Why Forgiveness Sunday?

 Each year as we come to Forgiveness Sunday, many Orthodox Christians ask their pastors, "Why do I need to ask forgiveness from everyone in the Church?  Some of these people I hardly know.  I don't interact regularly with most of them.  How is it possible that I've offended them, or that they've offended me?  What therefore is the point of seeking mutual forgiveness?"

Father Alexander Schmemann once wrote brilliantly on the issue.  Here are his words:

One may ask, "Why should I perform this rite when I have no “enemies”? Why should I ask forgiveness from people who have done nothing to me, and whom I hardly know?" 

To ask these questions is to misunderstand the Orthodox teaching concerning forgiveness. 

It is true, that open enmity, personal hatred, real animosity may be absent from our lives, though if we experience them, it may be easier for us to repent, for these feelings openly contradict Divine commandments. But, the Church reveals to us that there are much subtler ways of offending Divine Love. These are indifference, selfishness, lack of interest in other people, of any real concern for them—in short, that wall which we usually erect around ourselves, thinking that by being “polite” and “friendly” we fulfill God’s commandments. The rite of forgiveness is so important precisely because it makes us realize – be it only for one minute – that our entire relationship to other men is wrong.  It makes us experience that encounter of one child of God with another, of one person created by God with another, makes us feel that mutual “recognition” which is so terribly lacking in our cold and dehumanized world.

You see, if I "hardly know" my brother or sister in Christ, how important have I made them in my life?  What do I display to them as the "value" that I see in them?  And, is such behavior not offensive?

And if I "don't interact" with my brother or sister, is not the same dynamic at play between us?  Have I not, by my ignoring them, shown them that I don't care about them?

Is it not these very same people, who could rightly be offended by my indifference, whose forgiveness I should seek FIRST?  Are they not MOST worthy of my most sincere repentance, seeking sincerely their forgiveness?

Some will say, "It's a two-way street, Father.  Why must I be the one to be caring?  They could come to me as easily as I could go to them!"

But you see, you just indicted yourself.  You admit - it's EASY to be a loving brother or sister in Christ.  Any relationship must begin somewhere.  None of us can be exonerated from a responsibility to care for the needs of others.  Our Lord just taught us that lesson in last week's Gospel!  "As you have done it to the least of My brethren, you have done it to Me." (Mat 25:40)

And so we come together, and in full sincerity, and with open hearts, we ask in all humility for EVERY other person to forgive us.  We dare not ignore our Lord's words on THIS day:  “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses…” (Matt. 6:14-15).  

I won't judge you.  But I NEED this forgiveness!  So to all of you, forgive me!  God forgives all!!!

Friday Before Cheesefare

[From St. Theophan the Recluse]

So will I save you, and you shall be a blessing promises the Lord through the Prophet Zachariah (Zach 8:13).  But under what condition?  Under the condition that every man will speak the truth to his neighbor, that men will righteously sort out their affairs amongst themselves, that men will not remember wrongs in their hearts against their neighbor, that they will love no false oath, and will love truth and peace.  If these conditions are met, says the Lord, they shall be to Me a people, and I will be to them a God, in truth and in righteousness (Zach 8:8), and His blessing shall spread among them.  Then all strangers shall hear and say, 'Let us go speedily to them to pray before the Lord, for we have heard that the Lord is with them (cf Zach 8:21-23).  And many peoples and many nations shall come to seek earnestly the face of the Lord Almighty (Zach 8:22).

Thus did the high moral purity of the first Christians attract people to the nations of the Lord.  Those who live always according to the spirit of Christ are, without the use of words, the best preachers of Christ and the most convincing apostles of Christianity.

The True Meaning of Forgiveness

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

On "Forgiveness Sunday" we find ourselves at the threshold of the Great Fast.  Saint Paul’s words from the day’s Epistle should ring in our ears and burn in our hearts, “It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” 

The Holy Church has been preparing us for this day for lo these past four weeks, bringing us gently into the realization that it is time to awaken ourselves from our spiritual slumber, that it is “high time” to arouse ourselves to spiritual efforts, the struggles with the flesh and the spirit, to conform ourselves to the will of God in our lives.

To take us to that point, let us review a Gospel reading NOT of this day, but of the days to come.  We all know where we are headed – to the Cross, to the tomb with Christ, to show our love by walking with Him as He approaches trial before the unlawful judges of the Sanhedrin, as He subjects Himself to beatings and scourgings at the hands of the Romans, and as He submits His body to death on the Cross and burial in the tomb.

