The Last Judgment

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If I could convince you to memorize – or even just remember – only one portion of the Bible, it would have to be the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. It tells us, of course, about the Last Judgment. The hymns from the Triodion at the Vigil last night return constantly to the remembrance of death, and the need to prepare ourselves in this life to be ready for the day when our secrets will be revealed, and we will received what we are owed – and to remember that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today is also the day we commemorate the holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian land, who did not surrender themselves to those who wished to erase from the landscape of Russia the churches and monasteries and seminaries that covered the land – and to turn the hearts and minds of the people away from God and the preparation for a life in the kingdom of God, to obeying the secular rulers and building, as if such a thing were possible, the kingdom of heaven on earth. They resisted these efforts to destroy the Church and the Orthodox Faith, and suffered, some being killed and so becoming martyrs, while others endured imprisonment and tortures, becoming confessors. If, as Tertullian said, the blood of the martyrs – and the confessors, who also shed their blood, just not unto death – is the seed of the Church, then the Russian land was renewed by their blood. Just look at Russia today: the Bolsheviks no longer rule; their movement is shattered; and the Church is once more alive and growing.

But even as the cathedrals and churches and monasteries and seminaries in the Russian land are rebuilt and renewed, all of this means nothing if we do not understand and apply what we are told in this parable from St. Matthew today. Beautiful churches are nothing more than gaudy tombs if the people inside them care more about the building than they do for the hungry and the sick and the homeless and the lonely. Reading your morning and evening prayers is a waste of time if you get angry at people in traffic, or judge another, or harbor evil thoughts against another in your heart. Fasting does nothing if we abstain from meat but take advantage of those around us for our own pleasure or our own gain. How terrible will it be for us to have received the Body and Blood of Christ, Who, because of His great love for us when we were unlovely and unlovable, became one with us and died for us, only to have us not love everyone who is made in His image more than we love ourselves?

Brothers and sisters, the fathers tell us that we must be ever mindful that one day we will die, and then it will be too late to achieve the transformation of our souls. The New Martyrs and Confessors tell us that death can come suddenly, and unexpectedly, and so we must not waste a day, an hour, a minute – but must resolve today to live as Christians should, in the hope that, on that great and terrible day of Judgment, we shall be set on the right hand, with those who will enter into the rejoicing of the kingdom of heaven, and not sent to condemnation and torment because we loved ourselves more than we loved others. Let us love one another, as Christ loves us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. May we put this love in action by reaching to others who are in need in body, mind and spirit, giving of ourselves and from what God has given to us, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the lonely, and to love and care for each other as icons of Christ.

The Beginning of the End

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The most powerful nation on the face of the earth has ordered that a census be taken, so that everyone who a subject of that nation could be taxed.  Little did they know that at that very moment in time something was taking place that was going to transform the world; and they were powerless to stop it.  Truth was, they never saw it coming; and once it was underway, there was nothing they could do about it, although they certainly tried their best to eliminate it.  In the end, they were defeated; their empire crumbled into nothing; but what started then continues today, and the world remains powerless against it.

This is the scene for us in the reading of the birth of our Lord as described in the Gospel according to St. Luke, and today, from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.  The nation, of course, was Rome; and St. Luke tells us that Augustus had ordered the taking of a census as a prelude to the story of our Lord’s birth.  There is that stark contrast between the two stories.  On the one hand, the might and power of Rome, symbolized in their Emperor; on the other, a newborn baby, of humble parents, for whom there was no room at the inn, and so he was born in a cave that was being used as a stable.  One the one hand, a military power that had conquered much of the world, against whom few other nations dared to stand; on the other, one helpless child who possesses all the power in heaven and on earth.

In one part of that world, a province of that Empire, someone did recognize that something was happening, and he did his best to destroy it.  Herod, made king by the Romans, did all he could to destroy this new power coming into the world.  But his efforts failed, though the battle was costly: the innocent young boys slain in his attempt to retain his title, the King of the Jews.  These were but the first of the hundreds, and then thousands, and then millions who would be killed for their allegiance to this child, rather than to the princes and powers of the world. 

