On the Nativity of the Forerunner (24June)

There’s nothing “common” about the life of Saint John the Forerunner.  He stands as the single most important man in the history of humanity.  What about Christ?  He stands as the God-man.  What about the Mother of God?  She is the Queen of Heaven.  Our Lord said of Saint John, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Mat 11:11)  “None greater” is qualified in our Lord’s praise for the Baptist by adding “the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater.”  Who is this “least”?  It is the Mother of God.  And even here we find harmony with our Lord’s other words, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Mat 20:16)

When we refer to St. John, we give him three titles – Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist.  He fulfilled all three. 

As a prophet as he foretold the coming of the Son of God. 

As Forerunner he called Israel to repentance before the Lord’s mission began, a mission which the Lord Himself began by echoing St. John’s call, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Mat 3:2 with St. John, 4:17 for the Lord)  St. John even pointed to Christ before this day of his nativity, as he leapt in the womb of his mother Elizabeth when he found his Savior before him within the womb of the Theotokos as she visited her relative.

As Baptist, he in obedience laid his hands upon the Master to give us, and Christians for all time, the example of dying to this life to be reborn into life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

St. John was born in a miraculous way, being a gift to his aged parents Zacharias and Elizabeth.  Being announced by the Archangel Gabriel, Zacharias disbelieved that he could father a child being as old as he and his wife were, and for his disbelief he was struck dumb, only to regain his voice when, on the day of the circumcision of his son (eight days hence), he would confirm his name to be John by writing on a tablet, upon which he sprung into verbal praise for God.

There is also a ‘miracle’ within what this birth means to Israel.  At this time in the land of Israel, there had been no prophet for hundreds of years.  The Prophet Malachi was the last prophet, roughly 350BC.  Now Zacharias, the priest, has no voice.  And the evil king Herod was not really Jewish and ruled in collaboration with the Romans.  Thus the three offices of the Savior, Prophet, Priest, and King, we vacant, silent, or illegitimate.  Seven hundred years earlier, the Prophet Isaiah foretold of this child:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'" (Isa 40:3)  God in His wisdom “prepared the way” for His Savior by bringing the greatest of prophets, one who could change the hearts of the people and give them a path and a desire to return to the Lord.

Who is Saint John, then?  As a child, he was within the age group which Herod would attempt to snuff out with his decree to slaughter young boys when he learned about the birth of Jesus.  Tradition holds that soldiers came to Zacharias in the temple and asked him to give them his son.  When the Saint told them he did not know where Elizabeth and the child were, they murdered Zacharias in the Temple.  

Elizabeth took the child into the wilderness to hide from those who sought his death, hiding herself and St. John in a cave.  Again, tradition holds that she died 40 days later, and the boy grew up alone in the wilderness, fed and cared for by angels, and protected by God. 

Here, he learned the ascetic way of life, living on only what God would provide for that very day.  He ate locusts and wild honey.  In his asceticism, he became fearless in preaching God’s truth to all who needed to hear.  He called both the lowly and the powerful to the same repentance.  Ultimately, his renouncing of the immorality of the King led to his beheading, killed because those in power loved that power and authority more than they loved God and truth and right.

As we can see, there is nothing about the saint that we would consider in any way to be “normal”.  His conception, his parents, his upbringing, his ministry, his death – all are abnormal by any worldly standard.  And within this observation is perhaps the most salient point about what we should take from this Feast.  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” (Isa 55:8)  Again, our Lord’s own commandments to us highlight this concept, as He teaches us, “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Mat 5:48)  We are called to something beyond this world.  Heaven is not of this world, and yet it is the place we call “home”!  None would call this world a place where barren old women give birth, where prophets are born as a result, where a virgin carries God the Son in her womb, where governments and nations are toppled by the actions of babies, and where confused old men speak God’s own words with boldness and clarity!  This world is not a place where a person who leads an austere life, clad in camel’s hair, paves the way for the One Who is King of Creation!  And yet, this IS what happened, because these ARE God’s plans.  He accomplished EXACTLY this, with EXACTLY these people and these conditions.

This is not the God of “just” Zacharias and Elizabeth.  He is our God.  And He calls us to the same outrageous faith – in our hearts, in our lives, in our churches, in our world.  He calls us to see HIS authority over all things.  He calls us to believe (as Zacharias didn’t at first) that whatever may seem to be impossible for men is totally possible with God.  In the world, it’s not possible to forgive your enemies.  With God, this is possible.  In the world, it is frowned upon to love the downtrodden, the poor, the needy, the destitute.  With God, this is a requirement.  In the world, it is impossible to be “perfect.”  With God, this is our calling!