On Holy Thursday, we will hear the following words from the lips of our Lord.  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  This phrase is recorded only in the Gospel of Saint Luke (23:34).  None of the others record this marvelous prayer from our Lord and Savior.

Now I ask you, why is it that Jesus finds it necessary to ask the Father to forgive those who crucify Him?  In previous accounts, we find Jesus making a point of showing the Scribes and Pharisees that He indeed, as the Son of Man, as the Son of God, has the authority to forgive sins.  We find this in at least two places.  One is in the Gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 9, where we find others bringing the paralytic to the Lord for healing.  A second is in the Gospel of St. Luke Chapter 7, where the woman comes and anoints the feet of the Lord with her costly ointment.  In both instances those who surround the Lord are at first horror filled to hear a Man saying, “Your sins are forgiven,” for they understand the forgiveness of sins to come from God alone.  But the Lord shows His authority in both these instances, teaching the unbelievers that He indeed has this authority.

Now, back to the Cross.  If Jesus clearly has the authority to forgive sins, why does He ask the Father to forgive those who crucify Him?  Why does He not simply say, “Father, I forgive them”?

You see, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord indeed HAS already forgiven them.  By His words, He shows us that HIS forgiveness is already complete.  By offering this prayer, He transfers His will to the Father, for they share all things.

And there is yet one even more marvelous thing within this prayer.  For when the Lord offers this prayer, He has forgiven them even as they are committing the sin.  Not after – during!  His crucifixion is not complete, He has not yet died on the Cross.  Those responsible for His crucifixion still had the ability, the authority, the power to bring Him down, to recognize His divinity.  As they stand, watch, and wait for the Life of the World to die, He prays for them, and forgives them.

How much more should I be forgiving of any who have only spoken badly of me, or taken from me, or dealt dishonestly with me.  I am not in any kind of mortal danger from what others have done to me.  Jesus was laboring to breathe.  The Lord was gasping for each breath.  His ligaments were stretched to the breaking point.  Read Psalm 22, and from it learn what the extent of the Lord’s suffering on the Cross.  

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? …. I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 "He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God. 11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. 13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

God Himself suffered in this way for me.  And who am I to say that I am offended to such an extent that I will not forgive.  What does our Lord teach me about holding back my forgiveness until one who seeks my harm asks for it?  Those who surround the Lord do not know Him.  They do not ask His forgiveness, because they desire His death.  Yet, He freely has already forgiven them, and transfers His forgiveness to the Father.

Those of us who call ourselves His followers do not seek His death.  We come seeking His life, and we desire to have that life in abundance.  We cannot have it, we cannot share it, unless and until we follow our Lord in His example of forgiveness.  

This is why Orthodox Christians gather around the world on this day to seek one anothers' forgiveness.  Only by entering the Fast with our hearts free from holding onto judgment of others can we truly begin to judge ourselves, to cleanse ourselves, to approach the Lord with open hearts, to be truly and fully repentant.

Only then might we hope to hear our Lord offer His forgiveness to us, coming to know concretely that He has already forgiven us as well. 

Metropolitan Anthony - On Healing

In today's Gospel we hear about two occasions on which Christ healed the sick. And we may ask ourselves, 'Why didn't He heal everyone who was in need of healing?'

Because - this is how I read it - because it is not only the healing of the body that was involved in the miraculous act of God; those were healed in their bodies who were ready, mature to be made whole and not only free from physical illness, who were prepared and capable for being given a wholeness that at the same time made them responsible for the gift of health. The natural life which they have had before was wane; illness was undermining all that nature has given them; the end was death, and here, they met the Living God. The Living God Who had by His word of power, but also by His act of love called them into the existence. And they were prepared, they were inwardly ready to receive a new life. The natural life had come to an end, or was coming to an end, and now, a new life was offered, a life which was a gift of God, and a gift of God that entailed a completely new relationship between them and God, between them and all the surrounding world; a new relationship with themselves, a new attitude to themselves. Those who were healed were prepared to receive new life, for the second time, as it were, to be born by the power of God.

I believe, it is everyone who longed not only for physical healing, not only for a new strength to continue to live according to nature that could be healed. The Lord asks from them two questions; the one which we hear in today's Gospel, and the other one which we hear more than once in other passages. Today we have heard this question, 'Can you believe, do you believe? Do you believe that My compassion extends to you? Do you believe that I can heal you because you have seen in Me, the "I am": the Living God become the Living man? Do you believe that you can be made whole, not only temporarily repaired, but given the wholeness of eternal life now? If you do, however little - you can. ‘I believe, Lord, help my unbelief, my lack of belief!’.. And the Lord said, ‘If you can believe however little - it is possible’...