Now we live in what is arguably the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, one against whom few dare stand.  That nation, in ways far more subtle than those of Herod, does not seek to destroy those who today proclaim their loyalty to the King born in a stable by killing them outright.  Rather, it seduces, it teases, it promises, and it misleads – and any of the flowers of this newborn King must battle their own passions, lest these be turned against them and lead them to degradation and destruction.  Yet the world remains powerless to those who embrace the life of this King, for He has defeated the last enemy – death – something no power in the world can achieve.  He promises the victory to those who will stand with Him in faith, even at the passing away of the world.

Brothers and sisters, with the birth of the Son of God wrapped in our humanity as He was wrapped in his body with swaddling clothes, our victory is assured; but the battle must be fought, and the battleground is within us, in our hearts and minds and souls and bodies.  To succeed, we need only follow what the victors who have gone before us have done:  pray; fast; give from the wealth God has entrusted to us; love; forgive, being patient and humble, and seeking heavenly things rather than earthly gains.  The time of our liberation is at hand; and if we will live as Orthodox Christians, the world is powerless to stop us.

Christ is born!

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

The Reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew describes how King Herod responded to the news that a King of the Jews had been born.  He was, of course, unpleasantly surprised, inasmuch as he had been made king of the Jews by the Romans, on who behalf he ruled Judea.  Although not read today, we have the advantage of knowing the next part of the story:  how he sends his troops to Bethlehem with orders to kill all the male children in the region aged two years or less, according to the time when the magi told him the star they had followed to find him had appeared.

This is an instance of how the world responded to the news that God was setting in motion the completion of the promise He had made to Adam and Eve even as they were forced to leave Paradise, no longer able to dwell in the intimate presence of God.  He said that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman (that is, all her offspring, including us) and the serpent, that is, Satan, the deceiver, who led Eve astray, and through her, Adam.  By their action, Adam and Eve delivered the world, which had been given to them, into the hands of Satan, the power of the prince of the air, the ruler of this world.  But the prophecy was that one of the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent; and now that child has come into the world.

That power and that promise are still active in the world today.  That the world does not understand what is taking place can be seen in the efforts, sometimes laughable, of many scientists who try to find a way to make a celestial object – a star – behave so as to be able to lead people across hundreds or thousands of miles, not only to a specific country, not only to a specific city, but to a specific location in a specific city – to the cave where the newborn child lay in a manger.  All they need to do is read the fathers, and find that the wise men were led their by an angel, shining with the light of the glory of God.  That angel and that light remain in the world today, through our guardian angels, and the Angel of Great Counsel, who is Christ Himself.  When we embrace the life of Christ born within us when we are baptized, the world will try, as Herod tried, as Satan tried, to destroy us; but if we embrace that life and light, the world may come against us, but it cannot overcome us. 

Brothers and sisters, let us embrace that light, let us allow the life of Christ to be seen in us, in what we do, in what we say, in who we are, so that others may be drawn to the light, and join chorus with us in praising the God of our salvation.

Our King and Savior is drawing near.  Come, let us adore Him!

You Are the Light of the World

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, our Lord tells those who are listening to Him, “You are the light of the world.” He then gives some additional details about this light. He says, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden be hidden.” Think about driving around town at night. Every house on a hillside can be seen for miles. Our Lord also says, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Rather, the lamp that is lit is put on a stand, so that its light shines for everyone in the house.” Then He tells us what this means for us: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify God in heaven.”

With what light are we meant to shine? On one level, it is the light of good works: especially those things that are done to help another person in need. We know what these things are: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, visiting the sick, and those in prison, and welcoming the stranger – all the things spoken of when our Lord describes the time of the Great Judgment, of the sheep and the goats. But it is possible to do these things, and yet fail to shine. If we are to understand this, and to respond in a manner pleasing to the Lord, what else is there?

Another form of “good works” by which we may bring light into a world of darkness is to faithfully live the Orthodox way of life: praying, fasting, and giving; with humility, patience, forgiveness, generosity to others, and love. If we devote our time and energy to developing and refining these behaviors in our daily lives, we will find it a joy to reach out to others, to feed and clothe and visit and so on. Yet even these good things can be done without bringing the light we are meant to shine. What else must we understand and do to be pleasing to the Lord?

