"God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbour, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance."-- St Seraphim of Sarov

Throughout the first part of Holy Week, we had absolutely beautiful weather with temperatures in the mid to upper 70's. (No ... this is not a weather forecast, don't worry.) Outside my window is a beautiful birch tree and the warm temperatures prompted the beautiful birch to begin blooming, sounding the trumpet that spring was finally here.

Holy Thursday morning came and we as Orthodox Christians celebrated the Divine Liturgy commemorating the Mystical Supper of our Lord. We recalled the Lord's final meal with his apostles, the mystical meal that would ultimately be celebrated time and again in Orthodox Churches throughout the world. And we called to mind those beautiful words:

"Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink of it all of you; for this is my Blood of the New Covenant" (Matthew 26:26-28).

By the time we concluded the Divine Liturgy, a beautiful spring rain was sprinkling the metro. I became more excited that my birch tree was going to bloom ... all the signs of spring were in the air.

Evening came and we gathered once again together as a faith community. This time, we celebrated the service of the Passion Gospels. Recalling the passion and death of our Lord, inevitably fills the faithful soul with great sadness, one feels almost dead inside knowing the suffering Jesus endured for our soul's salvation. Upon exiting Church, the weather was much different ... spring had gone away ... a cold, bleak winter storm had hit the metro.

The storm continued through the service of Royal Hours. By the time the service of the un-nailing of the cross took place, the snow had picked up very heavily and portions of the metro had already received a foot of snow.

Our Lord was dead, taken down from that precious and life giving tree, and based on the weather, it looked as though all the flowers, the grass and my favorite birch tree were dead too. The snow and bitter temperatures surely killed the beauty of spring.

I began to recall the words of the hymn of mourning:

"When Joseph of Arimathea took Thee, the life of all, down from the Tree dead, he buried Thee with myrrh and fine linen . . . rejoicing. Glory to Thy humiliation, O Master, who clothest Thyself with light as it were with a garment."

There was no light to be seen in Denver on Great and Holy Friday. It was cloudy, gloomy and certainly an atmosphere conducive for the sorrow we experience on this, the most heart breaking day in the Church year.

The city of Denver awakened on Holy Saturday to a blanket of white. Some areas of the metro received up to 32" of snow while most received a foot or two. Spring was gone, all was still and we as Orthodox Christians warmed our vehicles, shoveled our walks and trudged our way to Church to celebrate the Proto-Anastasi Liturgy. The flowers, the grass and my favorite birch tree were blanked heavily. But there was hope, as I recalled the passage from the book of Revelation in which our Lord says "Behold I make all things new."

As I mentioned before, things were dead our Lord was dead ... but Pascha was near and I remembered the words ...

"Weep not for me, O Mother, beholding in the sepulcher the Son whom thou hast conceived without seed in thy womb. For I shall rise and shall be glorified, and as God I shall exalt in everlasting glory those who magnify thee with faith and love."

After Liturgy, I once again left Church greeted with yet another weather change. This time, the snow gave way to rain and the temperatures seemed to be warming up if only slightly. By the time the faithful returned to church around 11pm to celebrate Orthros and the Paschal Divine Liturgy, the weather had stopped and the sky began to clear. At 3:00am, when we made our way to the hall to celebrate our Lord's Resurrection there was not a rain drop or snowflake in sight.

Sunday morning came and I slept in. (Hey ... I didn't get to bed until around 4:30am.)

When I awoke ... things were different ... the sky was clear, the weather was gorgeous and the snow began to melt. And low and behold my favorite birch tree was starting to bloom, its leaves began to blossom. What seemed dead was coming back to life and spring was once again in the air.

Perhaps it sounds cheesy but my play by play on the weather during Holy Week has a particularly special meaning to me. When you look at the weather pattern paralled to the services of Holy Week they were in perfect synchronization ... we started with beautiful weather and nature, in some sense was proclaiming "Hosanna." Then, as our Lord's passion drew near, things became cloudy, gloomy and cold. By the time our Savior died on the cross, nature's winter fury blasted the metro and the trees, whose arms once raised to the heavens were weighed down by snow. As our Lord descended into Hades, the weather started to improve. And finally, when Jesus resurrected from the dead, the skies were cleared, the weather was beautiful and all of nature once again came to life, this time proclaiming "Alleluia." And that birch tree, that I enjoy so much is alive and beautiful.

"Christ is risen from the dead, by death He has trampled down death, and on those in the tombs He has bestowed life."

Christ is Risen ... Truly He is Risen!

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!

Christus ist auferstanden! Wahrhaft auferstanden!

Al Maseeh Qam! Haqqan Qam!

Kalo Pascha, brothers and sisters. Celebrate the joy of the Resurrection and the new life rewarded to us.

Be assured of my prayers.