And the other question was, 'Do you want to be healed?' It seems to us such a strange question: who doesn't?.. Yes, if it was only a matter of being restored to physical health it would be simple; everyone would say 'yes’. But it is wholeness that is at stake; and wholeness means to become a human being in perfect harmony with God, in harmony with one's neighbor, with the created world, restructured inwardly as to be whole.

And this, it is not everyone of us who wishes, because the cost, if we think of it, is great; to accept this wholeness, we must accept a life that would be in the image of the life of Christ: to be among men as He was, with no thought of Himself, ready to accept all humiliation, ready to accept all suffering, all rejection, and humiliate no one, protect oneself against no suffering and reject no one; to receive all brothers without exception as Christ receives us. And who of us can claim that he is worthy of being received, of being recognized by Christ, by God in Him, as His brother or sister?

Let us therefore ask ourselves: Can we answer these two questions? Can I say to the Lord, 'I believe, Lord - help my lack of belief, my inner hesitation born of the experience I have of a broken personality and of a distorted world. Help me believe that wholeness and harmony are possible!..’

But also, let us ask ourselves whether we are prepared to accept new life, wholeness on God's own terms: to remain in this world as Christ lived in it, possessed of sacrificial love, renouncing ourselves, caring only for the other person's salvation, and every other person's life. If we are, then we turn to God and say, I believe, Lord; I open myself to wholeness: I may not achieve it at once, but I will struggle for it, give all my life for it, and serve everyone possessed of Your Own sacrificial love. 

Amen.

One Common Message

 In Matthew Chapter 3 Verse 2, Saint John the Forerunner’s first recorded words are, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

In Matthew Chapter 4 Verse 17, we find our Lord having just defeated Satan and his temptations after 40 days fasting in the wilderness, and our Lord’s first words after this are, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! 

Thus we find two men who have met only once, whose only recorded conversation with one another is John’s expressed reticence in submitting God the Son to his baptism in Jordan, but receiving the command from Christ to do so with these words, Permit it to be for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.  With this being the only conversation between the greatest born of woman (Mat 11:11) and God in the flesh, isn’t it astounding to find the words so precisely matched?

For those of us who follow the Orthodox Faith, it shouldn’t be surprising at all!

The preaching of the need for repentance is integral to nearly every aspect of our faith.  The teachings of the Holy Fathers are filled with references to the need for repentance.

How many sinful acts we have to grieve for.  For without grief there is no purification. St. Peter of Damascus

Cleanse your mind from anger, remembrance of evil, and shameful thoughts, and then you will find out how Christ dwells in you. St. Maximos the Confessor

If you are afraid of sinners like yourself seeing your sins, how much more should you be afraid of God who notes everything? St. Isaiah the Solitary

These are only three ‘pearls’ - there are countless more.  This is why we encourage all of us to use whatever ‘spare time’ we have to read the Holy Fathers.  You see, their message does not echo exactly what the Forerunner and our Lord said, word for word, but it is clear that the message is contained in their teachings.

And these are things that we know even without study, if the Holy Spirit has not departed from us.  St. Paul makes this eminently clear in his letter to the Romans when he teaches, for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.  (Rom 2:14-15)

 This is no different from when David the King and Psalmist wrote, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against You, and You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight… (Ps 51:3-4)

The thing is, God, in His infinite love for us, His creation, wants nothing more from us that this simple component of living in this fallen world:

Repentance.

In every instance when those who approached the Lord came for healing, He freely (and without prompting) spoke, Your sins are forgiven you!  Not once do the Gospels nor any Scripture point to any who come to the Lord in repentance being denied His absolving them of their sins.

It was that way 2000 years ago.

It is still that way today.  Glory to God for His abundant mercy!

Christ is Born!

   Knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man, we can say also, 'God is born!".

In no Faith other than Orthodoxy does this expression make sense in the manner that it does to us.  By definition, God is He Who is eternal.  Birth carries with it the understanding of a beginning in time for a presence in the flesh.  These two together are nonsensical when human understanding is applied.  Inside the Church, we effortlessly proclaim Jesus Christ as both God and Man equally and simultaneously.  It is a core belief of Orthodoxy!

