THE PASCHA HYMN
Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the
Honour, forever Amen...
We sing this hymn for the Lord Christ all through the Passion
Week, following all His movements. We sing it instead of the
Canonical Hours, the five day prayers and the five night prayers.
We repeat the hymn twelve times in each prayer instead of the
twelve psalms that are included in each prayer of the Canonical
Hours.
The Lord Christ left Jerusalem to Bethany, were we follow Him
saying, "Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the
Honour"... The Chief priests were annoyed when the Lord
cleared the temple, and said, "By what authority are You doing
these things?" But we say, "Thine is the Power, the Glory, the
Blessing and the Honour... Emmanuel our God and King"...They planned to kill Him while we defend Him saying, "Thine is
the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the Honour... forever
Amen"...
The Lord, in humility, bent to wash the disciples' feet, and we
praise Him saying "Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing
and the Honor"... The Lord was praying at Gethsemane in such
agony that His sweat was like drops of blood and we proclaim,
"Thine is the Power and the Glory"...
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We follow Him hour by hour; when arrested, put under trial in
the presence of His enemies, crowned with thorns, flogged,
falling under the Cross, nailed, till He commanded His Spirit
into the hands of the Father and when He took the robber on
His right with Him into Paradise, and we sing to Him all the
time the hymn, "Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and
the Honour...forever Amen.
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The first thing we praise the Lord Jesus Christ for, during the
Passion Week, is His Power. Yes, Lord, Thine is the power
as... St. Paul said, "Christ the Power of God. " (1 Cor. 1:24).
It is true, Lord, that some might think You were weak on the
Cross, but we know who You are. The first thing we know
about Your Power is that You are the Creator. "All things were
made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that
was made"(John. 1:3). You have the power too as a Judge
who will come in glory to judge both the living and the dead.
Indeed, this crucified Lord who seemed to the people then
weak, had they considered what He had done throughout all the
days He spent among them, they would have known how
powerful He had been in everything.
He was Powerful in His Miracles and His Holiness:
0 Lord, You alone of all the powerful, defeated the sin, the
world and the devil, while all the others were too weak to
resist sin, For she has cast down many wounded, And all who
were slain by her were strong men" (Prov. 7:26) As it is said in
the Holy Bible, "They have all turned aside, They have
together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No,
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not one" (Ps. 14:3). But You God, You are the Only One who
challenged the whole world, saying, "Which of you convicts Me
of sin". (John. 8:46).
You are the only One who overcame the Devil and said, "for
the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me"
(John. 14:30). In the Revelation, they sang for You, "For You
alone are Holy,". (Rev. 15:4). You alone are powerful in Your
Holiness, "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and has become higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:26).
Lord, Your miracles proved Your wonderful Power, as
You... " had done among them the works which no one else
did" (John. 15:24).
Your Power over Nature was shown: when You rebuked the
wind and the waves and when You walked on the water. David
sang for You saying, "You rule the raging of the sea: when its
waves rise, You still them" (Ps. 89:9). Thine is the Power,
Lord...
You showed Your Power over sickness and death: as you
healed all diseases and weaknesses of the people, especially the
incurable ones. You opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed
those with leprosy, healed the woman suffering from
haemorrhages, the 38 years paralytic, the paralysed who was
lowered down through the roof and the man with the withered
hand.
Lord, You raised the dead, even that who had been in the tomb
for four days and there was stench...
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You showed Your Power as a Creator: when You fed
thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fish. You even created a new
substance when you turned the water into wine and when you
made eyes for the man who was born blind.
Your Power over the devils was shown by casting away evil
spirits, who left many saying, " You are the Son of God." You
rebuked the demons and did not let them speak.
Your miracles are countless, Lord, as John the Beloved said,
"And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if
they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that would be written" (John.
21:25).
Beside all these aspects of the Lord's Power, the puzzling one is
shown in His suffering and crucifixion where He gives us a new
concept of the meaning of Power.
