Build Wisely

People in the world, when they erect a luxurious house, give themselves no rest at night, and at the end of the day they toil and plan, laboring until they have achieved their objective; and such is the longing that fills them that their mind is wholly occupied in this and in considering how the roof may be well covered, or how the floor, adorned with many different marbles with every other form of elegance, will offer lovers of fine sights the most pleasing appearance.  But if someone were to wish to tear them away from that care, they would be more distressed, as though they were being seriously wronged.  

But we. when we are building not a corruptible house but an incorruptible one, one not made out of stones and wood, but one skillfully constructed from spiritual graces, how can we be idle and come far below these others in zeal?  How should this not be the greatest of wrongs?  

That other house harbors people who love the flesh, and when it has passed through many masters it will be pulled down and deserted.  The other knows that it welcomes the Holy Spirit, since we are a temple of the living God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us, as the living Apostle says.

- St. Theodore the Studite

6th Sunday After Pentecost

"Because of Their Unbelief"

St. Matthew records in Mat 13:53-58 that our Lord was rejected by His own people, the people of Nazareth.  And he ends the chapter by saying, "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

St. Theophan says this about this passage of Scripture.

Arriving in Nazareth, the Lord found no faith there.  His visible simplicity hindered the Nazarenes from seeing His invisible glory and Divinity.  Does not the same occur with a Christian?  Christian dogmas are very simple in appearance; but for the mind which enters into them, they represent an all-embracing harmonious system in and of themselves, which was not - nor could ever be - generated by any creature's mind.  Proud-mindedness, casting a fleeting glance at the simplicity of the Gospel, is repelled by it and begins to build his own house of knowledge, which he deems enormous and full of broad horizons.  It is in fact no more than a towering house of cards, and the horizons are no more than mirages, phantom products of a heated imagination.  But there is no point in telling him.  He and his brothers are ready with their critical attacks to immediately cast anyone who tries to dissuade them from the mountain into the abyss, but the truth always passes unharmed through their midst and goes on to other souls capable of receiving it.

We must ever seek the help of the Holy Spirit, for discernment comes through Him.  Human views when instructed by the Spirit are founded in His Truth ("the Spirit of truth, Who is everywhere present, filling all things...").  When human views are founded on human intellect alone, truth fails to be the absolute that is Godly truth and moves to relativism.

Where we find our world today.

Let us, the faithful, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, let us not have Him approach us, His own people, and find us not just lacking in faith, but having NO faith!

5th Sunday After Pentecost

Speaking "Out of Turn"

The expression of the title of this piece is often used to describe a person or situation wherein something was said that was inappropriate at the time, or when something is said that is unwise or impudent.

I suppose you could make a logical argument that the expression describes a subset of the conditions of what happens when people gossip.  The definition of gossip is "saying something in a hurtful or spiteful manner" about another person.

As Orthodox Christians, we're taught to guard the lips.  1Pet 3:10 teaches, "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile."  

St. John Climacus says, "He who has become aware of his sins has controlled his tongue, but a talkative person has not yet come to know himself as he should."  In short, "The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil." (Prov 15:28)  We are to control what we say, how we say it, so that our words edify, lift up our brothers and sisters.  Our words should not be offered in a prideful way ("YOU need to listen to MY opinion..."), but ONLY when those words instruct, soothe, bring the love of Christ as a salve to any discouse.

To end, within the life of St. Mary of Egypt, the blessed saint asks St. Zosimas 'How are the people, the rulers, the church?'  It is a righteous question from a saint who has already shown herself to be clairvoyant.  St. Zosimas could have spoken to her about the troubles in the church and in the world.  The emperor and his wife were parties to multiple scandals, both publicly and within the Church.  But St. Zosimas didn't allow the conversation to go there.  What would have been the benefit?  Instead, he replied to her question, "By your prayers, all are at peace."  What a beautiful and instructive answer, teaching all of us the benefit of "speaking IN turn."

FrB

Life is Sacred

In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on abortion, it was fortuitous (God's will) that just prior to that announcement, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops issued a statement entitled, "On the Sacredness of Human Life and Its Untimely Termination."  The document is not terribly long, but is so well crafted that it deserves being read by every Orthodox Christian who wishes to better understand the Church's perspective on these contemporary moral issues.  The document can be read in its entirety here:

https://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/2022/human-life-sacredness

It begins by defining life, when it begins, and the means by which mankind has found ways to bring life to an end - murder, suicide, euthanasia, capital punishment, abortion, and miscarriage.