Therefore the acceptance of this non-sequitur, this un-understandable conjunction of definitions, is at the very heart of what we as Orthodox Christians profess and proclaim.  Jesus Christ is both God and Man.  Christ is born!  God is born!  The God-man takes on our flesh in His plan to effect salvation for all of mankind.  God becomes man so that man might become god.  (St. Athanasius)  The blessed saint continues, He became what we are that He might make us what He is.

St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches this: Let us utter the words of the Psalm, joining in chorus with the loud-voiced David: “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”  How does He come?  He crosses over into human life, not by boat or by chariot, but through the incorruption of a Virgin.  This is our God.  This is our Lord, Who appeared to us to ordain a Feast with thick branches, even unto the horns of the altar.

God puts on matter.  He who is immaterial and above His creation accepts to become as one whom He created, and in so doing, His matter touches the matter of His Creation.  Yes, this implies the matter of the earth.  The Holy Church expresses this in the hymnology of the upcoming Feast of Theophany, stating clearly the understanding of our Lord's changing the nature of the waters through His baptism.  But more importantly He left to us the matter of His precious Body and Blood.  Through the mysteries of the Church that is His Bride, He has touched us as well.  And He continues to do so every time we participate in the sacraments, the mysteries of His Church—each of them!

As we gather now to offer praise with the voices of the Angels, Glory to God in the Highest!, we marvel at His dispensation and His unbounded love for us.

St. Jerome says this:  They will not find Christ unless they keep watch.  This is the shepherd’s duty. Christ is not found except by the alert.  Psalm 121:4 says “Indeed the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.”  The shepherds were keeping watch in the fields nearby.  Herod was there; the high priests and the Pharisees were there; while they were sleeping, Christ is found by watchful shepherds in a lonely grotto.

Let us together assume the vocation of shepherds.  Let us be watchful so that we, like those shepherds of old, may be accounted worthy to behold God as Born!

CHRIST IS BORN!

GLORIFY HIM!

 

Christ, and the Holy Orders

 A certain elder taught the following:

Now on your account, O son of man, Christ was born, and the Son of God came that He might make you live.

He became a Child, becoming a man, being also God.

He Who was the Lawgiver became a Reader, and He took the book of the synagogue, and He read, saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, and for this reason He has anointed Me, and has sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor."

Like  a Subdeacon He made a whip of rope, and He drove forth from the Temple all those who sold oxen, and cattle, and doves, and other things.

Like a Deacon He girded a napkin about His loins, and washed the feet of His disciples, and He commanded them to wash the feet of their brethren.

Like a Priest He sat among the priests, and taught the people.

Like a Bishop He took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave to His disciples.

He was beaten for your sake, that is to say, for your sake He was crucified, and for your sake He died.  Yet you for His sake will not even endure insult!

He rose as God.  He was exalted as God.  All these things for our sake, all these things by Divine Providence, all these things properly and due order did He do that He might redeem us.

Let us then be watchful, and strenuous, and constant in prayer, and let us do everything which will please Him, and will gratify His friends, so that we may be redeemed and live.  Was not Joseph sold into Egypt, and did he not live in a foreign land?  And the three simple young men in Babylon, had they not men who opposed them?  Yet, because they were fearing God, He helped them, and made them glorious."

We thank the author of the blog site, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/

and specifically the page, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/12/christ-came-to-pass-through-all-ranks.html

for their permission to repost this piece.

Archpastoral Nativity Message of His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH

“When the fullness of time had come…”  (Gal 4:4-5)

Beloved Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,

This is one of the mighty texts of the Holy Bible. Here is sublime language that links earth with heaven.  The text tells us what God has done. The tremendous fact is declared in five simple words. God sent forth His Son. That is what Nativity means.

That is why throughout the world today companies of men and women meet together to worship God. This is why we keep a holiday which is also a holy day. This is why our mouth is filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. This is why Nativity is the happiest time in all the year. Because God sent forth His Son.

Nativity began with God, God acted. God took the initiative. God sent forth His Son. All begins with God. We cannot go up to Him. He must come down to us. And so, God revealed Himself. He has come down to earth in Christ His Son. God was in Christ. God sent forth His Son. Our text also tells us, while thus stating in categorical language what God has done, now tells us also when He did it. "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son." These thrilling words bring to us a new conception of ancient history, for they make it part of the purpose and plan of God. The pre-Christian centuries were a preparation for the advent of God's Son.

God had been preparing the world for His coming. He had been making ready for that one divine event to which the whole creation moved. God sent forth His Son; and He did so at that hour in the world's history when everything was ready for His coming. But how did God do it? Our text tells us: "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law."