Those things in this world which bring people (including ourselves) to places of weakness, despair, sorrow, hatred, putting self above others, and every mentionable human failing, all of these human conditions will continue unabated or even grow in magnitude within us unless we submit to God’s call to “radical change” in our own lives.  A small seed of “religion” allowed to exist in the margins of our lives may give us the appearance to others of some degree of caring and respectability, but this seed will not bear the desired fruit - to aid our attempt to take the Kingdom of Heaven by force.  We are part of the “Church Militant.”  Our Lord Himself said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Mat 11:12)  In explaining this verse, the Orthodox Study Bible says,  “The Kingdom of Heaven belongs not to the sleeping or lazy.”

In the time of our Lord’s ministry, the people of Israel needed “a wake-up call”.  St. John was God’s gift to them to do just that. 

His message has even more relevance in today’s world.  Who can look at the world around us today and say that we are in any less of a position of needing a spiritual awakening? 

God’s plan for mankind’s salvation is integrally tied to the life and ministry of St. John the Forerunner.  It was true in the time of our Lord’s ministry.  It has been true for 2000 years.  It is even more true in 2020.  If we can find in St. John’s words, in his call to repentance, and in his living a pure life conforming to God’s will an example with which we are willing to conform, even if “imperfectly” at first, then we will honor his memory as is fitting for the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, and we will have gone a long way toward attempting - as best we can - to conform to our Lord’s call to “be perfect” ourselves.

Violence For Violence

01Jun20

Christ is Ascended!

This past week we've watched with horror one unjust act inside of one city. Thereafter we've observed this unjust act bring a unified voice among every person who saw it, regardless of racial background, economic strata, or geographic local, declaring it to be horrific, and stating that the perpetrator must be brought to justice. In these observations, horror brought unity.

Then we watched as the unity dispersed like a puff of smoke, and faded into violence. We note with great sadness how some who began by being united in horror now attempt to rationalize and to offer apologetics for what is being witnessed today in the streets of so many cities. How do the actions we see in the streets, burning, looting, even more murdering, bring honor to the memory of one brutally and unjustly murdered? Where is the 'positive' in hatred and brutality-for-brutality?

Christ has answered such questions before. He taught us, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Mat 5:44-45) He ended this teaching with these words, an impossible challenge to humanity, but clearly showing His divine expectations for us: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

When we are presented with moral dilemmas, we also turn to the Holy Fathers for guidance. We offer these words from St. John Chrysostom from his work, "On the Priesthood". The words do not apply only to the officer who committed the original act, but also to those whose violent actions must not be couched in words that allow them to be "normalized".

"Christians above all men are not permitted forcibly to correct the failings of those who sin. Secular judges indeed, when they have captured malefactors under the law, show their authority to be great, and prevent them even against their will from following their own devices: but in our case the wrong-doer must be made better, not by force, but by persuasion."

If we are to labor to normalize anything, we must bring love to the state of normalcy. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)

"I Have No Husband"

In today’s Gospel lesson (17May20, John 4:5-42), we are given a myriad of lessons.  One of the first is that of observing human nature. 

Our Lord strikes up a conversation with the Samaritan woman.  It is an unexpected thing to her.  Normally, no Jew would be caught dead fraternizing with a Samaritan, let alone a Jewish man conversing with a Samaritan woman.

But after the small-talk has occurred (and that phraseology is ill-advised, for nothing that our Lord says is unimportant!), Jesus says to the woman, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

And here is the lesson in human nature.  The woman responds, “I have no husband.” 

We can find in the woman’s words that element of trying to cover her sin.  Yes, I may be living with a man, but we’re not married, so he’s not my husband.  What I’m saying isn’t UNtrue—it’s just not the WHOLE truth.  Is this not the way of the world around us today?We live in a country where the political parties have divided themselves from one another to such an extent that neither one seems to care first and foremost for the well-being of the people they are elected to serve, but rather they serve themselves and those who fatten their electoral war chests.  Truth?  Find it if you can, but recognize that while you search for truth, in how business and politics are conducted throughout the world today, people suffer because the truth doesn't matter.  Any politician will will attempt to convince you that their perspective is the ONLY truth.  And yet opposing political perspectives have truths that do not coincide - these truths are in diametric opposition to one another.  So if we are to believe anything, perhaps we should believe that both are telling us, “We have no husband….”!!!!