The section on abortion is especially important to us as we engage the world around us in this now post-Roe era to help all understand the loving perspective the Church brings to the process of human conception, reproduction, birth, and the sorrowful conditions which can occur when human life is placed at risk by the process of giving birth.

The section of the document on abortion is the longest section, and for good reason.  It says this:

Our salvation begins with a conception. The Mother of God’s miraculous conception of her son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ marks the beginning of new life and hope in the world. As we sing in the Troparion that celebrates the Annunciation, “Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal mystery!”

Our liturgical calendar includes other feasts of conception, including the Righteous Anna’s Conception of the Mother of God and the Conception of John the Baptist by his parents Elizabeth and Zachariah. The Church has integrated these celebrations into its life not only as an affirmation of these figures who played such important roles in salvation history, but also because these feasts teach us that human life is bestowed by God and that the origins of every new human being are clearly inseparable from conception. Therefore, human life in its earliest manifestations in the womb is sacred and inviolable. Any act to terminate life in the womb – whether by abortive medications, medical procedures, or destructive behavior – denies this truth, is considered murder, and risks terrible spiritual consequences for those involved.

As with any instance of sin, mercy and healing – not retribution and punishment – are the way of the Lord. The Church is called to minister to those seeking abortions, those who have had or those who have been forced to have abortions, and those who have performed abortions, knowing that abortions are often sought because of poverty, abuse, coercion, neglect, despair, or the influence of a life-denying ethos that has become a societal norm. Church-sponsored and other programs that provide spiritual, physical, psychological, and financial support to expectant single mothers and couples in situations in which abortion is being considered, and to young families in need of extra care, should be vigorously supported by the Church and the faithful.

Current societal trends condone abortions for what some perceive as non-desirable human qualities, including physical or chromosomal abnormalities, or a less desirable sex. The Church appreciates, respects, and cares for all manner of human life and, therefore, never condones abortion in these cases. Every human life is worthy of our prayer and protection.

The Assembly of Bishops has previously acknowledged that there are “rare but serious medical instances where mother and child may require extraordinary actions” (Statement on Sanctity of Life, 2019); see also Assembly of Bishops Endorses Alternatives to Women in Crisis Pregnancies, 2021). This refers to tragic situations in which an abortive measure will preserve life. For example, if both mother and unborn child will almost certainly perish should the pregnancy continue but the mother will likely live if an abortion is administered, the Church grieves the tragedy of the situation and offers space for the discernment of the mother, the father, and the pastor as to the most life-giving course of action. Yet, these situations are unique and unusual and do not condone abortion as a norm in any way. Furthermore, the Church does not accept contemporary thinking that links free will with the right to abortion.

We continue to uncompromisingly reject any acceptance of abortion, while creating a merciful and compassionate path for all of those who have experienced abortion to journey back to the Church and to re-commit to human life as sacred and inviolable.

As She always does, the Holy Church deals with sin from the perspective of love, healing, and forgiveness through repentance.

THIS is the path for us, as Orthodox Christians, to open discussion with those who believe that the court's decision is some kind of 'revocation of a right,' an oppression of some sort.  We need to pray for these people every bit as hard as we have long been praying for an end to the loss of innocent life permitted by this unjust law.  We need to have our Lord's heart of mercy for all!  This will not end until we live the love of Christ and bring healing to all who are hurting.  This includes the children aborted, but it also includes the millions of mothers who must live with the knowledge that they participated in the process.  It includes fathers, some who acquiesced to the process, others who were denied access to the decision under the false pretense that "it's the woman's body," removing fatherhood from the discussion.  We must also lovingly engage women who from this time forward may seek what they've been taught is a 'right' wherever they can find it.  These, too, need our loving outreach to them in support of life!

Love, not judgment, is the key.

All Saints

 

"Take No Thought..."

The Lord says this in Mat 6:31.  Then how is one to live?  We have to eat, drink, and wear clothes.  But the Savior does not say, 'Do nothing,' but rather, 'Take no thought.'  Do not weary yourself with cares that consume you both day and night and give you not a moment of peace.  Such care is a sinful disease.  It shows that one is relying upon self and has forgotten God, that such a one has lost hope in God's Providence, that such a one wants to arrange everything for themself by their own efforts and to procure all that is necessary and preserve what they have procured by their own means.  Such a person has become chained in their heart to their property, and they think to rest upon it as though it were a solid foundation.  Love of possessions has bound such a person, who thinks of only how to get more into their hands.  This mammon has replaced God for such a one.  By all means, work - but do not weary yourself with evil cares.  Expect every success from God and commit your lot into His hands.  Accept all that you obtain as a gift from the Lord's hand, and wait with the firm hope that He will continue His generous giving.  Know that if God so desires, a rich man can lose all he has in one minute.  All is decay and dust.  Is it worthwhile wearying yourself for this?  So, take no thought!