St. John Chrysostom tells us that the light within us is not our own. Rather, the light is ignited in us by our Lord Jesus Christ when we are joined to His life in Holy Baptism. He lights the lamp in us. St. John continues, however, to instruct and remind us that, while the light in us was lit by the Lord, it is up to us to keep the lamp burning. That is, we must, from time to time, trim and renew the wick; and we must, from time to time, refill the lamp with oil; and we must, from time to time, clean the lens through which the light must shine.

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Experience with oil lamps, as often found in a church, teaches that the wicks are best served when trimmed twice a day, morning and evening. So it is that the Church advises us to be diligent in prayer at the start, and at the end, of each day. Remember how Moses, when he would return to the people of Israel from being in the presence of God, had to cover his face with a veil, because his face was bright with the light of the presence of God? When we take time to draw near to God in prayer, we come into the light, and so are better prepared to carry that light with us through the course of the day. The lamps must be filled at least daily; and so we should fill ourselves with the words of Holy Scripture, and the teachings of the Fathers, and the lives of the saints, who also brought the light of Christ to us and to the world – that’s why, in the icons, they have haloes. Periodically, the lamps must be cleaned of the dirt and debris they accumulate; and so too must we seek to be made clean in the mystery of confession, through repentance, with the desire not to repeat our sins, but to be transformed. These practices will help us tend to the light given to us, so that, properly cared for, we nay shine with Christ’s light in us, becoming lamps on stands, and even cities on hilltops, to light the way for those in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide those who are seeking God to find and follow the right path.

Brothers and sisters, let us ask God for the grace we need to tend the light given to us, so that the light of our good works of piety and charity may shine before men, so that God may be glorified; and let us never seek praise or commendation from others for the good we may do; but give thanks and glory to God, remembering that if we shine, it is only because He loves us and has given Himself for us, so that we may be saved.

Dressing for the Feast

In a way, it could be said that the “theme” today is about clothing. This is the day on which the Church celebrates the deposition of the cincture of the Theotokos; and in the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we hear how, as the guests are gathering for the wedding feast, there is one who is found to be improperly dressed for the feast, and so is cast out of the banquet hall into torment.

The canon of the Feast says, in Ode 7 of the first canon, ”The Queen of all, having departed for the mansions of heaven, has left behind her cincture as a treasure for the king of all cities, and by it we are saved from the invasions of enemies, visible and invisible.” It is said that, at the time of the Dormition, the most holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary gave her cincture – a belt, or sash, worn around the waist, helping to keep closed the outer garment being worn – to the Apostle Thomas. Some time later, it was taken to the city of Constantinople, placed in a special casket, and kept in a church dedicated to the Mother of God. So it remained until the ninth century, when Zoe, the wife of Emperor Leo, fell into a sickness in her soul. As the result of a vision, she asked that the cincture be placed upon her; and when this took place, she was healed.

The treatment of the man who lacked the proper garment is given to us as a warning – indeed, one of many in that particular parable. There are several groups of people mentioned: those who were originally invited to share in the celebration; those who were invited to take their place; and those who were compelled to attend, without regard as to whether or not they desired to do so. At the time our Lord is telling the story to His disciples, the first group, who had been invited but were found to be unworthy, and whose city was destroyed, was clearly the Jews, to whom God had given the revelation of Himself and the Law, and the promise of the Messiah – Who had now come, but was not accepted by the people who claimed to be awaiting Him. The group invited to take their place at the feast were the Gentiles, who were not Jews but were truly seeking God in response to His call to them; while the group that had to be forced to attend was made up of those who had little or no desire to find God, or to leave behind the ways of the world.

We need to be aware of this; and to realize that the first group today – the group that is invited to the feast – is the Church. Indeed, the Church is the Bride of Christ, the Son of the King, Who is God the Father, the host of the feast. The treatment of the first group, related in the parable, concludes with the destruction of their city; which took place on August 4th in the year 70 A.D., when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in response to the revolt by the Jews. We also need to know that the wedding garment, the means by which we are properly admitted to the celebration, is our baptismal robe. You may recall that, in the service of Holy Baptism, we pray several times asking the Lord’s grace and mercy so that the newly baptized person may be blessed and empowered to keep their baptismal robe clean and unstained by sin; and that, when we fail to do so, we are able to have the stains and filth of our sins removed, washing (as it were) our robes through the mystery of repentance and the confession of our sins. If we forget these things; if we neglect the way of life we learn from the Church, we are at risk of finding ourselves to be improperly attired, and, like the man in the parable, at risk of being tied hand and foot, and cast out into the darkness, into an eternal existence outside the light of the love of God – and the knowledge of our loss will certainly cause us to weep and wail and gnash our teeth.