What is this new concept of power?
The Lord's New Concept of Power:
The world's concept of Power differs from that introduced by
the Lord Jesus Christ.
To the World, it means violence and the ability to strike, to
defend oneself and to subject others.
The Lord set an example of the Power which loves and
sacrifices, endures and gives without limits.
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When we think of Power, we have to look at it from the
spiritual side, not the physical. That is how we should look at
the Lord Christ in His sufferings.
The materialistic world, poor indeed, thinks that the Lord
Christ was weak when they struck Him on the face, mocked
Him and crucified Him. That would have been true if the
Lord Christ had those insults due to His inability, but in
fact, He was far more powerful than all those who struck,
mocked and crucified Him.
He had the power to destroy them all, but He did no
because He loved them and His love was more powerful than
death. He was able to put them to death but He did not because
He came to save them from death and by His own death to
give life.
We glorify the Lord's endurance, which convinces us that.
Power is in endurance, as the apostle says, "We then who are
strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to
please ourselves" (Rom. 15:1).
Some people are too weak to endure; even the least insult
provokes them and makes them lose control and turn to
revenge. It shows their weakness and lack of power of
endurance.
The Lord Christ was powerful in His endurance, and this
demonstrates the power of His love. For a person who has
love is able to endure, while failure to endure shows lack of
love.
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The Lord Christ came to take away our sins, "all we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way,.
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6).The Lord sacrificed Himself for our sins and for our sake He
endured the insults of those who struck Him and spat upon
Him. In His deep love, He was joyfully singing in the ear of
each of us, "Because for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that shame has covered My face" (Ps. 69:7). We listen to
these words and answer in humility, "for my sake, You endured
the injustice of the evil, the flogging and the slaps, and never
turned Your face away from the shameful spitting.
The power of the Lord Christ during His passion and
crucifixion appears in that He was able to destroy all those
who attacked Him but He never did because of His great
love for us. He was punished for our sake and gave us His
peace, took upon Himself our shame and gave us His Glory.
To understand the real Power of the Lord Christ we have to ask
ourselves: what could have happened if Christ had refused the
humiliation and crucifixion? or had commanded the earth to
swallow all who were on it, or fire to come down from Heaven
and burn them? He could have done so but that would have led
to our destruction due to His refusal as a Redeemer to die for
us. So the Lord said, 'I'll die so that you may not die, and be
mocked so that may be glorified. I came especially for your sake
to sacrifice Myself and endure insults for you out of love for
you and for those who insult Me'. Therefore He did not only
endure injustices, but loved, forgave and prayed for the wicked
interceding for them saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do
not know what they do" (Luke23:34).
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This is the real Power of a heart full of love, who tolerates
those who trespass against Him, loves them, prays for them
and sacrifices Himself for their sake.
Who of us can follow the same example and when insulted by
another inferior to his rank, would forgive, defend and also
promote him!
St. Peter, the Apostle, drew his sword to defend his Master
when they arrested Him and he cut off the slave's ear not
understanding power in its Christian spiritual concept, so the
Lord asked him to put his sword back. It is good to have Holy
Zeal, but violence is not our way. Our way is love. With this
love the Lord healed the slave's ear and surrendered to the
sinners for whose redemption He came...
Sts. John and James the Apostles also did not understand the
real meaning of power and when the Lord Christ was rejected
by a City, the two apostles said, "Lord, do you want us to
command fire to come down from Heaven and destroy them?"But He turned and rebuked them: "You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come
to destroy men's lives but to save them." (Luke. 9:54-56). In
the same way, the Lord came willfully to the Cross, to give His
life a ransom for many...
My brethren, when we stand near the Cross, we do not weep as
did Mary Magdalene and the daughters of Jerusalem.. nor do
we pity the Lord nor blame Him, we stand near the Cross to
glorify both the Cross and the Crucified, singing the
beautiful hymn:
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