St. Theophan the Recluse, Monday After All Saints
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year

Feast of All Saints

vocation—n, 1) a regular occupation for which a person is suited or qualified; 2) an inclination or aptness for a certain kind of work; 3) a calling of an individual by God

We have all been given our own vocations by the Lord.  And He has distributed talents to each sufficient to permit us, through our own efforts and labor, to accomplish the things He commissions us to do.  It requires commitment.  It requires diligence.  It often requires sacrifice.  But it always points to that vocation to which He calls all of us by our own individual and separate paths, even while He joins us collectively into His one Body—the Church.

This vocation to which we are called is sainthood.

We could offer many definitions for saint.  From the Latin sanctus it points to one who is holy.  But then we need to define holy.

Instead, let us view saintliness as being set apart to serve the Lord.  Saintliness requires the person who seeks such heights to cooperate with the teachings and commandments of the Lord.  But even more importantly, it requires submission to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  It points to one who lives in and for God’s grace.

Who are these people, and how would we recognize them as saints?

St. Paul teaches in today’s Epistle (Heb 11:33-12:2) that these people were/are those who worked miracles (they subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions, became valiant in battle, raised the dead to life…), who were reviled and persecuted (they had trials of mockings and scourgings, chained, imprisoned, stoned, slain by the sword…), who gave up this world in favor of life in the world to come (wandered about in skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented…).

But do not all of these descriptions suggest that such people are not OF this world?  They are certainly IN it, but not OF it!  St. Paul ends his description of these blessed ones by saying, “of whom the world was not worthy.” 

Picture what St. Paul is explaining to us.  The world sees these saints as the lowest form of life.  No one wants a life as he describes these saints lived. They had NOTHING to which the world would assign any value.

Now, let me look at MY life.  I seek “things”.  I covet “things”.  I want more than I already have, even while recognizing that I have more than I need.

I eat more food than I need.  I do so to such an extent that it harms my physical well-being. 

I judge neighbor and brother.  I keep for myself all He has provided in plenty without concern about the needs of the destitute who literally surround me.

And yet, He calls even me to the vocation of becoming a saint!

The tools and talents He provided may have been squandered until now, but as with the Prodigal, through repentance He gives me a path to return.  By prayer and fasting He gives a path to saintliness.  By showing true love for those who have no one to love them He provides a means of fulfilling the vocation He laid out for me from the time before He blessed me to be conceived.

If only I act now to call on Him to help me to labor to be worthy of His love...

 

Pentecost

Kneeling Prayers

Holy Spirit Day

Comforting His disciples, the Lord said that it would be better for them if He ascended to Heaven for, having ascended, in place of Himself He would send the Comforter - the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has descended and abides in the Church, accomplishing in each believer the work of Christ.  Each Christian is a communicant of the Spirit.  This is something so necessary, that in fact whoever does not have the Spirit is not of Christ.  Look closely at yourself - is the Spirit of Grace within you?  For He does not remain in everyone; He can depart.  Here are the signs of His presence: first, He finds a spirit of repentance and teaches a Christian to turn to God and correct his life; the spirit of repentance, accomplishing its work, passes the Christian on to a spirit of holiness and purity.  This is succeeded at last by a spirit of sonship.  The characteristic of the first is work-loving zeal; the characteristic of the second is warmth and a sweet burning of the heart; the characteristic of the third is the feeling of sonship whereby the heart sighs to God, 'Abba, Father!' (Mark 14:36)  Examine which of these levels you are on.  If you are not on any of them, take care for yourself.

[For Monday after Pentecost, "Thoughts for Each Day of the Year," St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Herman of Alaska Press]

The Dangers of Pride

For many of us (like this author), the sin of pride is one that is always before us.  It  is a fault that we struggle with throughout our lifetime.

St. Maximos the Confessor says, "Self-esteem is eradicated by the hidden practice of the virtues, pride, by ascribing our achievements to God."

It helps us to give serious and prayerful thought to those times we've succumbed to prideful thoughts.

