Suffering

It’s a topic we don’t like to deal with.  Our perspective is typically one that rejects suffering as having any relation with spiritual healing, let alone viewing suffering as a blessing.

suf-er-ing: n; bearing pain, distress, or injury.

Each of us must endure suffering at some time during our lives.  Suffering can be focused on self (where the hurt is directly inflicted upon us), or it can be associated with others (loved ones afflicted, and we share in their suffering).  Regardless, it happens.  We live in a fallen world, and until Christ returns and perfection reigns again, suffering will remain.

There’s a wonderful little book entitled “The Meaning of Suffering and Strife and Reconciliation” written by Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev.  He begins the book with Scripture:

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction; for whom the Lord loves, He chastens; and scourges every son whom He receives. (Prov 3:11-12 and Heb 12:6)

From this beginning Fr. Seraphim teaches God’s intention for His creation—mankind.  He asks, “Where do we see man for the first time?  In Paradise!... Man was intended for Paradise, and not for hell.” 

Indeed, the Lord permits suffering to come upon us to help us find our way towards Him, seeking His help in enduring and/or overcoming the adversity brought about by suffering.

In our readings for Adult Study this past week, St. John Chrysostom teaches that adversity and suffering help us to focus our spiritual efforts on seeking the good.  He says in part this:

An eye was given in order that you may behold the creation and glorify the Master.  If you do not use the eye well, it becomes to you the minister of adultery.  A tongue was given that you might speak well and praise the Creator.  If you are heedless, it becomes a cause of blasphemy.  Hands were given to stretch forth in prayer, but if you are not wary, to stretch them out to covetousness…. Do you see that all things hurt the weak man?

Adversity, suffering do not need to sap our spiritual strength.  As St. John points out, they WILL do so if our focus is to blame, to make excuse, to ask God “Why me?” instead of laboring to overcome by seeking His divine help to strengthen us, to bless us to overcome our weaknesses.

In today’s Gospel reading, poor Legion is a man who suffers greatly.  Is he weak in suffering?  Those around him tried to hold him fast with chains and fetters, but he broke free of them.  His suffering was not manifested in physical weakness.  He suffered from spiritual warfare, demons too many in number for his human spirit to overcome them without the help of God!  Only when Jesus comes does his life change.  St. Luke records that Legion fell down before (Jesus).  The Gospel of St. Mark is more detailed than this, saying When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him.  The man’s spirit was not dead—it was constrained by the demons.  But Legion did not allow his suffering to overcome his desire for deliverance, and for ultimate salvation.

We should recall the words of St. Paul as he wrote, We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character, and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. (Rom 5:3-5)

Lord, allow the sufferings we are called to endure to produce within us such character and hope that through all of them, we give glory to You Who loves us!

The True Meaning of "Memory Eternal"

 In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 16:19-31), we encounter the only scriptural reference to parable of Lazarus and the rich man.  It is not to be found in the Gospels of Sts. Matthew or Mark. 

It is ultimately a parable that displays openly how human selfishness causes our inhumanity.

The thing to focus on initially is the similarity of “the rich man” to the average person on the street today (meaning me…).  He is not shown by our Lord’s words to be evil.  We don’t know that he had any ‘enemies’ to speak of.  What he had was more than necessary to serve his own needs.  He had been blessed by God such that he had more than ample provisions.  St. Luke’s recounting of our Lord’s words say that the man “was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.”  The Greek word translated as ‘sumptuously’ carries a meaning of ‘in luxury’.  The imagery our Lord’s words impart is that the man lived as many in the world around us do in our own time.  Caviar and champagne are not luxuries, they are necessities to some.  And it is not adequate to wear a shirt.  It must carry an emblem that causes it to retail at 20-50 times the price of what might be considered ‘normal.’  We know the categories of people being referenced here in the world around us.

But we’re also surrounded with people like poor Lazarus. 

If one looks at statistics about hunger throughout the world, you’ll find such items as this:  For the poorest 10% of the world’s population, the average daily food consumption is less than 1400 kcal/day; For the richest 10% of the world’s population, the average daily food consumption is more than 3800 kcal/day.  The conclusion?  The rich eat 2.7 times more than the poor.  One ‘expert’ report we read suggested that it would take about $13 billion to ‘solve’ world hunger—not just for one time to give the hungry food, but to adjust agricultural and economic conditions so that these people could sustain themselves from that time forward.  Think of it.  $13 billion.  Is the figure believable?  Even if it's off by a factor of 10:1, so what?  Our government frivolously spent dozens of times that amount on something they called “stimulus”!  Can we not see that we, as a people, are behaving like the parable’s rich man, and the world around us is poor Lazarus?