A second take-away from today’s Gospel is how the woman responds to our Lord’s clearly indicating that He knows her—He knows her whole life, where she’s been, with whom she’s lived.  And He knows her pain over living as she is now, her self-loathing for the life she finds herself captured within.  Her response is not to take offense at the Lord’s knowing all these things about her.  Rather, she is overcome with joy that these things are “in the open.”

Within that joy, the woman abandons her mission in coming to the well.  At this point, the water that she had come to gather has no importance whatsoever in comparison to the knowledge that she has found the Messiah, or more appropriately, He has found her.

She leaves behind the worldly empty waterpot, and runs to the people around her.  Her sin?  It no longer matters.  She professes it openly to the community.  She has become an evangelist, perhaps the first after St. John the Forerunner.  Going to the men in the city, she fearlessly proclaims, “Come, see a Man Who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?”

Those words from the Orthodox Study Bible sound less certain than the original Greek, wherein the woman’s words translate to, “Is not this the Christ?”  Whether the others choose to believe or not, she already has become a disciple.

By a word from the Word!  Our Lord's promise to her that the water that he gives will "become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  See in her this overflowing spring of living water as she evangelizes the people of Sychar!  See how the Living Water with which our Lord has filled her overflows and fills others.

The woman, St. Photini, goes on to evangelize the people of Sychar, then her five sisters, and her two sons, all of whom are also known as saints.  She went to Carthage and evangelized there. 

During the reign of Nero, Saint Photini lived in Carthage with her younger son Joses, where she fearlessly preached the Gospel.  Her eldest son Victor fought in the Roman army against barbarians, and was appointed military commander.  Later, Nero called Victor to Italy to arrest and punish Christians.  

An officer there, Sebastian by name, said to Victor, “I know that you, your mother and your brother are Christians.  As a friend I advise you to submit to the will of the emperor.”  Victor fearlessly declared that he, like his mother, wanted to preach Christ.  The man who advised Victor then was struck blind.  Four days later, he proclaimed, “The God of the Christians is the only true God.”  When Victor asked him why he had changed his mind, the man replied, “Because Christ is calling me.”  He was baptized and his sight was restored.  

Reports of this reached Nero, and he commanded that they all be brought to him.  There, all of them confessed Christ before the emperor, who then ordered that their fingers be smashed with iron rods.  But each of them, as they received blows, felt no pain, and their hands remained unharmed.  Nero ordered that the men be thrown into prison, and the women were placed under the supervision of his own daughter, Domnina.  Saint Photini converted Nero’s daughter and all of her servants to the Lord!

After three years, Nero sent to the prison for one of his servants who had also been locked up there.  He reported that Sebastian, Victor and Joses had recovered from being blinded, and people were visiting the prison to hear their preaching.  In fact, the whole prison had been converted to the Lord.

After many more tortures and miraculous deliveries by our Lord, Nero ordered that Saint Photini be flayed and thrown down a well.  After twenty days in the well, Nero had the saint brought to him one more time, asking her if she was now ready to offer sacrifice to idols.  The blessed saint spat in the emperor’s face, saying, “You stupid man!  Do you think that I am so deluded that I would renounce the Living God to offer sacrifices to idols as blind as you?”

On this, Nero again had the saint thrown down a well, where she surrendered her soul to the God who filled her to overflowing nearly forty years earlier.

In 66AD they all were martyred by the Emperor Nero.

Christ is Risen!

As Holy Week Begins

As this year's Holy Week begins, as we find ourselves separated from one another, let us NOT find ourselves separated from our Lord, or from His Body, the Church!

To that end, we offer today the following, from the Third Theological Oration of St. Gregory Nazianzus.

St. Gregory's words are powerful!  Please - ponder the magnitude of our Lord's works, and through them, of His total immersion into OUR lives.  Why?  Because of His unlimited love for us!  We are not EVER separated from Him and His love for us.  Through Him, we cannot be separated from one another!

He was baptized as man - but He remitted sins as God, not because He needed purifying rites Himself, but that He might sanctify the element of water.

He was tempted as man, but He conquered as God; indeed, He bids us be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world.

He hungered, but He fed thousands; indeed, He is the Bread of Life that gives life, and that is of heaven.

He thirsted, but He cried, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink;" (John 7:37) indeed, He promised that fountains should flow from those who believe. (John 4:14)

He was wearied, but He is the rest to those who are weary and heavy laden.