When we experience prideful thoughts, we need to prayerfully labor for a 'change in perspective.' We must work, confessing, fasting, praying that this effort will translate to a change in heart.  

The goal, not in 'any' work, but in EVERY work is to labor seeking God's will, so that our efforts bring glory to Him.  In the limit of the example, our participation in the effort could and should go unnoticed!

The hammer can take no pride in having driven a nail.  The hammer is a suitable tool for the job.  The craftsman would never choose a saw to drive the nail.  The craftsman knows the task to be accomplished and employs the proper tool to do the work.  When a God-given task comes our way, we call on Him to bless what we are about to do.  Then we do our best to bring honor to the effort He has appointed for us.  When it's done, we thank Him, regardless of how it turns out.  For it goes well, we've participated in sending Him the glory.  But if the result is less than good, we ask to be blessed by Him to learn what He has appointed for us to learn.  In neither situation is there any room for "self".  All that matters is the Lord's divine will, and our sincere effort to be a worthy servant.

St. John Climacus taught this:  "An angel fell from heaven without any other passion except pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to Heaven by humility alone, without any other of the virtues."

When we are tempted by the sin of pride, let our thoughts turn to those times when our words, deeds, thoughts were less than pure and honorable.  In this, prideful thoughts dissipate at the recognition of what we are still capable of IF we allow ourselves to fall into those same prideful ways in the future.

St. Anthony wrote, "Having fallen from his heavenly rank through pride, the devil constantly strives to bring down also all those who wholeheartedly wish to approach the Lord; and he uses the same means which caused his own downfall, that is pride and love of vainglory. These and similar things are the means by which the demons fight us and hope to separate us from God."

Following the Shepherd Always

Christ is Ascended!  In glory!!!

On this glorious Feast, we're tempted to think only upon the one aspect of the day - our Lord's leaving this world, leaving His beloved Apostles, to ascend "to where He was before" in the hymnology of the day, but in reality to where He always is, was, and will be - with the Father and the Spirit!

But focusing only on the Ascension misses so much of what's truly important on this day.  

St. Nikolai Velimirovich teaches that we can't view the Lord's work on behalf of our salvation if we ignore ANY of His deeds (meaning a focus on the major Feasts of the Church).  So let's look at His Ascension through the lens of other elements of His condescension to us and for us.

It begins with the fall.  Adam and Eve were part of the perfection God had created.  Everything was "very good" until we, being tempted by two elements, chose to turn our love from God toward self.  The first temptation was the food.  It looked really good!  The second temptation was thinking that we could achieve equality with God through the eating of that food.  We ate.  We fell.  We sinned.  We were no longer "very good", because we had chosen imperfection for ourselves, and there is no room for imperfection in the presence of perfection.  And so we were expelled from the presence of God.  We condemned ourselves to death.

But God, being a loving God, would not leave us to our own chosen demise.  He promised salvation, He promised a Savior.

And so we move to the Annunciation.  God chooses to put on this flesh we had corrupted.  He condescends to become one of us.  He shows us clearly that life begins at conception.  

He is born in poverty and humility.  He is hunted by those who hate Him without knowing Him from the time He takes His first breath out of the womb.  Still, the Shepherd comes and joins with His sheep.  

He matures.  He encounters everything that we as His people encounter - temptation, suffering, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, pain, rejection by those who should know Him and love Him.  And in all of these He leads us, His sheep, by setting the example.  

Love.  Love the poor.  Love the hurting.  Love the sinner.  Love your enemy.

Love.

How does He teach us to love?  By being humble.  By repenting, which is His first commandment to us.  He (the Shepherd) leads us to a repentance He Himself does not need as He submits to baptism, showing us our need to be born again of water and the Spirit.  

He shows compassion on all who are in need.  He heals.  He forgives.  The Shepherd shows us how we must do all these things as His sheep to those we also encounter in the world.  In all things, the Shepherd leads and feeds His sheep, setting the example for them.

Ultimately the Shepherd is taken by wolves who seek to destroy Him.  He submits to their attacks.  He voluntarily goes to His death.  As He does so, He teaches His sheep the ultimate lesson in humility, praying for those who are murdering Him!

And so He leads His sheep in the path we all must walk, to death, to the tomb.  

But the Shepherd does a marvelous thing.  He gathers His sheep who have been given over to death, and leads them out of hades!  And upon those in the tombs, He bestows life!  Not life back into this fallen world, but life in the everlasting Kingdom.  His Resurrection shows to His sheep the path from eternal separation from God to becoming eternally joined with Him.