And truth be told, if we’re looking to compare ourselves with either of the people in the parable, we’re without doubt the rich man.

This same survey can be found on a website called worldhunger.fund.  If one studies their statistics only superficially, you’ll find that Americans spend an average of 7% of their average $53k income on food.  That means that 93% of all income is spent on ‘other’.  On the same chart if one looks at the people of Haiti, for instance, they spend 50% of their average $1k income on food.  We spend $3700 on food, they $500, in a year.

Speaking societally, we walk past poor Lazarus every day without sharing from the bounty God has given us.

“Father, what can WE as individuals do about this?”  The answer is, “Do what we can.”  Speak out publicly for those programs which benefit those in the greatest need.  Speak against programs which feed more to those who already have.  Make this real in our own lives by doing what our Lord has already commanded us to do—to care for the least of His brethren, to love those who are our enemies, to build and not tear down, to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Mat 6:23)

We don’t have to become Lazarus to find God’s favor.  We just need to become far less like the rich man.  We need to care for others.  We need to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Lazarus’ name is known to us because he within the Parable found favor with God, Who knew him by name.  This is the meaning of "Memory eternal", to be known by name to God.  The path to salvation is to be one of His sheep, known to Him - by name.

That Seeing, They May Not See

  We believe that we are an intelligent people.  We certainly know that there are others who are smarter than we are, but for the most part we consider ourselves to be “above the norm.”

And so, when new thoughts, ideas, concepts are presented to us, we again think ourselves able to judge good from bad, right from wrong.

In today’s Gospel (Luke 8:5-15) our Lord presents “the Parable of the Sower.”  With our ‘experience’ in hearing this so many times before, we have the understanding that the Apostles didn’t have, a lack of understanding that forced them to ask the Lord, “What does this parable mean?”

Given their question, we should NOT jump to a conclusion that we are above the Apostles’ level of understanding!

But let’s break down the Lord’s answer to them about the parable’s meaning.

Jesus says, “The seed is the word of God.”  And so in our lack of humility we say to ourselves, “OK—got it!  You (Jesus) are the Sower, and You are spreading the word of God.  That’s really a pretty simple concept.”

And in so thinking, we place ourselves amongst the group that really doesn’t understand!  How so?

The seed is the word of God.  It’s presented with a lower case “w” - word.  But our Lord is the Word of God.  His personification is that which delivers the Word of God to His creation.  And so in a very special way, the ‘seed’ is the Word, the ‘seed’ is Jesus Himself being spread to the world.

But it goes deeper than even this.  For what IS ‘seed’?

In the parable, we come to understand that this seed is expected by the Sower to take root and to grow, to bear fruit.  What is this fruit?  From a simplistic perspective one might conclude that it is a source of multiplication, to produce more seed, more fruit.  And there’s nothing wrong with that perspective.

But IF the seed that is being planted is the Word, then what is being planted is Christ Himself.  It is He Who is placing Himself into the soil, that is our soul, and giving us what is required to allow Him to grow within us.

Which brings us to the root (no pun intended) of the parable.  Our hearts, our intellects, our spirits are the soil into which the Word, the Seed, is being sown.

The Parable’s ‘teaching moment’ is one that never ends.  It continuously asks each of us the question, “How’s YOUR dirt today?”  You see, the Word never stops coming upon us.  The Word is sewn as seed to us by our reading Scripture, by our studying the Holy Fathers, by our encountering beggars in the streets, by our favorably responding to pleas for financial support for worthy causes, by our being placed into situations where we feel the call to stand up and speak for the truth.

The extent to which “our dirt” is aligned with the Parable’s “good ground” can be measured by our responses to these (and many other) situations.

The Parable of the Sower presents four (4) places into which the Sower allowed seed to fall.  Only one of those four is favorable.  Three of the four are failures.  We will recall our Lord’s words from Mat 22:14—”For many are called, but few are chosen.”  Is MY dirt the one that bears fruit?