In other words, God chose a moment a method simple yet sublime, the way of our humanity. God sent forth His Son, and there came to earth a little child. God might have chosen other methods, of cause.

He might have sent forth His Son trailing clouds of glory from the opened heavens and with a legion of angels for His bodyguard. But no! A baby is born of a humble girl and love has set forth on its mighty redeeming work. The Word became flesh and, in that act of self-limitation, assumed the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.

And, lastly, we ask "Why? Why did God thus send forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law? Again, our text supplies the answer: "That we might receive the adoption of sons." God became subject to the laws of our humanity in order that He might deliver us from those laws that He might set us free from the law of sin and death. God became Man so that we might become sons of God.

Think of it! Jesus, the only begotten Son Whom God sent forth, will share us His privileges. This is where language of the brain and of the intellect breaks down. We are in the realm now not of logic but of love. We can no longer reason about these things, for they are matters not for the mind, but for the heart.

We can only lift up our hearts to God in thanksgiving for His unspeakable Gift.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

With love in the Newborn God-Child, †Metropolitan Joseph

 

Wonderworker

   The website “orthodoxwiki.org” is dedicated to providing information related to the Holy Orthodox faith.

One of the pages on the site is dedicated to the category of saints known as “wonderworkers”.  There are seventy-seven saints so named, some of whom most of us will have knowledge about—our own St. Herman is on the list, as are St. John Maximovitch, St. John Climacus, St. John of Kronstadt, St. John of Rila, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Patrick of Ireland, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.

But we’ll focus on this day with St. Nicholas of Myra who is also among those named.

We have heard of so many of the miraculous deeds associated with this blessed saint.  But inside of each and every year we encounter yet more of his intercessions for those in need.

This year we’ll focus on one from Ukraine.  The account comes from “stnicholascenter.org.”  It doesn’t give a date for this event, but we all know that a date is not relevant.

The story is about a young man who has a strong devotion to St. Nicholas as well as to the first Ukrainian saints, Sts. Boris and Gleb.

At one time he made a pilgrimage with his wife and baby, traveling up the Dneper River to the city of Vyshgorod to celebrate the feast day of Sts. Boris and Gleb at their tomb.

As they were returning to their home by boat, the mother fell asleep, and in this state the baby fell from her arms, and into the river.  The panicked parents looked into the water where they saw a whirlpool, into which their precious child was pulled, and drowned.

Grief stricken, the two prayed: “Holy Wonderworker Saint Nicholas, you are the swift deliverer of all in times of distress.  We call to you now, hear our prayer and save our innocent child from death.”

That evening, St. Nicholas went to the river, lifted up the child, and he bore the child’s dead body to the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.  There, he placed the baby, now alive and well, in front of his own icon which was located in a place known as “the women’s gallery”.

Early the next morning, the church sacristan (one who is responsible for the sacred items within a church) arrived early and he heard a child crying inside.  He accused the church guard of letting in a woman and child, but the guard defended himself saying that indeed he had not.  As the two went to the building, they found all the doors locked as they should be, assuring that no one had entered during the night.

As they entered, they found a child, still dripping wet and laying before the icon of St. Nicholas.  Not knowing what to think, they went to the Metropolitan, who sent them with the child into the city market to find out whose child this was.

People flocked to see the child, but the father was there, too.  He recognized his child, but was afraid to say anything.  He returned home and told his wife of what had happened at the cathedral.  “Don’t you know?” she asked, “It is a miracle of St. Nicholas!”

The mother ran to the church.  When she saw her child, she fell down before the icon of St. Nicholas, giving thanks for the rescue of her child.

As word of the event spread, the whole city gathered, offering glory to God for His gift of the Wonderworking Saint Nicholas!

 

A Slightly Different View of Thanksgiving

This week our nation will ‘celebrate’ the secular feast of Thanksgiving.  We put ‘celebrate’ in quotes because the day has become less one of focus on thanking the Lord for His blessings bestowed upon us and more one of thanking ourselves for that with which we’ve managed to overload our tables, and thereby overloaded our stomachs.

But the focus of this article is not on excess or self indulgence for one day out of the year.  Rather, this focus in on a more traditional view of giving thanks.

It would be an overgeneralization to say that ALL of us have more than we need.  But we can agree that it’s certainly true for most of us.  When we think about our excesses, we often stop to ponder how we might share from the many blessings we’ve been given with those who DON’T have enough.