He was heavy with sleep, but He walked lightly over the sea.  He rebuked the winds, He made Peter light as he began to sink. (Mat 14:22-33)

He pays tribute, but it is out of a fish; indeed, He is the King of those who demanded it. (Mat 17:24-27)

He weeps, but He causes tears to cease.  He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was man; but He raises Lazarus, for He is God.  (John 11:1-45)

He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver; but He redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price was His own blood.  As a sheep He is led to the slaughter, but He is the shepherd of Israel, and now the whole world also.  

As a lamb He is silent, yet He is the Word, and is proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.  

He is bruised and wounded, but He heals every disease and every infirmity.

He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the Tree of Life He restores us; indeed, He saves even the robber crucified with Him; indeed He wrapped the visible world in darkness.

He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall.  Who?  He Who turned water into wine, Who is the Destroyer of the bitter taste, Who is sweetness and altogether desired.

He lays down His life, but He has power to take it again.

He dies, but He gives life, and by His death destroys death. 

He is buried but He rises again; He goes down into hell, but He brings up the souls.

On the Sunday of the Last Judgment

Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew is certainly not one of the most quoted pieces of Scripture, at least by contemporary Christians.  But in terms of content, it has to be placed near, or even perhaps at the top of the list of importance.

The chapter begins with the parable of the wise virgins.  And so from the perspective of our Orthodox Faith, the chapter “bookends” the Great Fast.  The account of the Last Judgment (which ends the chapter) is with us today on the Sunday of Meatfare, and the Parable of the Wise Virgins ‘ends’ the Fast on the eve of Holy Monday, on which day we celebrate the service of Bridegroom Matins.

Sandwiched between these two we find the parable of the distribution of talents, the account of how God expects us to take the gifts He has given to us, and to apply them for HIS glory, for the increase of HIS purpose, for the benefit of HIS Kingdom.

The end of the chapter is what lay before us today.  Some refer to verses 31 through 46 as another parable.  But from the perspective of Orthodoxy, it is a documentary.

Jesus begins with no uncertainties, no ‘ifs’, but with the concrete. “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory.”  The words are a prophecy of what lay before us—all of us—on that day when He returns.  His return will not be one in the humility of His first coming to earth, in a stable, seen by only those who were made known of His arrival, shepherds and Magi.  This time all of humanity will come at His summoning.  They will not bring wonder as did the shepherds, nor gifts as did the kings of the East, but they must bring the fruits of their lives, answering for the use of or the wasting of the talents given to them.

Jesus uses the imagery of sheep and goats not in the literal sense, but in the figurative.  Sheep are those who hear their Master’s voice and follow where He leads.  Goats are contrary and do as they themselves please.  Sheep produce things from their God-given gifts for the benefit of others—wool to clothe the naked, milk to feed the hungry.  Goats produce nothing of value—they consume and return nothing.

The separation of sheep and goats is by the same judgmental criteria.  They are simple, unequivocal, and easily known and understood by all, since they consist of the most fundamental of human needs—food, water, comfort, clothing, health, and support when being punished.  These are things to which all human beings can relate.  Thus it should not be difficult for all human beings to respond when they see these as needs in others.

The three lessons of Chapter 25 are in fact one lesson.  We are to remain vigilant for the Lord’s return, watchful in taking care that we are ever ready to respond when we hear of His arrival.  Our readiness (or lack thereof) has everything to do with how we employ the talents that He has given each of us.  Not all can accomplish all things, but each can accomplish that which He has given us the ability and the wherewithal to do.  If we employ those talents as He wills, we trim our lamps and keep oil at the ready for His arrival.

If we can do these things, then we will not fear that summons to His judgment seat, but we will be filled with joy that He has returned, and in the knowledge that all is now accomplished, with pure hearts we can approach Him in the hope to hear from His lips, “Come, you blessed of My Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you!”

The Prodigal Son - A Beautiful Expression of God's Love For Us

I don’t believe that there is a more profound example of how much God loves us, even in our fallenness and sinfulness, than the Parable of the Prodigal Son!

St. John Chrysostom explains the parable eloquently, simply, beautifully.  I wanted to speak of this parable from the outset so that you could learn that, if we are attentive, there is remission of sins even after baptism. I do not say this to put you in a state of inertia, but to distance you from discouragement, because discouragement produces worse evils among us than inertia. Therefore, this son bears the image of those who suffer the fall after the Laver. That he represents those who fell after baptism is obvious from the parable. He is called “son”; no one can be called a son without baptism. Furthermore, he inhabited the paternal house, and took his share from all the paternal substance. Before baptism no one has the right to receive paternal things, nor to obtain an inheritance, so that through all these events he speaks to us about the status of the faithful. He was a brother of the reputable one; he would not have become a brother without spiritual regeneration. Therefore, what does the one say who fell into the worst wickedness? “I will arise and return to my father.” His father did not hinder him from departing to the foreign land precisely for this reason: so that he could learn well from the experience how much beneficence he enjoyed while remaining at home.