But the Shepherd is not yet done.

He spends 40 days teaching His beloved Apostles what they will need to know to bring His bride, the Church, into Her own fullness of life.  He reveals to them all those things they saw in their three years of walking with Him so that they finally understand the content of the scriptures, and how His life and ministry fulfilled all things.  Previously, they had confessed Him as the Son of the Living God.  Now, their eyes are opened to see the fullness of their previous confession of faith.

But the Shepherd is still not finished.

After 40 days, He leads them to the mountain, from which He ascends to His place with the Father.  The Shepherd shows to them (and through them, to us) that there is one more place to which He calls us to follow, to endure to our own ends, and to seek that place with Him to where He has gone on this glorious day!

So we see, without the Annunciation, there is no conception.  Without conception, there is no Nativity.  Without the Nativity, there is no Jesus.  Without Jesus, there is no baptism before John, no call to repentance, no healings, no forgivings, no Lazarus being raised, no Beatitudes, no Lord's Prayer.  Without Christ, there is no Crucifixion.  Without the Crucifixion, there is no descent to Hades, no harrowing of hades, no destruction of Satan's domain.  Without the destruction of hades, there is no Resurrection.  Without the Resurrection there is no Ascension.  Without the Ascension, there is no descent of the Holy Spirit, and no path for man to heaven, no salvation!

St. Theophan says this:

St. Paul expresses the power of the Lord's Ascension in this manner: 'When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.' (Eph 4:8)  Having satisfied God's righteousness, the Lord opened for us all the treasures of God's goodness.  This is indeed a capturing or taking of spoils after victory.  The beginning of the distribution of these spoils to people is the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Who, having descended, always abides in the Church and gives everyone what he needs, receiving all from that captive captivity.  Let everyone come and take.  But prepare for yourself a repository for that treasure, which is a pure heart; have hands with which to take it, which is unreflecting faith.  Then step forth, searching hopefully and praying relentlessly.

Let us remain ever-vigilant, ever-hopeful, ever-prayerful!

It's a Glorious Feast!  Christ is Ascended!  In glory!!!

Sight Versus Vision

Christ is Risen!!!

Definitions!

sight (n): the physical sense by which light stimuli received by the eye are interpreted by the brain and constructed into a representation of the position, shape, brightness, and usually color of objects in space.

Most of us could have probably arrived at a similar definition.  While we’ve all either known or encountered people who are physically blind, their numbers in our current times are indeed very few.  In short, most have “sight”.

But how many of us possess vision?  What is vision?

vision (n):  the special sense by which the qualities of an object are perceived.

Qualities.  As with sight, we could certainly lump shape and brightness and the others into the general category of ‘qualities’.  But it goes beyond just those, doesn’t it?  Vision implies an understanding of that which is perceived.  And while most often we associate that understanding with the sense of sight, the definition does not demand sight’s presence to explain ‘vision’.  In short, vision can be associated with any sense that permits perception.  While this includes sight, it can include any of the five senses.  But it can also be extended to speak to perception that is spiritual.  Let’s look at it this way, by posing this question.

Where does faith come from?

Have you seen God?  Have you smelled Him, heard Him, been touched by Him, tasted Him?  No?  Then what constitutes your own vision of who God is?  What gives your faith vision?  How do you perceive Him?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes to the blind man, anoints his eyes with spittle-mud, and instructs him to wash.  There has been nary a sign of physical sight in the man since birth.  When he receives his sight, those who knew him as a beggar hardly recognize him.  He hasn’t changed physically.  What is wrong with their sight?  They ask him how it is that he now sees, and he responds, “A Man called Jesus” healed me.  His vision, while his eyes were yet blind, helped him to determine Who it was that made him well!

Meanwhile, those who questioned the man brought him to the Pharisees, who wanted to accuse Jesus because of the heinous crime of healing a man on the Sabbath who was born blind!  That was their vision.  They repeatedly queried the man.  Who did it?  How did He do it?  What did He say?

Without having any additional information to clarify his vision, the man told the Pharisees, “He is a prophet!” 

With full physical faculties these same Jews refuse to believe his word.  They call his parents, who refuse to answer because they see (with THEIR vision) the treachery of such men.

Before casting the man out of the Temple for defending the truth and the Lord (do you see parallels in today’s ‘political correctness’???), the man says to the Jews, “I’ve told you what happened, and you did not listen (a refusal to expand their vision).  Do you want to become His (Christ’s) disciples?”

