. This day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus’ friend from the dead by Jesus’ command to the corpse, “Lazarus, come out!” The resurrection of Lazarus occurs a week before Jesus’ own death and resurrection. This miracle prefigures our Lord’s resurrection, and vividly demonstrates Jesus’ deity and authority — here authority over death itself.
The account of Lazarus’ resurrection takes up the majority of the eleventh chapter of St. John’s gospel (Jn 11: 1 — 44). There is a detail in St. John’s account of Lazarus’ resurrection that has always stuck out for me. Jesus comes to Lazarus’ tomb. Its entrance is secured by a large stone (Jn 11: 38).
Three Tabernacles Of God
Posted: April 11, 2016 Filed under: The Eucharist and Living the Eucharist | Tags: Annunciation, Christ indwells the Christian, Christian as Tabernacle and Temple of God, Christians as Bearers of Christ, Eucharist as Tabernacle of Christ, Feast of the Annunciation, Mary Tabernacle of God, Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist Leave a comment+ MARY AS TABERNACLE +
March 25 of every year marks and commemorates the Annunciation.
Icon of the Annunciation
This is the day in which the Archangel Gabriel informs Mary of God’s plan and purpose for her: that she will conceive and bear the Son of God. With her response of obedience to Gabriel’s words, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1: 38a), Mary ushers in the salvation of humanity and creation: God the Son — her Creator — enters into creation as a creature to be its Savior:
And in answering, the angel said to her, ‘The Spirit of God will come upon [epeleusetai] you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow [episkiasei] you, therefore the One begotten is holy and shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1: 35).
Father Irenaeus Williams 