Do we REALLY see yet?  Time runs short!

Honor the Sheepdog

Today let us speak to the issues plaguing our country with respect to war, violence, and the people who have the integrity and drive to attempt to protect us.  If we’re honest with ourselves, we find ourselves beset with concerns about how things are going.  It prompts anxiety, fear, a sense of having no where to turn for safety.

There’s a young mother who once told this story.  “It was one of the worst days of my life.  The washing machine broke.  The telephone was repeatedly ringing from bill collectors.  I had a headache.  When I opened the mailbox I found more bills, all of this with a bank account that was empty.  At the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old son into his high chair to feed him, but could only muster the strength to lay my head onto his tray, where I began to cry.  Without a sound, my son took the pacifier from his mouth and gently pushed it into mine…”

You see, we all need others to help us!  They just have to be the kind of people motivated by God to live as helpers.

I don’t know how many of you have spent time away from home – I’m sure most of us have.  But I mean time really away – not a two-hour drive, not a phone call away, but away – in a place where you can’t reach your loved ones, a place from which you can only hold onto your hopes and prayers that God will allow you to be restored to your family when the time comes.  I offer these thoughts not from the perspective of a soldier who has spent time in the trenches.  Rather, my own frame of reference comes from being sent for several weeks (only) to places that are halfway around the world.  And I can tell you that while in such a place, there is apprehension.  Prayers are offered to keep the world safe until one can, by God’s grace, be returned and reunited with family.  The things that go through the mind are terrible.  What if there were to be another terror attack?  What if situations were to deteriorate rapidly because of some lunatic holding a nuclear button in Iran or Pakistan or Russia?  What if?  And the ‘what if”s’ lead to worry, concern, and if truth be told, sometimes even a sense of fear – fear of the evil that’s in the world, the evil against which we have as a defense only our prayers. 

We must wonder if those same sensations are what become part of the daily life of someone in the military who has committed to a full year away, not only in a foreign land, but in a land where there are people who are indeed daily trying to kill you, to send you home in such a way that your only hope of seeing your loved ones again is in the Resurrection.  How much more amplified must their feelings be, their worries, their concerns, their fears?

And yet we, as Americans, have young men and women (some of us here have relatives or friends who fall into this category) who willingly volunteer to go, to endure these things.  They are God-appointed “helpers”.  Why?  Why would anyone elect to place himself or herself into such troubled surroundings for such a long time?  We, of course, pray for the peace of the world.  And our prayers do help to preserve that peace.  But ultimately, sometimes, even though we might pray and choose otherwise, we as a people must engage in battles, in warfare, in the taking of lives to defend our country.  Every time it happens, it brings about a polarization of our society – those opposed to killing and war at any cost, and those who support defending our interests for the sake of preserving our “way of life.”  Even this last statement, “preserving our way of life”, is offensive to some of our own people, who would argue that this way of life is not worth preserving at the expense of taking the lives of others whom they would describe as innocent.

So, where is truth?  What is right?  What should we, as Orthodox Christians, pray for?  Should we pray for victory of our troops?  Should we pray for an end to all war?  Before we try to answer these valid and important questions, let me share with you some excerpts from a book titled “Sheepdogs” written by Colonel Dave Grossman, who is a former Army Ranger/paratrooper, and a West Point graduate.  He is considered by many to be one of the world’s foremost experts on human aggression and the psychology of combat.  The book is filled with a wealth of insight into human perception, human reaction, and I believe our own necessary response to threatening situations.

The beginning premise is that most of us are sheep – kind, gentle, and we only hurt one another by accident.  He justifies this conclusion by referencing the murder rate at 6 per 100,000 per year, and the assault rate as 4 per 1000 per year, indicating that the vast majority of us are not inclined to hurt one another.  He solidifies his position with the statistic that 2 million Americans are victims of some kind of violent crime each year – a number which should trouble us – but there are over 300 million of us.  In short, within our society, violence is rare amongst the sheep.

By designating us as sheep, no negative connotation is intended.  Colonel Grossman says that the sheep need to be viewed like a pretty blue robin’s egg.  The inside is soft and fertile and some day it will grow into something wonderful.  But the egg cannot survive without that hard, blue shell.  The shell is the egg’s security in a dangerous world.  For us sheep, that shell is our police, fire, and military personnel.  Those who would destroy the egg and eat the contents are the wolves.  The shell is the sheepdog.