It is for exactly these reasons that our Lord says in Mat 23:23-24, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ...Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” Perfect sight—no vision!

As for the blind man, see his vision on display when our Lord finds him and asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”  The man shows his vision in a question that points to the newness of his sight.  “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

We, too, must see with a singular vision, one oriented to seek the qualities of what our hearts wish to perceive, to know God’s ways, and to find His will in our lives.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Prov 3:5)

CHRIST IS RISEN! 

 

The Paralytic

 

Myrrhbearing Women/Mother's Day

Rules to Live By

Christ is Risen!!!

At every Great Vespers service in the Holy Orthodox Church, following the Great Litany there is a reading from the Book of Psalms.  In such services, typically this manifests as singing phrases from Psalm 1:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.

BLESSED (Hebrew 'esher'):  It is a statement that the one who is being spoken of will find happiness in following the path outlined.

WALKS (Hebrew 'halak'):  Carries the meaning of going along with, a definition of behavior.

COUNSEL (Hebrew 'esa'):  Following the advice of one.

WICKED (Hebrew 'rasha'): Ungodly, morally wrong or corrupt, one who is condemned.

A very short phrase, but filled with wisdom as a rule to which the Lord's faithful should at all costs attempt to follow.

This is one fraction (about one third) of the full verse of Psalm 1:1.  It is filled with such depth of teaching that it dare not be ignored.  And yet, we the "faithful" attend Divine Services and all too often let such richness pass us by.  We hear it with our ears, but don't allow it to register in our hearts.  We sing it with our lips, but do not profess it from the depths of our spirits.  I say this to you as a priest, who all too often does not allow these (and so many other) words to register that I confess this shortcoming regularly!

If we allow a phrase as important as this one to be overlooked, how much additional depth of wisdom are we (I) missing as we come for Divine Services?

Psalm 111:10 teaches, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  

FEAR (Hebrew 'yira'): Moral reverence.

BEGINNING (Hebrew 'reshit'): First in place, time, order of rank - the 'principal thing'.

WISDOM (Hebrew 'hokma'):  Skilled or skillful.

It would seem prudent for us, if we are to attempt to follow the precepts of our faith, to observe 'rules to live by', we should put in first place the perspective of being morally reverent and applying all of the skill that God has gifted to us to walk where He (our Lord) has already led - walking the path of not just the godly, but of God Himself!

Indeed, He is Risen!!!

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!

 

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.

Today a sacred Pascha is revealed to us.

A new and holy Pascha.

A mystical Pascha,

A Pascha worthy of veneration.

A Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer.

A blameless Pascha,

A great Pascha.

A Pascha of the faithful.

A Pascha which has opened for us the gates of Paradise.

A Pascha which sanctifies all the faithful.

As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish.

Come from that scene O women bearers of glad tidings,

And say to Zion:

'Receive from us the glad tidings of joy

Of Christ's Resurrection: 

Exult and be glad,

And rejoice, O Jerusalem,

Seeing Christ the King Who comes forth from the tomb,

Like a Bridegroom in procession.'

So the sinners will perish before the face of God,

But let the righteous be glad.

The myrrhbearing women

At the break of dawn

Drew near to the tomb of the Life-giver.

There they found an Angel

Sitting upon the stone.

He greeted them with these words:

'Why do you seek the Living among the dead?

Why do you mourn the Incorrupt amid corruption?

Go - proclaim the glad tidings to His disciples!'

This is the day which the Lord has made!

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Pascha of beauty!

The Pascha of the Lord!

A Pascha worthy of all honor has dawned for us.

Pascha!

Let us embrace each other joyously!

Pascha, ransom from affliction!

For today as from a bridal chamber

Christ has shown forth from the tomb,

And filled the women with joy, saying:

'Proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles!'

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

This is the day of Resurrection!

Let us be illumined by the Feast!

Let us embrace each other!

Let us call 'brothers' even those that hate us

and forgive all by the Resurrection,

And so, let us cry:

CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD,

TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH,

AND UPON THOSE IN THE TOMBS BESTOWING LIFE! 

(3X)

Soul Saturday - 26Mar22

 

Wisdom!

We’re not unfamiliar with the word.  We know what it means.  But like precious gems, wisdom is not a common thing found among people.  People may have tremendous knowledge.  But without wisdom, knowledge is useless.  How so?

Having knowledge means that one possesses the information required to do something.  Wisdom relates to the experience to know how to implement the knowledge.  In fact, wisdom can provide its own knowledge.