Without wanting to promote any sense of pride among us, our little community sponsors quite a number of outreach activities for those in need.  This has far less to do with some concerted effort on the part of our people as a community than it does the individual hearts of the really good people who make up this Orthodox community of believers.

In short, we want more than anything to be found by our Lord to have hearts that conform to His will, to His example, and to His commandments.  We really want to feed the hungry, to clothe those in need, to visit the sick, to pray for any and all who are in need.  We want to LIVE Matthew 25:34-36!

In short, we want to be giving, not just of material goods, not only of finances, but of our time, of our effort.  The Lord has showered us with His love.  Now we want nothing more than to be reflections of that love to others in need.

And in this giving, there is the root element of thanksgiving, for we show the Lord our thankfulness for the excesses with which He has blessed us to the extent that we share from those excesses.

And what is the result of this kind of sharing, of this “thanksgiving of giving”?

The immediate response is yet more thanksgiving on the part of those who receive in their need.  It doesn’t matter if we know of their thanksgiving.  In fact, it is better that we don’t know.  May their hearts be moved to give thanks to the One who provided the excess so that they might receive, not from us, but from Him!

St. Paul expresses this in his second letter to the people of Corinth with these words:

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.  For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  (2Cor 9:12-15)

What is this “indescribable gift”?  Is it not God’s uncanny ability to bless so many with one single gift?  Thanks be to the Lord for all things!

Have a most blessed Thanksgiving 2024!

 

Starting With a Clean Slate

It’s an expression we use related to “new beginnings”.  It can relate to a new job, to a remodeled home and how it gets organized, or perhaps more appropriately, to a change in attitude after making a sincere confession.  All of these wipe clean what was before, and provide a path for changing the way in which things will be planned to happen afterward.

When the clean slate points to our spirituality, it has as its focus the level of our faith.  If we choose not to have the slate filled with failures that have just been wiped clean, our faith needs to be such that we live according to a plan that will not duplicate the shortcomings we fell into before.

St. Theophan the Recluse says this:

Sincere faith is the renunciation of your own mind.  It is necessary to make your mind naked and present it like a clean chalkboard to faith, so that she can draw herself on it like she is, without any admixture of foreign sayings and attitudes.  When the mind’s own attitudes remain within it, then, after the attitudes of faith are written on it, there appears a mixture of attitudes.  The mind will be confused, encountering contradictions between the actions of faith and the sophistries of the mind.  Thus are all who approach the region of faith with their own sophistries… They are confused in the faith, and nothing comes of it but harm.

What is the Saint explaining to us?

Faith is the renunciation of your own mind—the intellect is a gift from God, but too often used in a way where we allow it to supersede what the Spirit shows us in faith, and so its use becomes detrimental to us.  Faith must win over intellect.

Present (your mind) like a clean chalkboard to faith—We need to give our faith unencumbered access to “write” our path to salvation without the intellect in its way.  Then we must labor to conform the intellect to where the faith is leading us.

When the mind’s own attitudes remain, after the attitudes of faith are written on it, there is a mixture, and confusion and contradiction between faith and intellect—We can’t allow the righteous directions set by faith to be “overwritten” by an intellect attached to this world.  Faith leads us to the life that is eternal.  Intellect steers the life that ends all too soon here on this planet and its dirt.

Thus are all who approach faith with their own sophistries—Our faith gets lost in lies told by this world that get ingrained into our intellects.  Like the world around us, our intellects, which receive instruction from the world, can and often do lie to us.

They are confused in the faith, - If we give leave to our intellects to direct our lives when we really need to rely on faith, it’s easy to see how confusion results.  For example, “My faith tells me to reach out to and help the beggar on the corner.  My mind tells me that he’s a charlatan, and any good that could come from my helping him will be lost in sinfulness.”  The Holy Fathers teach that giving alms is NEVER a wrong thing for the giver, and the good that can come from it, “yay or nay” belongs to the receiver.  There is an account from the Holy Fathers of a monk who, seeing a beggar struggling with the cold, took off his coat and gave it to the beggar.  On the following day, the monk saw his coat - the very same on, in a shop window for sale.  He became angry with himself for not discerning that the beggar would misuse the gift - to sell it and use the money for some unrighteous purpose.  That night he had a dream, and he saw the Lord standing, wearing his same coat, with the Lord asking, "Do you like My coat?"  He understood then that his giving was righteous.  "God knows your hearts." (Luke 16:15)

So, “wipe our slates clean,” and allow the Lord’s finger to write what path or paths He chooses for us to take on this day, and in all successive days.  Fill the slate only with that which brings spiritual gain.  And as best we can, praying for His blessing to do so, let us with all our strength follow where He leads.