Colonel Grossman describes himself as one of the sheepdogs.  His definition says that he lives to protect the flock and to confront the wolf.  He cites a sign from a police station which reads, “We intimidate those who intimidate others.”

So, if you have no capacity for violence, you’re a sheep.  If you have a certain capacity for violence, but absolutely no concern for your fellow citizens, you’re a wolf.  If you have a capacity for violence and a love for your fellow citizens, you’re a sheepdog.  He says that “Warriors have been given the gift of aggression,” but that they would no more misuse this gift than a doctor would misuse his or her gift of healing.  Still, the warriors, the sheepdogs, accept a mantle to use their gift to help others.

As Colonel Grossman teaches people these concepts, some of them police and military personnel, his students are stunned to find within his words an explanation for why they feel what they feel.  We, too, as the sheep, should listen to what he explains next to help us understand our own reactions to conflict in the world.

Colonel Grossman says that sheep live in denial – it’s what makes us sheep.  We don’t want to believe that there is evil in the world, or if it’s there, we don’t want to believe that our simply being sheep will lead the evil to us!  We know that fires happen, and so we keep extinguishers in our homes, sprinklers in our offices, alarms in our schools, strategic exit points in all of them.  We protect the schools against fire, but we’re appalled at the idea of having an armed officer in the school.  And all of this remains true even though statistics show that children in schools are 10 times more likely to be killed, and thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than school fires.  The sheep’s response is denial.

And worse, we really don’t like the sheepdogs.  To us, they look a lot like wolves – having the capacity for violence.  Even though a sheepdog is trained to never harm the sheep, we still lack full trust.  The sheepdog is a reminder that wolves are about.  We’d prefer that the sheepdogs not tell us where to go, not dole out traffic tickets, not stand at the airport with an automatic weapon in hand, not be stationed at schools.  We’d much rather the sheepdog just cover his fangs, paint himself fluffy white, and go “Baaaaaa”.

At least, that’s our perspective until a wolf arrives.  Then, the entire flock tries to hide behind any available sheepdog.  Only then do we hear the word “Hero” applied to such people.  During the 9/11 attacks, on Flight 93 over Shanksville, PA many sheep became sheepdogs, and many sheepdogs became heroes!  There is nothing morally superior about sheepdogs.  They are who they are.  They bark at things that make noise, and are unafraid, and perhaps better said, "willing", to engage in a righteous confrontation. When confrontation happens, the sheepdog will survive in cases where most sheep would not.  But more importantly, the sheepdog attempts to deliver sheep from peril.

Now, if you buy the idea that we are in fact the sheep we’ve described, we need to ask ourselves how important the sheepdog is to us.  In the world today, many are attempting to muzzle the sheepdog, to remove us as a nation from worldwide conflict, to defund their righteous purpose within this society.  Perhaps this is a wise move.  Perhaps it is foolhardy.  I have my own opinions, and this homily is not attempting to sway yours. 

But what IS foolhardy is wishing ill upon the sheepdog, taking actions which put the sheepdog in needless jeopardy, and indeed, not supporting with letters and words of thanks, not praying for the sheepdog, not caring for him or her and doing that which helps the sheepdog remain vigilant.  The sheepdog doesn’t live for accolades.  But comforting and consoling the sheepdog between skirmishes with the wolves can only help strengthen him or her for the next wolf they need to engage.

If we must go to battle, God bless those who are moved to volunteer to serve us!  We still pray for peace, but if we are honest sheep, we know the world is still full of wolves.  So pray – and pray diligently – for those of our nation who serve as soldiers, sailors, pilots, police and firemen, doctors, nurses, school crossing guards – you know who such servants are.  Smile at them when you see them.  Speak kindly to them.  On a cold day bring them a cup of coffee.  Let them know that we sheep are appreciative of them, Offer your thanks for their service to our country and to us.  And please, never blame the sheepdog for the fact that wolves exist.  It’s not their fault.  The best we can do is pray that the sheepdog won’t need to risk engaging the wolf on our behalf. 