Take a simple example.  Buy a box of pierogies at the grocery (you’re probably neck deep in them by now at this point in the fast!).  The ingredients are listed carefully on the box.  From this “knowledge”, make your best pierogi.  Then compare it with the one that came from the box, or better yet, from a baba who has been pinching pierogies most of her adult life.  You’ll begin to understand wisdom.

This past Monday saw a passage from the Book of Proverbs.  In part, it gave us this gem:

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding; For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, He also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom.   

Seems like the King Solomon valued wisdom!

It’s a good lesson for all of us at this point in the Fast.  The Church has been gifting to us the instruction of a father over the past weeks.  She has given us good doctrine in the teachings of Zacchaeus, of the Publican, of the Prodigal, and in the view provided by the Holy Fathers of the 7th Council related to Holy Icons.  Have we heeded the instruction?  Is our daily life somehow different because we have attempted to implement those lessons into how we live?  Or have the words fallen on ears that are not hearing well?  If the ears are not hearing, then our hearts will not retain the Church’s words.

There is life in the commandments we share with one another by the teaching of our Lord.  They are commandments that can preserve us in times of worldly trouble, which seems to grow greater with each passing day!  Wisdom is the gem we should be mining to prepare us for all that the world will throw at us.

And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you."  Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble.

Wisdom brings us to repentance, to forgiving others with ease, to recognition that the fast is a tool to enable us to take a closer walk to that led by the Saints.  It shows us the way to joyous almsgiving,  It elevates in our lives all the virtues, faith, hope, honesty, humility, obedience, patience, self-control, kindness, gratitude, and the rest.

May our Lord bless us all to increase in HIS wisdom, making each of us individually and all of us collectively better servants!

Treasure

In the Gospel reading this past Sunday (Forgiveness Sunday, Mat 6:14-21), our Lord teaches, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven....For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  

Treasure.  What does it mean to YOU?

For many, we think of piles of money, stashed away in bank vaults, or large numbers on a spreadsheet showing assets in a 401k.  Maybe for some it's the car in the garage.  For others it may be the home in which one lives.  Officially, it is "accumulated or stored wealth; valuable or precious possessions of any kind."  It is clearly something that can be different for different people.

But let's dig deeper.  The word "precious" was used above, so let's go to the superlatives.  What is the MOST precious thing in your life?  One article I read recently suggested three things as being most precious.  In third place was time.  We never seem to have enough, and what we do have is constantly slipping away from us.  In second place was freedom.  It is a condition that is NOT guaranteed, and unless we are vigilant, it too can slip away from us.  In first place was integrity.  The writer's perspective was that even if we have no control over what happens to us in time, and our freedoms are taken from us, integrity is something that cannot be removed - it is part of the person's being.  Again, words have meanings, and so how does one define integrity?  It is the steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code - by definition.

I would define integrity with another word, or perhaps substitute this word for it.

Faith!

As in the previous definition, faith cannot be taken from the one who possesses it.  Faith can be strictly adhered to regardless of external pressure or conditions.  And in fact faith grows stronger, it increases when tested.

But let's go back to our Lord's words with which we opened this piece.  That focus was on treasure.

Do we treasure our faith?  If yes, how do we show this in our lives?  If an innocent bystander sees you standing next to a person with NO faith in Christ, what will he or she see that differentiates you from the other?

You see, in this context "treasure" is not something that we put away from sight from others around us.  We don't want neighbors, or sometimes even family members, to know what is in a bank account or IRA.  But we SHOULD, we MUST want them to be able to be witnesses of what a life in Christ means to us.  It needs to be openly apparent to all.  Maybe it's a smile that doesn't fade.  Maybe it's being willing to listen more and speak less.  Maybe it's that unmistakeable tendancy of being giving.  However it manifests itself, it needs to be clear that something (and this means Some One) has made a change in us, and in following Him we truly ARE different from many others.

Treasure.  The Greek word used is θησαυρός, thesauros, the word from which our contemporary word thesaurus derives.  It comes from the root meaning repository or collection.  In our use it simply means a collection of words.  In our Lord's use, it points to that collection of experiences and/or deeds in our lives that make us more than what we were.  Almsgiving.  Prayer.  Study of scripture.  Kind words to those who need.  Feeding the hungry.  Clothing the naked.  Repenting of wrongs done.  Each of these is a very valuable thing, and can be 'banked' into the heavenly account our Lord points to in this Gospel lesson.

