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Acts 2:22-36 (4/22) Apostle for the Wednesday of Bright Week

The Holy Church: Acts 2:22-36, especially vss. 31, 32, 33: "...His soul was not left in Hades,
nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up...being exalted to the right hand
of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this
which you now see and hear."

The Church is Apostolic and Catholic! Yes! And we believe that this same Church is "Holy," as
well. Consider this: in the Revelation that the blessed Evangelist John received, he heard the
Saints who stand before God Almighty singing the Song of the Lamb: "...for You only are
holy..." (Rev. 15:4). Here, and elsewhere, Scripture declares pointedly that God alone is holy. Do
we contradict ourselves by affirming the Church is "holy"? Not at all! The Apostles also teach
that we "...are the Body of Christ, and members individually" (1 Cor. 12:27). The Church must
be included in St. Peter's declaration that the Lord is holy (Acts 2:27), for being His Body,
bought with His own precious blood (Acts 20:28), She is holy in Him.

Remember, Beloved of the Lord, that the Church, the mystical creation of the Savior, is both
human and Divine. You are right to say, "I am unworthy to receive Thy Holy Body....for I have
affronted Thy goodness, O God, and broken Thy commandments," yet when we come together in
Him, we are more than a sum of sinful men and women. Our Priests are right in saying, "Holy
Things are for the holy." We are right in answering, "One is Holy, One is Lord: Jesus Christ, to
the glory of God the Father." Partaking of the Body of Christ, the Church becomes what She is,
the Body of Christ. Having Him 'dwelling and abiding' in you, you too are exalted in Him to the
right hand of God (vs. 33). Have no doubt: the Church is holy even on earth, having received
from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit (vs. 33).

St. John the Evangelist saw the incorrupt and holy Church in a vision: "Then I, John, saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband" (Rev. 21:2). From the nations to which we belong in this world, we inherit our
earthly citizenship, culture, and language. In the Church you and I inherit holiness, incorruption,
and the end of every blemish. Purity and holiness come to you now from out of eternity. That
which is to come assures the holiness of the Church, despite the sins you and I bring for healing.

"And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light...but there shall by no means enter
it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life" (Rev. 21:24,27). Our task is to struggle, leave sin behind, and strive for the
holiness that God is creating in us by His grace.

To worship within the Church on earth draws God's People toward His throne, however humble
the gathering, the building, the music, and the human efforts. In the Liturgy, we advance in a
holiness that already exists in the Church. The envoys of Vladimir, the Great Prince of Kievan
Russia, during their famous visit to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, perceived this truth:
"We were out of ourselves, not knowing if we were on earth or in heaven." Christ purifies the
members of the Church as they worship Him in 'the Holy Spirit He poured out' (Acts 2:33).

Your mind may struggle between what the eye of flesh sees and what the Spirit-filled heart
perceives; but the Holy Spirit yearns to illumine your heart to behold the holiness that is. Begin
the Divine Liturgy by saying, "O Heavenly King, the Comforter, Who art every where present
and fillest all things, come and abide in us and cleanse us of every stain," for the Spirit makes the
Church holy and the Holy Gifts "unto the fulfillment of the kingdom of Heaven."

O Lord, be mindful of Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is to the ends of the
earth; and give peace unto Her whom Thou hast purchased with the Blood of Thy Christ.