Tarek El Mahaba Easter Issue | Page 45

Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10) What a great love! For our sake, our Lord Christ endured the cruelest form of death. He took our place on the wood of the Cross. Through His crucifixion, our God has defeated all darkness and evil. The Savior gave us power to be free from the bondage of Satan. Resurrections comes after suffering. As our holy fathers taught us there is no glory without pain and there is no resurrection without the cross first. On the third day, our Lord Christ rose from the dead. We and all Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate Christ’s resurrection. The fathers of the church direct our attention that Resurrection is the foundation for our salvation. In the Resurrection, our perspective of life fundamentally changes. We will neither lose hope nor allow darkness to prevail in our lives. When we allow our Lord’s victory over death enlighten our lives, then we will experience joy 45 and peace. Our beautiful church reminds us about our resurrection in the second coming. We pray in every liturgy during the Creed “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of age to come.” Throughout our life, we ourselves may overcome death, the spiritual kind, by working on praying, fasting, reading the Holy Bible, living the sacred sacraments, and other means of spiritual food. Our holy fathers ask us to read the bible without rush, but to think about what we read and ask God to open our hearts to understand the scripture. As a result, we build a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. May the Lord Almighty help us all to live in the joy of resurrection, not only during the Feast of Resurrection, but every day of our lives.