The Holy Fathers explain repeatedly that we are all prodigals in our own fashion.  All of us have left our paternal home (heaven) and are sojourning in a land where we are literally feeding the swine in order to survive.

Saint John continues.  For as the best physicians bring back those who are far gone in sickness with careful treatment to a state of health, not only treating them according to the laws of the medical art, but sometimes also giving them gratification: even so God conducts to virtue those who are much depraved, not with great severity, but gently and gradually, and supporting them on every side, so that the separation may not become greater, nor the error more prolonged. 

And the same truth is implied in the parable of the prodigal son as well as in this. For he also was no stranger, but a son, and a brother of the child who had been well pleasing to the father, and he plunged into no ordinary vice, but went to the very extremity, so to say, of evil, he the rich and free and well-bred son being reduced to a more miserable condition than that of household slaves, strangers, and hirelings. Nevertheless he returned again to his original condition, and had his former honor restored to him.

There is no honor in departing from the Father’s love.  But in even greater proportion, there is no honor in hardness of heart that prevents us from turning from our fallenness and returning to His love.  For our Lord has shown us how truly great His love for us is.

Let us, all as prodigals, grow to abhor feeding the swine.  Let us remember the Father’s love for us, and make the choice to fashion our prayer of repentance as we return to Him, not with tentative steps, but running to His love—as He, in the parable, runs to embrace us in that divine Love.

Pastoral Nativity Message - 2019

"He, the Mighty One, the Creator of all, Himself prepared this body in the Virgin as a temple for Himself, and took it for His very own, as the instrument through which He was known and in which He dwelt." (St. Athanasius the Great)

Our Lord has come, taking on our flesh to elevate us with it to that place for which He created us, to be near to Him in heaven for all eternity,  The Mystery of our Lord's Incarnation is beyond our comprehension.  How is it possible that He Who is above all creation, Who holds creation in the hollow of His hand (Isa 40:12), how has He deigned to be contained within the Virgin's womb, and to be born into the body of a child.  How has He condescended to grow as each of us must, to live a life not of Kingly richness, but the meekest of human lives, to rest in the feeding trough of animals - also His creation, to be sheltered not by a palace, but in a cave, to be covered not in the richest of garments, but in the poorest of swaddling clothes?  How are we to comprehend the magnitude of His condescension, and the depths of His love for us - all of us, rich and poor, living righteous lives or as the greatest of sinners?

St. John the Theologian says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory..." (John 1:14)  We beheld His glory, but as we learned on Tabor with Peter, James and John, we beheld it only as far as we could bear it.

Today, that glory is manifest in the face of a Hebrew child.  Precious as all children are, this One is so much more than precious!

Let us accompany the shepherds, who heeded the call of the angels and left all that was important on this earth (their flocks) to go and seek Him.  Let us accompany the Magi, who brought the most precious of their own possessions to give, not as gifts so much as being a means of showing worship, paying homage to the One Who announced His arrival only by signs in the heavens - the Star, and the songs of angels!

Let us run to the cave and fall on our knees before the One who has taken up human life so that He might voluntarily lay it down again, only so that He could reclaim His Resurrected Life on His terms - conquering death, slaying hell, despoiling Satan, freeing us from our sins.

And as we depart having become witnesses ourselves to His glory and His love for all of mankind, let us share the good news with those who've not heard, who've not comprehended, and who need to feel that Divine Love, by sharing with them and with all of His creation the Festal shout:

Christ is Born!!!  Glorify Him!!!

All love in our Newborn Lord,

Father Basil

Lesser Known Miracle of St. Nicholas

We came upon this one on a web site named, "New Liturgical Movement."   Of the many instances we have of miracles at the hand of St. Nicholas, this was not one in our known list, and so we offer it to you to add to your own treasures.

The account occurs after the falling asleep in the Lord of St. Nicholas, and speaks of a man who had borrowed a sum of money from a certain Jew, and who attempted to cheat his benefactor by falsely claiming that he had repaid the sum.