We can draw wisdom as well from considering the cincture of the Theotokos. If we think of it only in worldly terms, it has little or no real value to us. It’s only a length of rope, or of cloth, or of leather. Even if it was made of gold, it still has only a fixed value – it is not unlimited. But if we think of it spiritually, we find it is a gift of incalculable value: a source of healings, and a token of God’s love for us, and of our connection with the Church of the saints who have completed their course, and have entered into their rest, with the Lord today in Paradise.

Brothers and sisters, let us not follow the ways of the world, nor seek its wisdom; but rather let us ask God for the grace and strength we need to turn away from the world, and to pursue the heavenly way of life. Let us confess our sins, and ask that our baptismal robes be made clean once more; and let us not neglect to come to the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, for the holy gifts offered today are a foretaste of that great wedding banquet, to which we are all invited. May God grant that each of us, and all Orthodox Christians, will be welcomed at that feast, coming with rejoicing and properly dressed; and that our preparations for the feast will cause others to desire to attend as well, so that their souls, with ours, will be saved.

Obtaining Eternal Life

If you wanted an account from the gospels that speaks to our culture today, and if, in order to do so, you could choose only one parable from the four accounts of the life and ministry of our Lord, Jesus Christ during the time between His Theophany and His resurrection from the dead, the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew might be the best choice. The parable of the rich young man in the Gospel according to St. Matthew captures who we are in this time and place, shaped as we are by the society in which we live. He has everything that anyone could want: comfort, ease, and the ability to obtain whatever he wants. Yet, having all this, he is still unsatisfied, and he knows he is missing something – he does not have eternal life. It is this that draws him to our Lord, and to ask what he must do to obtain this life that will not end.

Our Lord begins with the basics: He says, “Keep the commandments.” Remember that this dialogue is taking place in a culture that considered itself to be God’s chosen people, to whom God had given the Ten Commandments, and other detailed aspects on what was acceptable to God, and what was not – over six hundred “laws” within the Law. Presumably, this young man, being well off, would also have been well educated, and so would have known this. Now, you would think that this answer would have been enough – keep the commandments – but the young man wants to make the task less difficult, and so he asks, “Which ones?”

Jesus takes him to the next step, listing that portion of the Ten Commandments dealing with our relations with others: do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; and honor your father and your mother. He adds as well the second part of the summary of the Law He taught to His followers: love your neighbor as you love yourself. The young man says, I have lived this way since I was a child. What do I still lack? Putting that another way, he is asking, I have done these things, so why am I still unhappy?

He is then given the final instruction: Go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow Me. He departs from the scene, deeply troubled because, we are told, he had a great many possessions. We never learn what decision he made as he struggled with his desire to live eternally and with his attachment to his possessions.

The truth is, each one of us is the rich young man. Even though we may think of ourselves as being followers of Christ – and we are, to one degree or another – we live today more comfortably than most other people on the face of the earth, and with more comfort and ease than even emperors and kings of old enjoyed. We look around, see the mansions on the hillsides with their luxury cars and people dressed in the finest clothing with jewelry and rich food and all the amenities that wealth can provide, and we think to ourselves, “Oh, if only I could live like that, I would be happy!” We should already know, based on this Gospel reading, that wealth by itself, nor any of the things that wealth can obtain, can truly make us happy. We should already know that the only true source of happiness is to be developing our relationship with God, and living in that relationship with each other. But we don’t usually think about these things, not nearly as often as we think about what we want to obtain – even as we already have so much! We need to stop focusing on what others have, stop thinking about what we think we lack, and instead give thanks to God for blessing us with so many good things. We need to remember that the greatest gift of all is the gift the young man was seeking: eternal life, which is freely offered to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Each one of us is the rich young man, asking, “What good thing must I do to have eternal life?” The answer is, nothing. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve eternal life. We do not have the strength or power to do so, apart from the Lord. The good news is that He has already completed the task; He has already obtained eternal life for us. Our part is to believe that this is true; and in this belief, this faith, this trust, to follow Him, which is done best by living the Orthodox way: praying, fasting, struggling against our passions, giving from what God has given to us to support the work of the Church and to help those in need; by loving and forgiving, by being patient and gentle.