 

Sermon - 17th Sunday 2024

The Gift of Life [Luke 7:11-16]

   Glory to Jesus Christ!

It’s hard NOT to take life for granted!  Every day the sun rises.  Every day we awake, get dressed, go to work or to church.  Every day we eat meals, some of us browse the Internet, some read magazines.  All of these things are part of “everyday life,” and we seldom stop to consider what would happen if (or when) something removes them from us.

These days the news brings it all a little closer to home as we ponder the plight of our brothers and sisters in the southeast who have lost everything to Helene.  I heard an interview today of a man who drove nearly 6 hours from his home in North Carolina to a destination in South Carolina where he could buy the necessities to just keep on living—food, water, fuel.

Thank God it’s still warm, otherwise these unfortunates would be freezing as well!

Although percentage-wise the number of fatalities was small, it was large for any ‘storm’!  When it’s all said and done, over 200 will be dead, their families impacted forever, some unable to wash from their memories the terrible visions of seeing their loved one washed away before their very eyes in the raging waters of the storm.

We can’t bring them back.  Much as we’d like to, we don’t have that kind of authority over life and death.

But we serve One Who does have such authority.  And in being such a servant, we must live in that hope, and we must share that hope with others who we know are feeling quite hopeless right now.

In today’s Gospel, the widow of Nain had lost all hope.  She lives as an old woman.  In Jewish society in that time, women didn’t “earn a living” - they were provided for by their husbands.  If they were widowed, they relied upon male children to provide for them, or they would be destitute.

For the woman in today’s Gospel, she IS a widow.  She HAD only one son.  Now, he has died.

And so she walks with a funeral procession from the town of Nain out to a destination where she will lay the dead body of her only hope in this world into the ground.

She feels the grips of hopelessness tear her from the world she knew.

But our Lord knows all of this.  As always, He is at the right place at the right time.  As far as we know, neither the young man nor his mother ever expressed any faith in Jesus.  It doesn’t matter.  God can do as He wills!

And on this day, He wills to restore life, to give the gift of life.  He does so with His Word.  Young man, I say to you, arise!

Do we understand the power of those words?  They’ve been uttered before by our Lord.  At the home of Jairus, Jesus gives the gift of life to a little girl by saying, Little girl, I say to you, arise!  At the tomb of His friend Lazarus He speaks, Lazarus, come forth!

We don’t know if there were other instances of such raisings.  We know from the Gospel of St. Luke that disciples of St. John the Forerunner were present to see today’s raising.  St. Luke records that they returned to John and told him what they witnessed.  John in turn sent them back to Jesus with a question: ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’

John didn’t give them this question because HE needed the answer.  He sent them knowing that he would be murdered, and this was his way of securing his own disciples to their new Master.  In His response, Jesus says to them, Tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor receive the Gospel.

With the first of these, the Lord blesses those who are suffering in this world.  With the proclamation about the dead, they receive the gift of life still in this world.  With the Gospel, all of us, then, now, and until He returns, are granted the gift of life for eternity—if only we follow where He is leading us.

You see, the gift of life isn’t just for the physically dead—it’s mostly for the spiritually dead.  Let us embrace the gift before it’s too late.

Glory forever!

"Over the Top!" [Luke 6:31-36]

   Glory to Jesus Christ!

Isn’t it totally characteristic of our Lord to give us instruction such as this?  Do unto others…..!

I mean, I don’t ever think about what I’d “prefer” for others to do with/to/for me.  But when the idea is couched in the way that Jesus does today, it forces us to think in those terms.  “Is what I’m about to do with/to/for this person something that I would be pleased about if it were coming to me?”

Now all of a sudden there’s meaning to my actions that I’d never before considered.

But this is not YET “Over the top.”

If we go to the topic of this piece, let’s look first at the Lord’s words about love.  If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

Well, I guess I never thought about being given ‘credit’ for loving.  But I can see where He is leading me.  I mean, I’m EXPECTED to love people who love me. 

Who “gives” me love?  Again, it’s expected from family, from spouses, from parents, from children,….. Love is something associated with family, certainly.

But where else is “love” found?  Perhaps some of us have friends who fall into the category of being loved by us, and us by them.  But if this is true, how do we define love?  Webster says that it is ‘a strong feeling of affection and concern toward another.’  OK, that makes sense in both the family and the friend example.