In the story, the Jew took the man to court to refute the man's claim.  As he was called to court, the thief took a walking staff, and hollowed it out.  Into the opening he placed small pieces of gold before sealing it.  When in court, the man handed his staff to his accuser, and swore to the court that he indeed had given the man what he owed him, and more.  This was in a technical sense true, in that the amount of gold the Jew was then holding was in fact worth more than the debt owed.

While returning from court, however, the cheat was run over by a chariot at a crossroads, and he was killed.  In the process, his staff was broken, and the gold spilled, revealing fully his fraud and treachery.

When it was suggested to the Jew that he reclaim the money that was his, he refused.  He said that he would not "unless the dead man should return to life through the intercessions of St. Nicholas," whom the Jew had come to know of.  This indeed did occur, and resulted in the Jew's accepting baptism.

Holy Father Nicholas, pray to God for us!

Giving Thanks

The word "Eucharist" comes from the Greek meaning "thanksgiving," but perhaps is found closer to the meaning "grateful."  And so, each time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, each time we participate in the Eucharist, in the very Body and Blood of Christ, we do so with gratefulness, with thanksgiving.

Within the bounds of the Divine Liturgy, at the Anaphora (which again, from the Greek, means "repetition") we offer the following prayer from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:

Priest:  Let us give thanks unto the Lord.
People:  It is meet and right to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity One in Essence, and undivided.

After this, the main celebrant again offers, on behalf of all, the following prayer:

It is meet and right to hymn You, to bless You, to praise You, to give thanks to You, and to worship You in every place of Your dominion: for You are God ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever-existing and eternally the same, You and Your Only-begotten Son and Your Holy Spirit.  It was You that brought us forth from non-existence into being, and when we had fallen away You raised us up again, and did not cease to do all things until You had brought us up to heaven, and had endowed us with Your Kingdom which is to come.  For all these things we give thanks to You, and to Your Only-begotten Son, and to Your Holy Spirit, for all things of which we know and of which we know not, whether manifest or unseen; and we thank You for this Liturgy which You have deigned to accept at our hands, though there stand by You thousands of archangels and hosts of angels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, who soar aloft, borne on their pinions.

Our thanks is repeated.  And that is also "meet and right," for God's benefits to us do not cease.  All too often, His benefits go unnoticed.  How many good things do I receive each and every day which I do not stop and attribute to God?!  How many times might I take cursory notice, and not give thanks!?

Within the Liturgy of Saint Basil, we find perhaps an improved way of coming before the Lord in thanksgiving.  He gives us this prayer:

O our God, the God of salvation, teach us to thank You worthily for the benefits which You have performed for us and still perform with us.

My ability to offer thanks to God is inadequate, and in asking for His divine instruction, I demonstrate my desire to "get it right".  Giving thanks to God is not something done just in words.  It is accomplished by deeds, by helping those in need, by praying for those who need prayer, by offering kind words to those who can benefit from them, by praying for those who abuse us.... By loving enemies and caring for "the least of His brethren."  When we offer thanks to Him in this way, by action AND by word, we then may seek to continue Saint Basil's prayer.

Having accepted our offering, O our God, purify us from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and teach us how to perfect our sanctification in the fear of You, so that receiving a portion of Your holy things with a pure conscience we may be united with the Holy Body and Blood of Your Christ.  Having received them worthily, may we have Christ dwelling in our hearts, and may we become the Temple of Your Holy Spirit.

When will our thanskgiving be complete?  I dare say never.  But while we remain in this life, our giving thanks to God needs to be seen not as an offering, but as a sustaining component of our being.  We are strong in faith when we find God's gifts in everything He allows to come our way.  Yes, this applies even to hardship.  How is this possible?  Consider how those you may have encountered (if you need inspriation, think through just this past year) who were stricken with terrible disease.  Some recovered, and in their recovery we find that our being drawn to God in prayer was fundamental in His "gift" of the healing of the disease.  Some did not recover, and in their grace-filled dealing with their illness, we found God's gift of strength, dignity, and perhaps an even greater immersion into our own prayerful connection with Him.  These gifts were given to those who were stricken with the illness, but also to all who came through love to pray with and for them.  And today, all of us are able to look back with profound thanksgiving for those "gifts"!  And what of the "gifts" of drivers who cut us off in traffic - a gift for self-control and humility.  Or the "gift" of a neighbor who is alone and just needs someone to talk with - a gift of sacrificing time which some see as lost, but we come to view as serving one in need.  There are myriads of difficult things in our lives which, if we accept God's teaching us to thank Him, we come to view not as burdens, but as "gifts"!

Saint Basil's prayer ends with the ultimate goal of all of this issue of giving thanks.