"God Has Visited His People"

[3rd Sunday of Luke, Lk 7:11-16]

When we are expecting to host guests in our homes, we take steps to assure that they will be welcomed properly.  We clean the house—from the kitchen floor to the toilet bowls, we make sure there are no reasons to give offense to our expected guest.  We probably cut the grass, perhaps pull the weeds.  We set out flowers.  We do everything we can think of to make our homes a welcoming place for our guests.

And we prepare ourselves as well.  We visit the hair salon.  We assure that we are wearing clothes that are pleasing.  We take pains to assure that even in these things nothing is left to chance.

Finally we may prepare a meal.  And for our guests, we provide an abundance of things to choose from—appetizers, salads, breads, main courses of meats and vegetables, and fruits.  And we do not skimp when it comes to desert.

Consider all the steps we’ve alluded to herein, all taken for a person we may love (if family), or a person we may want to impress (if we are friends or associates).

But how do we prepare for visits with our Lord?

“Father, what do you mean?  I don’t expect Jesus to walk through my door and be this kind of guest in my home.  What are you trying to convey to me?”

If you don’t expect to host Jesus, I would ask, “Why not?”

At every meal in our homes, we should (I dare say ‘must’) begin with offering thanks to God for the gifts He has bestowed upon us.  In short, we pray.  In thanksgiving.  In sincerity.  With respect, and with love.

And where is our Lord when we offer such prayer?  Is He not “in our midst”?  Is He not already a Guest in our home?  Or even more pointedly, are we not simply guests in the home He has provided to us?

In today’s Gospel account, we find Jesus doing what He does best—being amongst those who need Him the most.  Today, the one who most needs Jesus is a widow, a woman not unlike our Lord’s own Mother, with no husband to care for her, and an only son.  Here in the town of Nain, this woman’s son has breathed his last.  And in this image, our Lord in His compassion sees the state of His own Mother shortly hereafter as He is taken to the Cross, where she will stand near to Him and watch Him be executed, taking His own last breath, and she too will be a childless widow.

This godly compassion leads God the Son to do the impossible.  As God the Word, He speaks life into her child.  “Young man, I say to you arise!”

It is not possible for His creation to refuse to respond to the command of its Creator.  The boy sits up, and he begins to speak.

St. Luke records that Jesus “presented him to his mother.”  In another translation the word presented is substituted as delivered.

Jesus came to Nain on this day not to be entertained in the house of anyone important.  No one in Nain cleared trash from the streets in advance of His arrival.  What was important on this day was to give life, and to give it abundantly.  All the preparations in the world could not have changed the heart of God the Son to show mercy where He chose to show mercy.

“Father, are you saying that our preparations are a form of vanity?”  Let’s just say that preparations that are meaningful to God are preparations to our own hearts.  Any cleansing we do should be done first as repentance.  Any adorning we approach should be donning our intellects with study of Scripture, the Fathers, and things spiritual.  Jesus comes not to inspect our brick and mortar coverings from the weather He sends upon us.  He comes to dwell within the homes of our hearts and our spirits.

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1Cor 6:19)

We should prepare for His visit.  It is coming sooner than we think!

 

Luke 6:37-45

Judge not, forgive, give.... It seems like nothing but expenses, without any profit.  But behold what is promised:  if you do not condemn, you will not be condemned; if you forgive, you will be forgiven; if you give, you will be given to.  Right now the  profit is not visible, but it will undoubtedly come for one who makes these expenditures from the heart.  It will come precisely at that time when he needs exoneration and forgiveness the most.  How will he rejoice when he is suddenly made worthy to receive such good gifts as if for nothing!  And, on the other hand, how another will sorrow and grieve because he did not know how to manage his property profitably!  He would now forgive everything and give away everything, but it is too late: everything has its time.  Not everyone pursues only the kind of profit that comes directly into his hands almost immediately after the expenditure.  A Russian proverb says, 'Throw bread and salt behind you, and you will find it in front of you.'  The actions in the above-mentioned cases really are like throwing something, but in these cases they are not thrown under foot to be trampled, but into the hands of God.  These hands are true, and sure to return what they receive.  Just add faith and hope.