But now Jesus takes us “Over the Top”.  How?

Love your enemies.

Does He really mean that?  YES!  He does! 

So, I’m supposed to have feelings of affection AND concern for someone who at the least does not like me, and in the cases of some, one who may even hate me?  Is that what Jesus is saying?

YES!  It is!

Think about it for just a moment.  I would hope to be considered to be a child of God.  That would make me family.  Jesus spoke to His disciples and called them friends.  If I’m a dedicated follower, then I should fit into that category as well.  So I want to think that love from God ought to be easy—for Him.

But love is typically not seen as being ‘one way’.  In family and in friendships, love is a two-way street, it is given freely and returned freely.

But is this the way that I love God?  Am I a giver AND a taker, or just a taker?

How often do I offer thanks for His gifts (His LOVE) to me?  How often do I go to Him and offer heartfelt apology (repentance) for things that I know I did wrong?  How often do I return actions that in human terms could be couched as “hateful”? 

I can hear you ask, “Hateful, Father?  Do you think I ever behave in such a way?”

Only you can judge for yourself.  I can only speak for me, and my answer is, “Yes.”  There are times that my interaction with God borders on what humans would see as hateful.  When I know there is someone in need and I make the choice to ignore them.  When I schedule time to pray, then turn on the TV.  When I promise to fast and then overeat. 

Now it is I who am “Over the Top”. 

Jesus goes so far as to lovingly explain to me that I must love my enemies, I must do good, lend, hoping for nothing in return.  Do you hear those words?  He’s not saying “expecting noting in return,” but rather HOPING for nothing!!  In short, take what I give you—I don’t want anything back!

He is certainly “Over the Top” in human terms.  But He loves someone like me who doesn’t exactly show Him the love that He deserves.  And what does He promise for this?

Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, a promise that is truly "Over the Top."  What a loving God we serve!

Glory forever!

Nevertheless....

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We human beings like to think highly of ourselves.  We are confident, certain in our abilities, secure in our understanding of the world around us.

Until something unexpected happens.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord is found preaching to the crowds near the Sea of Galilee.  He sees two boats emptied of their fishermen, and so He sets about to enter one so that He could teach from a position where people would only be in front of Him.  Logical!  What He says to the crowd, we aren’t told.  It is not important to this Gospel record.

It is only when He is finished with teaching that Jesus turns to Peter and says, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Remember our starting premise—we people are certain in our abilities and our understanding of the world around us!  Peter and his companions have just labored to clean and put away their fishing nets.  The fished all day and caught nothing.  Now, even while Peter knows Jesus, and clearly respects Him, has no doubt witnessed some miraculous healings and deeds, this is now HIS turf, HIS place of expertise.  He knows that Jesus is no fisherman!  And so we can almost hear the exasperation in the voice of Peter as he responds to the Lord’s request.  Peter rightly calls Him Master.  Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;  NEVERTHELESS… 

There’s that word.  What does it mean?  What Peter is saying in essence is, “You have no experience in what You’re asking me to do.  I KNOW there’s nothing out there.  I KNOW we’ll find nothing.

NEVERTHELESS.  I will swallow my pride and do what You ask, even though I KNOW what the result will be.  He further quantifies his belief in self by saying, at Your word I will let down the net.  In other words, when we come up empty, it’ll all be on You!

St. Luke shows what a lack of faith can be turned into.  He records, And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.  So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Not only was Peter’s understanding of the world around him turned upside down, he was now the one shown to be without an understanding of the world around him.  Once you come to see the Lord as the One Who is the Creator, you come to recognize that there is nothing in “nature” that is not subject to His command.  Winds stop at His word.  Demons flee from His presence.  Blindness becomes sight at His command.  Lepers are cleansed at His touch.

As this recognition comes to Peter, his understanding is overturned by the recognition of these characteristics of a Man who stands before him as God. 

When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Peter is not truly begging Jesus to leave him.  From this moment on, he will cling to Jesus, becoming a rock of faith.  Peter is expressing his recognition that Divinity doesn’t coexist with what is sinful.  This is Peter’s “confession”.  He recognizes the sin he has just committed in not trusting in the Lord.  He sees the other sins within his life.  For His part, the Lord gives His absolution.  Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will catch men.

And indeed, Peter and the others didn’t fish thereafter.  St. Luke records, When they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Lord, help ME to forsake the world as well, and to follow where You might lead me!

Glory forever!