Light of the East Father Thomas Loya

Pope St. John Paul II said that every encounter in the Bible between God and womanhood was an encounter of the newness of life. It was so at the Annunciation, the empty tomb and now at Jacob's well.

We are half-way between the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sending down of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. It is a week filled with miracles, martyrs and Apostles.

In the details of His Bodily Resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ reaches back to the beginning to retrieve and redeem his original plan for creation, as The Myrrh-bearing women, Joseph and Nicodemus will explain.

On the Sunday after Pascha both lungs of the Church converge at the theme of God’s mercy. For the Latin rite, it is Divine Mercy Sunday. For many Eastern churches, it is the Sunday of doubting Thomas.

As we have died with Christ, we now rise with him in His Bodily Resurrection making all things new not just 2,000 years ago but even at this very moment and forever.

In many Eastern Catholic Churches, the Season of Lent has ended. But a separate and more ancient period of fasting and penance has begun - the Week of the Bridegroom.