Fr. Arsenie Muscalu: Why can we not preserve the joy of Pascha?

Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex was also asked, “How can we preserve grace?” The Elder said, “We cannot preserve grace, but we can seek it.”

Why can we not preserve the joy of Pascha? 

For many people, Pascha is a celebration that just comes and goes. We do not have the strength to keep the grace and joy. What can we do about it?

What happens is: we sing “Christ is Risen!”, we feel the joy and grace of the Feast, and not even a few days go by that we act or live as if nothing happened. We go back to how we were before. It is a sign that what we experience on Pascha is from another world. On the Day of the Resurrection, we experience a grace, light, and life that are not from here. And we have this inertia. We are heavy. We cannot preserve the height of the Feast. We continually drown. And again the question arises: what can we do about it? I remember the response of a contemporary elder of high spiritual standing, Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex, who was also asked, “How can we preserve grace?” The Elder said, “We cannot preserve grace, but we can seek it.” Because by experiencing grace and then losing it, we cannot act as if we had never experienced it. We can seek to re-acquire it. A trace of grace, through the touch of divine grace, remains in our life, and we can seek to regain it. This is what we can do. We will not be able to preserve grace. Grace is a divine mercy. In those moments, we experience something of the fullness of divine love, according to the degree of our faith and love. But we lose this grace.

Father [now Saint] Sophrony of Essex said the same thing to his disciples: “Behold, Holy Pascha is coming, we will experience the joy of the Resurrection, sing Christ is Risen!, then we may return to our sorrows.” The Elder’s advice was: “Patiently endure this!” The Elder told them that it could not be otherwise. “Endure this and you will be able to seek grace again!” Only in this way do we acquire a point of reference by which we can orient our life.

Source: Părintele Arsenie Muscalu, în interviul „La Paşti trăim un har, o lumină care nu sunt de aici“, realizat de Augustin Păunoi, https://ziarullumina.ro/educatie-si-cultura/interviu/la-pasti-traim-un-har-o-lumina-care-nu-sunt-de-aici-81238.html.