- St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Sergius of Radonezh

St. Sergius' feast day was Sunday, 25Sep.  A lesson in humility from the Prologue of Ochrid:

A saint does not shine outwardly. All of his riches are within, in his soul. A peasant came from afar to the monastery to see St. Sergius. When he asked the monks for the abbot, they told him he was working in the garden. The peasant went to the garden, and there saw a man in poor, ragged clothes, digging like any other peasant on a farm. The peasant returned to the monastery dissatisfied, thinking that the monks had made fun of him. So, to make things clear, he asked again for the glorious holy father, Sergius. Just then, Sergius returned to the monastery, and welcomed the peasant, serving him at the table. The saint saw into the heart of his guest, and knew the low opinion he had of his appearance. He consoled him by promising that he would see Sergius in a little while. A prince and his boyars then arrived at the monastery, and they all bowed low to St. Sergius, and asked his blessing. The monks then removed the peasant from the room in order to make room for the new guests. In amazement the peasant looked on from a distance, to see that the one he had sought had been nearby all the time. The peasant rebuked himself for his ignorance, and was greatly ashamed. When the prince departed, the peasant quickly approached the saint, fell at his feet and began to beg his forgiveness. The great saint embraced him and said to him: ``Do not grieve, my son, for you are the only one who knew the truth about me, considering me to be nothing-while others were deluded, taking me for something great.''

I'm Offended!

You don’t need to spend any long amount of time listening to radio broadcasts, TV news stories, or even conversations on the street or in the office to hear some variation on the word “offended”.

“That offends me.”  “I take offense to that!”  “Your position is offensive.”

As we so often do, let’s go to the dictionary.  What does it say?

Definition:  offensive – adjective; 1) causing anger, displeasure or resentment; 2) disagreeable to the senses; 3) making a physical or military attack.

So let’s “pretend” that I’ve just said something to someone and they have responded in this way.  “That offends me.”

What should we conclude from this verbal transaction?

A better way to couch that question is, “Because someone found a statement offensive, does that make it wrong?”

Ahhh….  Now we get to the crux of the matter.  You see, being offended or not is NOT founded on right or wrong.  It is founded on relativism.  What offends you may not offend your brother, or your neighbor, or your boss, or even your spouse.  In short, the word “offended”, like so many other fallacious constructs of our time, is based on FEELING, and NOT on truth.

Let me give you an example.  You go to see a doctor because you’ve been feeling weak.  The doctor runs tests.  He determines that you have cancer, and so he gives you the diagnosis.  Being told that you have cancer is a very offensive thing.  Based on the previous definition, it causes anger, displeasure AND resentment.  But it’s the truth.  His words are offensive to you, but they’re true.  If he attempts to speak so as NOT to offend, he signs your death warrant.

But you are likely to say, “But Father, that’s not being offensive – that’s being a doctor, he HAS to diagnose.”

OK.  Let’s look at a parallel situation, one in the Church.  I speak out against abortion at every opportunity.  Some people find my position offensive.  Some people find this position so offensive that they would attempt to shut down my ability to speak against abortion, if they could.  But given the teachings of the Holy Church, I must so speak out - I must speak the truth.

Don’t like that example either?  Let’s go to Scripture.  In Matthew Chapter 15, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees yet again.  “Why don’t Your disciples follow the rules?  Why don’t they wash their hands before they eat?  Jesus responds to their treachery.  “Why do you establish traditions counter to God’s commandments?”  Jesus tells them clearly that Commandment #5 says that you are to honor father and mother.  And yet the ‘tradition’ of the Pharisees was to ignore their own father or mother’s need, denying their requests for help by saying that whatever portion of the child’s income they might need has already been promised to God.  Therefore, the child has no obligation to care for the parent!  Jesus identifies these evil men’s sin saying, “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”  He follows this by calling them hypocrites!

In response to all of this, and after the encounter, the Lord’s disciples come to Him and say, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard Your indictment of them?” 

Again, it is truth, not offensive speech, that brings us to this point.

The Greek word for ‘offend’ is skandalizo, clearly the source of our word “scandalize”, but from the Greek, it carries the meaning of establishing a stumbling block, a trap.  Those who take offense are trapped by their anger, their displeasure, their resentment, and all too often, refuse to see the truth.

In Luke 7:23, the Lord says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”  He says, “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)

Let us seek in all instances not to offend.  But in so doing, let us never fail to speak the truth.

They Forsook All and Followed Him

In today’s Gospel (Luke 5:1-11) we are presented with an account that is described in all three of the synoptic Gospels, that of our Lord teaching, and then the “great catch of fish”.