Enable us, even to our last breath, to receive a portion of Your holy things worthily, as a support on the road to eternal life and an acceptable defense at the dread judgment seat of Your Christ.  That we also, together with all the saints who through the ages have been well-pleasing to You, may become partakers of Your eternal good things, which You have prepared for those who love You, O Lord.

A blessed Thanksgiving to all!  Let us give thanks unto the Lord!!

The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ Be With You!

We find the words in this title in the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians.  There in closing his epistle to them he conveys the blessing—”The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen!”  They’re powerful words, and we echo them at every Divine Liturgy as we come to the Anaphora.  They are words that come again to us in the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday of the Gospel of St. Luke.

In this Gospel (Luke 6:31-36) we find Jesus teaching and healing all those who sought after Him.  And in His teaching, Jesus shows the love of God for His creation, for before we encounter the words of today’s Gospel, Jesus explains to those who have come to Him, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.  To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.  And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who asks of you.  And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.”  What a preface for what then comes in the balance of the Gospel lesson!

For in this lesson, God’s love for us is fully revealed.  It requires us to become students—to desire with all of our hearts to seek and to understand the Lord’s teaching, and how He intends for us to use that teaching to change not only us as His followers, His disciples, but how then He expects that we will change the world by the degree to which we follow Him!

In this reading Jesus says to us, “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”  Here is where we as students must emerge.  “What credit?”  What does Jesus mean?  Is He referring to accounts in some fashion?  Is He saying that our love to others for whom love may seem undeserved earns us “points” with God?  Well, to a certain extent you could make such an argument, and not be wrong.  But to truly be a student, we must dig deeper. 

You see, the word used for “credit” in Greek is χάρις, (cha’-ris), which translates as credit in our translation, as thanks in some others, but carries that very much deeper meaning, that of grace!  Yes, it’s the same word used by St. Paul in 2Cor 14 and referenced in this article’s title.

Jesus is saying to us, “What grace do you receive if you behave as ‘regular people’ behave?”  Grace is that which comes from God, that which in and of itself is Godly.  And so when we show love to those for whom the world would say that they are undeserving, we are showing ourselves to have received the grace of God in our baptisms, to be living the grace of God through our participation in Christ’s Body and Blood, and to be seeking yet greater grace of God through following where our own Master has already led us.  For we know no greater love that that which Jesus showed from the Cross, as He prayed to the Father, “Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Saint John records these words in his Gospel, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)  It is by loving the unlovable, by caring for those whose hate can only be defeated by showing the power of love, by not forcing ourselves but by desiring with all our being to live that life that our Lord has already shown us as His perfect example of how He has taught us that we should also live, it is by all of these that we truly become His disciples.

The world will tell you you’re crazy.  Just recognize that as they to convince you of this, they too need to feel God’s love—through someone as radical as you and me, if we can find it in our hearts to live the lives our Lord has called us to live, lives that conform to the example He has shown us, to walk as He has walked.  

For I don't know about you, but I don't deserve His love - and yet I know with all certainty that it is there! And as He loves me, the unloveable, he calls me to love all others.  All!

Why Is There Always a "But....."?

The Gospel for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost presents our Lord returning to the valley after being on Mt. Tabor with Peter, James and John.  We find the other nine Apostles embroiled in a “conversation” with a man who probably came for Jesus to heal his son, but since the Lord wasn’t with the nine, the man used the only resource available.

And, it wasn’t enough!

It’s not as if the man has NO faith.  St. Matthew records that he came before the Lord and knelt down before Him, addressing Jesus as “Lord”.  Certainly there must be some level of faith in the man.  He believed enough to bring his son.  He believed enough to TRY to acquire his desired healing through the nine Apostles, and he believed enough to address the Lord with a proper title.

So, where did he fail?

In so very many instances, when people have come to the Lord seeking His healing, they have not only exhibited faith, but they’ve backed it up—our Lord says to them clearly, “Be it done to you according to your faith.”  Jesus says it to the centurion who seeks healing for his servant (Mat 8:13).  He says it to the woman with the issue of blood (Mat 9:22), and later to the two blind men (Mat 9:29)  Clearly, Jesus is indicated to those around Him (and through them, to us) that our own faith is essential to our being granted the healing (spiritual or physical) that we seek.

The father of the boy fails because, even though he outwardly ascribes honor to the Lord, inwardly his faith is NOT sufficient, for if it were, the Holy Fathers teach that HIS faith could have enabled the Apostles to heal.

