This year May 30, 2021 is the Sunday of the Samaritan Women which is taken from the Gospel of St. John chapter 4 verses 5-42 where Jesus tired from his journey from Judea to Galilee sat down by a well in the district of Samaria.
The Sunday following the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women is called the Sunday of the Paralytic. The reading for this Sunday is from the Gospel of John 5:1-15 concerning the paralyzed man who was unable to reach the pool near the Sheep Gate when the waters were stirred.
On this the third Sunday after Pascha, we celebrate several people who were connected to the final events in Jesus’ life and were important witnesses to His death and glorious Resurrection from the dead.
The sacrificial love of women has perhaps the chief civilization influence of society through the ages. When most of us think of sacrificial love, the kind Jesus called His disciples to embody, most of us call to mind our mothers.
The Second Sunday after Pascha, the Ante-Pascha, is dedicated to the memory of the doubting Apostle, Thomas. Three important themes ring out to us on this Sunday, the theme of peace, mission and the theme of faith and doubt. Let us recall the first words of the Risen Christ to His disciples, “Peace be with you.”
Pascha, the Feast of Feasts, the Feast of Glory, the Feast of Light, the Feast of Joy, for Christ has risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and open those in the tombs bestowing life Eternal! Every celebration, year after year, is the celebration of the First Pascha.
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