27Jul23-Fourth Tuesday After Pentecost

[Mat 11:16-20]  But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: 'We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent:

[St. Theophan on 3rd Tuesday after Pentecost]  The Lord says that we who do not hear the Gospel are like those to whom merry songs are sung, but who do not dance; to whom sad songs are sung, but who do not cry - nothing can be done with them.

We are promised the Heavenly Kingdom, most bright and joyous, but we are unmoved, as though someone else were being spoken to.  We are threatened with impartial judgment and unending torments, but we are not alarmed, as if we did not hear.  Downtrodden, we have lost all feeling of true self-preservation.  We move as ones being led directly to destruction, and have not a care for our destiny.  We have lost heart and given ourselves over to carelessness - let what happens, happen!  Such is our state!  Is this not why suicides are so frequent?  It is the fruit of modern teachings and views on man and his significance!  There is progress for you!  There is enlightenment!  

It would be better to be totally ignorant, but save your soul with fear of God than, having attained the title of an enlightened person, to perish unto the ages, never thinking for your entire life about what will happen after death.  Not a single jot shall pass from the word of God, which describes both the Heavenly Kingdom and hell - all will be as it is written.  Let everyone take this to heart as something that touches you personally; and take care for yourself, with all your strength, as long as there is time left.

Worry!

It’s an epidemic in our country, and in all likelihood throughout the world.  We worry—FAR too much, far too often.

Experts will admit that “being anxious” about things may have some positive effects.  This is NOT a statement in favor of anxiety.  But some healthy concern over things one KNOWS to be coming can lead one to a healthy level of preparation for what lays ahead.  Preparing for a job interview is one ‘positive’ example.  And if I might, preparing for confession is another, wherein focusing, being anxious to assure that I remember all I want to and need to confess, is quite healthy.  And doing so leads one to a place where, AFTER confession, that sensation of being anxious to get it right is totally washed away!

But as human beings, we allow worldly things to “eat at us.”  You know how it manifests itself.  Our mouth gets dry.  Our heart rate increases.  We become fatigued more rapidly.  Maybe we get headaches, or have trouble concentrating.  Often we get irritable.  It can lead to becoming nauseous, cold sweats, trembling of hands. 

If we allow ourselves to be impacted by worry to such an extent, worse things can develop.  Immune systems become compromised.  Digestive disorders develop.  Muscle tension increases.  Perhaps short-term memory loss occurs.  In the extreme, it can lead to premature coronary artery disease, or even a heart attack. (all this from webmd.com)

Our Lord is speaking to us on this day about such issues (Mat 6:22-33).  But He doesn’t open this discussion delving first into worry.  He opens with the eye, and the eye’s being good and full of light.  What is this light that Jesus is speaking of?

It is the Light that is Christ.  St. John’s Gospel is filled with these references.  I am the Light of the world. (John 8:12, 9:5)  I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)  This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

Jesus then points to the fact that we, as a people, are double-minded, and we vacillate between Light and dark, between Good and evil.

And the excursions toward the evil lead to anxiety, to worry, and to the things that war against not just our bodies (wearing them out, wearing them down), but our spirits.

Anxiety leads to doubt, and to losing sight of what is important.  Consider the Apostle Peter when Christ came to the Apostles in the storm on the sea, and he asked the Lord to bid him to come to Him on the water.  What happened?  The world interfered with the righteous desire to go to Christ.  It threw wind and rain and water at the Apostle.  He allowed the elements to move his focus from Christ to the “noise” that surrounded him.  If he stays focused on Jesus, he comes to Him and joins him in joy.  But he saw obstacles.  And he began to worry.

Jesus explains to us how God in Trinity looks upon us, His creation.  He gives freely to us because He loves us.

What do we do?  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Worry will disappear!

More From St. Theophan

[Today's Gospel is from Matthew 10:9-15]

The Lord also said to the Apostles that if a city does not receive them, and will not hear their words, then it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city. (Mat 10:15)

And what will happen to us for our refusal to hear the words of Divine revelation?  It will be immesurably intolerable for us.  To disbelieve the truth of God after so many tangible proofs is the same as reviling the Holy Spirit and blaspheming.  And yet we are not afraid.  The Spiritists console one person, "What judgment?  We just have to be born one more time."  The scientists explain to one another, "Whom is there to judge?  Everything is made of atoms ; they'll fly apart and that will be the end of everything."  

But, friends, the hour of death is coming; these dreams will fly apart like phantoms, and we will all be faced with inexorable reality.  What then?  What wretched times we live in!  The enemy has contrived to destroy our souls.  He knows that fear of death and judgment is the strongest means for sobering up a soul, and so he makes every attempt to drive this away, and he succeeds.  But extinguish the fear of death, and fear of God will disappear.  And without the fear of God, the conscience becomes mute.  The soul becomes empty - it becomes a waterless cloud, carried about by every wind of teaching and every fit of the passions.

["Thoughts for Each Day of the Year," Tuesday, 2nd week after Pentecost, pgs 128-129]

Soul Saturday

Tomorrow (03Jun23) we will celebrate a "Soul Saturday" Liturgy in the church to pray for our departed loved ones.

St. Theophan the Recluse has this to say about this day:

No one is lazy in commemorating his own departed parents, but it is also necessary to commemorate all Orthodox Christians - and not only on this day, but at all times, in every prayer.  We ourselves will be there [among the reposed], and will need this prayer as a poor person needs a piece of bread and a glass of water.  Remember that prayer for the reposed is strong through its communality, in that it comes from the entire Church.  The Church breathes prayer.  Just as it is in nature, when during pregnancy a mother breathes and the strength she receives from this breath passes on to her child, so also in a grace-filled way the Church breathes a prayer which is shared by all, and the power of the prayer passes on to the reposed, who are held in the bosom of the Church, which is made up of the living and the dead, the militant and the triumphant.  Do not be slothful about zealously commemorating all of our departed loved ones whenever you pray.  It will be your alms for them.

See you on Soul Saturday!