You can be penniless in this world, and the richest of those in the Kingdom.  It all depends on where your bank is located!

Forgiving - In Truth

We find ourselves in Forgiveness Week.  As we contemplate the fullness of how to forgive others, we find our thoughts mingling with the issue of prayer.  If we seek to forgive someone, we should pray for them.  Can I with all sincerity pray for the one I seek to forgive?  Yes?  Then we've made a good start!  But for what do I pray in such a prayer?  How do I pray for him/her?  Words have meaning.  What words do I offer? 

Do I ask the Lord to “guide them”?  If so, I am judging them to have strayed from the path, and I’m seeking that God change THEM.  In praying for one whom I seek to truly forgive, it is better to ask the Lord to change ME, to bless me with the ability to divest myself of pride and judgmentalism, to forgive my anger that I held BEFORE I chose to truly forgive! 

Do I ask the Lord to forgive them?  If so, my words show that I’ve not myself truly forgiven them.  For how can one contemplate a person (me) having granted true forgiveness, but God not having done so?  How could I possibly have a virtue not ascribed to God?  How can I have forgiven, but God has not?  Indeed, I have usurped the spiritual authority our Lord gave to His Apostles, for I am binding on earth while insincerely praying for God to unbind in heaven.  Let me first unbind my own heart from judgmentalism and from pride, then ask God for mercy on both me and the one I have truly and fully forgiven. 

My enemy will forever be my enemy until I love him!  And as the Holy Fathers teach, my having true love for one who was my enemy does not assure that he or she will in turn love me.  Can one love someone who does not love in return?  If we truly forgive and can honestly answer yes, we begin to see things as God does!  For how many of us (ALL of us!!!) have sinned against God, but know full well that He never stops loving us!

Saint Theophan the Recluse says it this way.  "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Mat 6:14-15)  What a simple and handy means of salvation!  Your trespasses are forgiven under the condition that you forgive your neighbor's trespasses against you.  This means that you are in your own hands.  Force yourself to pass from agitated feelings toward your brother to truly peaceful feelings - and that is all.  The day of forgiveness - what a great, heavenly day of God this is!  If all of us used it as we ought, this day would make Christian societies into heavenly societies, and the earth would merge with heaven.

Last Judgment Sunday - 2022

 

The Publican and the Pharisee - 2022

 

33rd Sunday - Zacchaeus

 

Zacchaeus

 [Ed:  From a sermon by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom on Zacchaeus - FrB]

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In these weeks of preparation for Lent, we were faced last Sunday with the story of Barthimaeus to attract our attention on our own blindness; our spiritual blindness of which we are not aware while physical blindness is so clearly perceived; but also on the fact that if we want to recover our sight, our spiritual vision, our understanding of self, of God, of our neighbour, of life, there is only one person to whom we can turn - it is God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Bartimaeus have tried all means to recover his sight, but it is only when he turned to Christ that he did recover it.

Whether we have taken advantage of the past week to reflect deeply on our own blindness, and in the darkness to begin to see some light, I do not know; each of us will have to answer for his eagerness or his laziness.

But this Sunday we are confronted with a new parable, or rather, a new story of the life of Christ: the story of Zacchaeus. This story speaks to us again directly and the question which is been asked from us is this: What matters to me more? The good opinion of people around me, that people should not jeer at you, laugh at you because you are seeking to see God, to meet Him, or the necessity, the inner call to discover everything provided you can see Christ face to face? Is vanity stronger in us or the hunger for God? And Saint John of the Ladder says clearly that vanity is contempt of God and cowardice before men. What is our attitude: are we prepared to discard everything, provided we can meet God - or not? And in our circumstances it is not so much people who will prevent us, people will not jeer at us, they will not laugh at us: they will be totally indifferent; but this does not mean that we like beggars not turn to them, hoping for their approval, and in order to receive this approval, turn away from our search, from the only thing that can heal us and give us new life.

Also, we will find within ourselves conflicting voices, saying, Don't! Don't make yourself ridiculous! Don't single yourself out by a search which is not necessary; you have got everything... Zacchaeus was rich, Zacchaeus was known as an honorable citizen - so are we! We possess so much, we are respected - are we going to start on a road that will make us into what Paul calls 'the scum of the earth’, debase us? This is the question which today's story of Zacchaeus says to us: is vanity, that is the search of things which are vain, empty, and the fear of other people's opinion that will prevail, or the hunger each of us has, at times, acute for a meeting with the living God? Amen.