He is not loitering by the lake. He is looking. The crowd presses near, but His eyes are on those who are not — men still clinging to the safety of nets and night-long toil. They know Him, but they have not yet obeyed. And now the moment arrives: a borrowed boat, a quiet command, and the weight of holiness breaking their nets with more than they can hold.

We are not spectators to this story. We, too, are asked to leave the shore — to stop patching the familiar and to trust the voice that says, Put out into the deep. What we fear to lose may be what is keeping us from the Kingdom.

And if the bucket is empty, if the nets return void, it may be mercy.

We do not gather today for mere memory or symbol. This bread and this wine are not echoes — they are entry. We are drawn into the fullness of Christ’s work: His descent, His suffering, His glory — given now, not long ago, and given wholly. The Eucharist is not only a sacrament; it is the sacrament as the shape of everything: incarnation, passion, resurrection, divinization.

Here is the bread that came down, the gift that is not partial, not diminished. To eat is to receive the whole: not a piece, not a taste — but all. All that He is. All that He has done. The entire mystery, in humble form. We lift the host, not to remember, but to enter. The veil is thin. The signs are radiant. We are surrounded.

He comes as fire — to cleanse, to illumine, to make us sons. At Pentecost, the veil is drawn back, and we glimpse the Triune movement: the Father sends, the Son ascends, and the Spirit descends not only to dwell with us, but to draw us up into God. This is not abstraction — it is love made manifest, power made personal, mission made possible.

We are not left as orphans. We are indwelt, infused, ignited. The Spirit does not come for comfort alone but for conquest — not ours, but Christ’s. The land is His. The call is ours. To refuse is peril. To go is joy. The fields are white, and we have been made ready — not by strength, but by love.

He says it plainly now, though it sounds like a riddle: It is better for you that I go. Better for sorrow to come, better for absence — because from this parting flows the Spirit, not beside us, but within. What could sound like abandonment is, in truth, the great reversal — the way the Comforter makes His home in our very breath, our wills, our joy.

This joy, impervious and unstealable, does not bypass sorrow but is born through it. It is not understanding that clarifies, but the Spirit. The Spirit who Christifies, who makes many minds into one, who takes the very life of the Son and gives it to us. This is why He leaves — that we may not be left.

Joy is not a mood. It is not passive, and it is not optional. Scripture commands it — not because it’s easy, but because it’s true. We are not waiting for joy to come over us; we are called to step into it, to speak it aloud, to live as if Christ is risen — because He is.

In this age of realized hope, joy is no longer a future promise but a present vow. It is not the absence of sorrow, but the fruit of faith — faith that acts, decides, praises. Not led by feeling, but by truth. And when we fulfill that vow, not as a performance but as obedience, we discover: joy is not just strength. It is the rightful atmosphere of resurrection life.

The Shepherd speaks, and his sheep know the sound. It is not a riddle, not a ruse — but the clear, steady voice of the one who laid down his life and took it up again. In this Easter season, we remember that the Risen Lord is not distant. He gathers us still, feeds us still, guards us still. He is not only with us — he is for us.

What scatters us — fear, isolation, lack — is undone by his presence. We are no longer alone. We are no longer empty. We are no longer prey. Even now, surrounded by dangers seen and unseen, we rest. Because Christ is our Shepherd, and he will bring us home.

Easter is not a day, but a season — a commanded joy, a feast that stretches fifty days. And joy, like fasting, requires practice. We are learning, slowly, to receive the feast as the Church gives it: not as sentiment, but as discipline, culture, and life.

This week, we gathered again and again, not out of obligation, but desire — to savor hymns, to hear stories of the risen Christ, to taste and see.

Faith, too, is not born from proof but from hunger. Like Mary at the tomb, we look again — not because it makes sense, but because love won’t let us leave. We remember: doubt is not defeat, and fear is not foreign to the saints. But joy is not optional. It is our inheritance. It is work. And it is worth everything.

Mark begins the resurrection story with a quiet line: “When the Sabbath was over.” But beneath that stillness lies the turning point of all creation. While Christ’s body rested in the tomb, he was not idle — he descended into death, shattered its gates, and raised Adam and Eve by the hand.

The age of the Sabbath — of shadows and striving — is over. Christ has fulfilled it. He rises not just for himself, but with all of us in him. The silence is broken. The new day has begun.

This is the day of the cross — dark, sorrowful, and still, somehow, good. The weight Christ bore is beyond bearing: sin laid upon innocence, love met with rejection, light extinguished. And yet, this is the day we venerate, for through that crushing burden, life was won.

We are asked to take up the cross as well. But not His. Ours is smaller, shaped for us. It may feel sharp or too much to carry — but it is not. It is light, He says. It is bearable. And when we believe this, even through tears, despair loosens its grip.

This sorrow is not the end. It is the way to joy.

This night begins in communion — bread broken, feet washed — and ends in a garden soaked with blood. Christ, abandoned again, prays the one prayer that undoes our exile: Not my will, but thine be done.

He enters our isolation fully. Judas sells Him. Peter denies Him. The others sleep or scatter. And still He trusts. From the tree where man once fell, He restores what was lost — not by might, but by surrender. In His obedience, trust is reborn. In His love, we are made free.

Now, no betrayal can sever us. No silence can isolate. We are no longer alone.