Today, which is the first Sunday following Pascha, is known as Thomas Sunday. On this particular Sunday we in the United States, as well as many other countries around the world, are celebrating Mother’s Day. The Orthodox Church teaches that mothers are co-creators with God and that the soul and the body are conceived together in the mother’s womb at the same time. It is in the Fall that the human body, once immortal, becomes mortal. In the Orthodox Church the body is to be highly respected because it is not simply a prison for the soul as was taught in Platonism, which effected the Church in Corinth. The Gospel lesson taken from John 20:19-31 describes for us Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples, who were in hiding for fear of the Jews. Jesus’ physically Resurrected body appears to them on two separate occasions, with the ability to pass through walls and yet still remain physical as He allows Thomas to touch His hands and side. Father Gregory shares with us a message of hope that through God’s Grace and mercy we too will receive a resurrected body like Jesus, who is the first fruits of the dead. Today’s Gospel gives us a glimpse into what our body’s will be like in the Resurrection and we live with hope that we will be known to one another in Paradise according to the teaching of the Father’s of the Church.

click the link below to read Fr. Gregory's sermon notes:

https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/40362/note-136207.html