The Holy Week of Pascha is in full swing and, as I noted last year, be sure to check out the live streams of Paschal services when you can't get to church for whatever reason.

One thing that struck me was on Monday night, after coming home from the Paschal service and reading Matthew 11-15, Chapter 14 verses 28 through 31 seemed to jump out at me.

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

(Matthew 14:28-31) 

I mean, I must have read these verses a hundred times before but I got a completely new feeling of immense warmth and comfort in these verses that night. The background here is that Jesus had left his disciples and went out alone to spend time with the Father (a lesson in and of itself) but as soon as He realized that the disciples were afraid and in want, Jesus walked out to them on the water (at around 3:00am, no less), overcoming worldly obstacles and calmly comforted them. He was there for them initially when they needed Him and yet again (literally immediately after) when Peter doubted.

We can walk on the stormy waters of life's troubles around us as long as we keep focused on Christ, but as soon as we concern ourselves more with what's going on around us, we fall. But, He will always reach out and grab us (v.31)!

There's an active Facebook event dedicated to people sharing various contemplations throughout Holy Week and there is some really inspiring and touching pieces there that I encourage all to check out.

On the event page is a listing of some helpful online Pascha resources, including:

• Holy Pascha Book - Downloadable PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
• Guide to the Holy Pascha - Downloadble PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
• Medical Account of the Crucifixion - Downloadable PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
  
  
  

I've also been going through the wonderful book, "The Holy Pascha: Treasures of the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3" which goes through every reading throughout Holy Week providing sayings of the desert fathers, commentary, general themes and explanations of the rites and services. You can pickup a copy over at OrthodoxBookstore.org.


Feel free to share any of your own contemplations or any other online resources that you've come across relating to the Holy Pascha Week.

God bless!