Blessed Theophylact writes that our Lord entered Peter’s boat so that He could face the crowd and have all present in front of Him.  And so the Master politely “borrowed” what belonged to Peter and his partner fishermen.

But after receiving this gift willingly from them, our Lord chose to repay their kindness, and He blessed them in two ways.  First, He gave to them such an enormous catch of fish that they and their partners in a second boat could not deal with the bounty.  Second, Jesus made them disciples!  The lesser blessing came before the greater, but they could not comprehend the true magnitude of either fully.

Isn’t it astounding how our Lord sends blessings to His servants in manners consistent with their ability to grasp His actions?  On this day, with Peter, Andrew, James and John, all of whom were fishermen, He gains their attention with what else– fish!  He opens the discussions with the Samaritan woman at the well with what else—a request for water!  He gains the attention of the Magi with what tool that they would recognize—the Star!  He finds Saul of Tarsus persecuting those who are struggling to establish His fledgling Church, a man who in his Pharisaical ‘sight’ judges Christians to be worthy of death, and He gains his attention how—through sending blindness upon him!

Do we begin to see the wondrous ways of God working among His people?

And how has He attempted to work on me?  And I ask that you now ask this same question of yourself.  What skills, talents or abilities has He bestowed upon me, and when and where did He reach out through those gifts to get my attention, to have me notice that He was calling to me, to give me direction, perhaps healing, perhaps sustenance, spiritual or physical?  And if I can be blessed to think upon such things with remembrance that perhaps they did occur, what was my response?  Did I, like Saint Peter, feel a repentance that would have me calling to Him, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’?  Or did I (as most people would), notice, but then say, “That was weird”?

The telling answer to these questions is in the response.  When Peter, Andrew, James and John were confronted with the immense catch of fish, they did not ignore the Lord’s authority over nature.  And when He told them, ‘From now on, you will catch men,’ they did as St. Luke records, ‘The forsook all and followed Him.’  St. Photini, the woman at the well, dropped her water vessels and went to evangelize the men of Sychar.  The Magi left their homelands and travelled to a place following the star, not knowing where it would lead.  Saul waited in Damascus for three days for the Lord to appoint Ananias to heal him, only to become the great Apostle!

Our Lord deals with His people in mysterious ways, calling us to live our lives for Him, if we are willing to accept His invitation and calling.  Let us serve this loving God with our whole heart.

 

Truly Denying Ourselves

Many often opine that understanding Holy Scripture is mostly straightforward.  But all too often that perspective can be shown to be flawed.  Take today’s Gospel reading from the Sunday After the Elevation of the Cross (Mark 8:34-9:1). 

Within today’s text we find our Lord teaching, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The Greek word used for “desires” here is thelo, which goes beyond ‘desire’ to a meaning of ‘delighting in’ something.  Thus our Lord speaks to those who delight in being near to Him.

But let’s move to the operative stumbling word—deny.  This Greek word is aparneomai, and it means utter rejection, to the point of disowning.

How is it that we are to understand this concept and relate it to ourselves?  Is our Lord saying that we are to give zero consideration to self and self-needs?

St. Theophan the Recluse teaches this about denial.

The Lord demands decisive self-denial of those who want to follow Him.  ‘Let him deny himself,’ He says.  It could be expressed like this: Cast aside your interests and pursue only the interests of the Lord.  You will be fulfilling this when you always do what is pleasing to Him.  How can one do this?  Mind carefully what is in you, and what is around you on the outside, and discern strictly in one or another situation, be it internal or external, how to act in the way that is most pleasing to God—then, not pitying yourself and not inserting your own calculations, act accordingly, with complete self-denial.  You say, “It is hard to determine this.”  No, it is not hard.  We have been given clear and fixed commandments—they express what we can do to be pleasing to the Lord.  All that remains is to apply them to the given situation, and this does not present any great problem.  Having common sense is enough.  If you cannot figure something out, ask your spiritual father, or someone else whose words you respect, and act according to their directions.  But it is always better to sharpen your discernment through reading of the word of God and writings of the fathers, so that you will always have a decision-maker with you.”