Instead, the man ascribes blame to the Apostles.  “I brought (my son) to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”  Inside of this statement are TWO measures of blame.  First, THEY (the Apostles) should have been able to help.  Second, if YOU (Jesus) picked better men, they could have helped.

It is from this encounter that one of my own favorite “spontaneous prayers” in Scripture is found.  Within the parallel account in the Gospel of St. Mark, the boy’s father is speaking with the Lord, and Jesus says to the man, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”  To this, the man responds, “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!”  The words have engendered similar prayerful words from many, including the Prayer of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, whose prayer ends with these words:  “Direct my will.  Teach me to pray.  Pray Yourself within me!”

Where’s the aforementioned “But....”?

All of our focus has been on faith.  BUT, Jesus tosses in another requirement.  When He explains to the Apostles WHY they were unable to help the boy (for they had clearly done similar things through the authority Jesus had given them), Jesus says, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Faith is essential.  BUT, faith is necessary, yet not sufficient.  It takes more.  One can do a lot of things with just a hammer.  BUT, one can’t build a building without a hammer AND a saw AND a plane, AND a nail AND…

Prayer is that which places us in the presence of God.  Fasting is that which places our soul above our body.  Prayer AND fasting elevates our spirits to that place where our faith can express our needs with the greatest fervor and clarity.  And there’s no BUT’s about that!

"They Marveled and Glorified God....."

The word “magic” is oft misused.  We apply it to people who are skilled in an art form that uses human perception ‘prompts’ and causes a viewer to look away from where things are actually happening.  The word’s definition relates to ‘an art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces.’  When a magician pulls a rabbit from his hat, we know the rabbit was NOT there at one point in time.  And yet we see the rabbit in the guy’s hand, extricating the rabbit from the hat!

On this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost in the Gospel from St. Matthew (Mat 9:1-8), our Lord has just departed from the Gadarenes, who asked Him to leave them because—well, simply put, He cost them money.  They choose their assets as more important than our Lord's healing a man possessed by many demons.  They valued pigs more than the man.

So Jesus comes home, and those who know Him and have faith in Him bring to Him a paralyzed man.  With no other prompting beyond the faith of those who bring the man to Him, our Lord dispenses at least three (3) healings.

He begins by saying to the man, “Be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven you!”  The spiritual healing has been accomplished by the Word of God through the words spoken by our Lord.  Any sins the man had beforehand—they’re gone!  Abolished forever.  Just as OUR sins are gone when we confess them in faith through the sacrament of confession.

The second healing comes when our Lord knows that the scribes present are criticizing His use of the expression “forgiven”.  He lovingly encounters them.  “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”  Why are you filled with anger when you see a man healed?  Why are you enraged when you are witnesses to the power of God exhibited for the benefit of all, including you, right before your very eyes?  This miracle I am working on this man is also meant to heal you as well, if only you will align your hearts to see God’s mercy and love for all of mankind, even you who are doubters.

And so Jesus completes the man’s miracle.  “Arise!  Take up your bed.  Go home!!”

And in the third miracle, the man simply gets up.  He cannot help but follow the instructions, filled with love as they are, of the Master.  He Who created all things has regenerated the impotent limbs of one whose body has been wracked by the evil of this world.  Yes, it relates to his sin, but also to the sin and the fallenness of the world around us.  His legs were useless because of disease.  God did not “create” disease in Genesis.  There is no phrase therein that says, “And God saw the disease, and it was good,” is there?!!  All that mankind shares as affliction is the result of our living in a world separated from God.  All sickness, sorrow and suffering are counter to His Divine will for us.  He allows them in our lives to point us towards that repentance that grants today's paralytic the first healing.  We, like him, seek to hear from our Lord's lips and directed towards us, "Be of good cheer!  Your sins are forgiven!"

Those who are witnesses to today’s miracle see it with eyes that perhaps are not focused on the real event.  They see the man walk.  They didn’t see his soul cleansed first.  The “rabbit” of his walking away belies the “empty hat” of his coming to our Lord in sin, and that being first forgiven by the Lover of mankind!

And so the crowd leaves, uttering their astonishment that God has given this kind of power “to men”, failing totally themselves to see that God stands before them as a Man, showing them the potential for which He created mankind.

“He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12)  Yes, He is giving such power to men.  But it is HIS power, not man’s.  When it is exhibited, it is HIS WILL that is done, not man’s, if only we will seek His will first.  It's not 'magic' - it is answer to fervent prayer, forgiving of sins, and the love of God Who heals and forgives in His infinite love for us.