St. Theophan is not suggesting that we turn our self-will over to the cemented decision of another.  Rather, his words indicate that we are to train ourselves up in the faith.  His admonishments to read (and therefore to KNOW) Holy Scripture, and to study (and therefore to LEAN UPON) the wisdom of the Holy Fathers is paramount to our then self-willed and heartfelt desire to follow where our Lord will lead us.  In giving full deference to His will in our lives, we have already moved to that point of denying ourselves!  It’s really rather simple—His will, not mine!

There is an account of a Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Catholic priest, who during WWII knew that the Germans were approaching, so he instructed others in his monastery to leave.  He remained with a few monks, and they sheltered over 2000 Jews for a time.  Ultimately he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz.  There, Fr. Max would take food last to assure others had enough.  He would give of what he’d been given to those in the greatest need.  The Nazi’s had a practice of murdering 10 random prisoners whenever one would escape the camp.  One day a prisoner from Fr. Max’s baracks escaped, and 10 were selected for execution in ‘the starvation hole’.  One poor man began to cry out, ‘My poor wife!  My children!’  At his cries, Fr. Max broke ranks with the other prisoners and boldly went to the commandant—”I am a priest.  I would like to take the place of this man.”  Surprisingly, the commandant agreed.  The 10 men including Fr. Max were led to the starvation bunker, where they remained without food or water until all were dead.  The man whose place he took lived to be 95 years old, and he never forgot Fr. Max’s selfless love.

Our Lord goes on in today’s Gospel to say, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.”

Fr. Max showed self-denial.  And without doubt he has found his place in the eternal embrace of His (and our) Master!

Earthly Things, Heavenly Things

Today we find ourselves at the Sunday Before the Elevation of the Cross.  As such, we encounter an additional Gospel reading, from the Gospel of St. John, 3:13-17.  The reading is very short in number of words.  The reading is very deep in meaning to us as followers of Christ!

The verse immediately before today’s Gospel reading (verse 12) speaks volumes to us about how we should look at our “knowledge” or “understanding” of things relating to the Kingdom.   Jesus says, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

Jesus is speaking here with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who, unlike the other Pharisees, does not wish to immediately condemn Jesus for things not clearly understood about Him or His teachings.  He comes (like last Sunday’s young man) with a pure heart, sincerely wanting to embrace the truth, and through the truth to find the way to Heaven.

Our Lord’s statement about His telling us earthly things and our inability therefore to grasp heavenly things is reminiscent of the Feast of Transfiguration, where the Apostles Three were shown His glory as far as they could bear it.

As if it were necessary to somehow “seal” our inability to understand the heavenly while being earthly, Jesus presents another phrase that is beyond our understanding.  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

Let’s break down this phrase.  He has not yet arisen, therefore He has not ascended, but He says that He has.  In order to ascend, the Holy Fathers (many) say that descending precedes ascending.  But the hard spot is that Jesus says He is IN heaven.

Do we need further proof that our human understanding should be focused not on the “things of heaven”, but rather on the things that can lead us to heaven.  Focus on that which leads from earth to heaven!  About the above phrase from John 3:13, St Hilary of Poitiers says:

By what perception of human understanding can we comprehend that He ascended where He was before, and He descended Who remained in heaven?  The Lord says, ‘What if you should behold the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?’  Can sense apprehend this? The Son of Man—Who is in heaven—descends from heaven.  Can reason cope with this?  The Word was made flesh– can words express this?  The Word becomes flesh, that is, God becomes man.  The man is in heaven; the God is from heaven.  He ascends Who descended, but He descends and yet does not descend.  He is as He ever was, yet He was not ever what He is…. If we understand Christ even in this way, we shall know Him.  If we seek to understand Him further, we shall not know Him at all. (On the Trinity, 10.54)

This is preparatory material for our coming to the very foot of the Cross of Christ in this coming week.  For how are we to comprehend the Life of all succumbing to human death, and yet living?

We must confine our thoughts to that which is revealed by God as within our ability to grasp.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,  (1Cor 15:3)  Simple.  Easily grasped by any with faith.  And like it, this.  Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high.  I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast. (Ps 131:1-2)

Let us take the example of the Apostle Philip, who desired to know more, but knew that there were limits,  Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. (John 14:8)  In this request he showed an all-too human lack of understanding.  The Lord responded in love to Philip, as He will respond to us in our humanly constrained understanding.  And He will show us all we need to know—as far as we can bear it—to give us the tools that lead to Theosis.