What of the command to sell all that we have and give to the poor? Consider this: If you had nothing, no possessions, you have nothing to lose. No thief or robber can disturb you by taking anything away. If you have no possessions, even the government is no threat, apart from your life. And if you have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, that He died on the Cross and rose to life without end from the grave, then even those who would threaten your life have no power over you, because you know that the life we have here in this world is nothing more than a prelude, the threshold to life without end. To have no possessions – not even considering your life to be a possession, but belonging instead to God alone – you are truly free to follow Christ. So, brothers and sisters, let us ask our Lord for the grace to be set free from the things we acquire in this life, seeking nothing in this world, but working instead to set aside for ourselves treasures in heaven; and for grace to be faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than followers of the world and of wealth.

What Are We Working For?

At one point in his first letter to the church in Corinth, the holy apostle Paul asks the question, “Does a soldier serve at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of its fruit?” He is asking the people of that congregation to consider the right of one who labors on behalf of the Kingdom of God to receive his or her reward – that is, payment – for the work he or she has performed. In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we hear, in the parable of the two servants in debt, of another form of payment; of what happens when a servant is unable to repay; and of the necessity to forgive in order to be forgiven.

The holy martyr and archdeacon Laurence of Rome shows us the labors of a martyr, and the reward, both earthly and heavenly, that is paid to one who testifies to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, even at the cost of one’s life. The holy martyr Laurence was an archdeacon and servant of the Pope, St. Sixtus, and the treasurer of the Church. When St. Sixtus was arrested for his faith, Laurence wanted to go with him, but was told by the Pope that he must wait, and that he would suffer greatly and then would follow him in martyrdom. St. Sixtus was beheaded; and Laurence was arrested. As he was tortured, not only was he told that, if he denied Christ, he would be set free, but he was also offered the opportunity to obtain his release by turning over to his captors the treasury of the Church, which he had hidden before his arrest. The holy martyr refused to yield the money and also refused to deny Christ, yielding instead his body to torture. He was placed on a griddle, and roasted alive; calling to his tormentors at one point, “This side is cooked; turn me over, so that the other side may be roasted, as well!” He entered into his reward – the Kingdom of heaven – in the year 258 A.D.

Most of us, God willing, will never be tested in our faithfulness as was the holy martyr Laurence. We would do well, however, to examine ourselves, and consider the reward for which we are laboring, to which we devote the majority of our time and energy and resources. In all probability, we will find that we do very little when it comes to laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven; and that the vast majority of our labors are devoted to acquiring the means to obtain ease and comfort for ourselves and our families. Isn’t it amazing that we will go deeply into debt in order to purchase worldly comforts, but give no thought to the debt that we owe for our offenses against God, against others, and even against ourselves? We often say, as a form of ironic humor, that we are “slaves to our employers”; and yet we do not consider that we were bought at a price: the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died on the Cross to set us free from our captivity to sin and death. It is through this act of giving that the debt we owe because of our sins, a debt we cannot possibly repay, is canceled – forgiven – because of God’s love for us. Think about this: Adam and Eve became the slaves of the enemy of our salvation because of their disobedience in the Garden of Eden; and each of us has done the same by our own actions, choosing to sin rather than to do what is pleasing to God. He might very well have abandoned us for our wickedness; but He did not leave us in such a wretched state. He came to us, and became one with us, joining His divinity to our humanity, so that we could be restored to Him, and delivered from death, which is the wages paid for sin. We cannot do this by ourselves; but the good news is that it has already been done for us. Now, we have a choice to make: to continue to live as slaves to sin, or realize that, having been redeemed by the sacrificial offering of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are now called to be slaves to righteousness. Remembering the love that has saved us, let us show our love for God by drawing near to Him each day in prayer, confessing our sins and asking for grace to overcome them; praying for those in need; and above all, praising and thanking the Lord for all He has done, and is doing, for us. Let us fast, and so teach our flesh to be obedient to our will. Let us give from what God has given to us, for the benefit of others and to set our souls free from attachments to our possessions. Let us be humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving – and in this way allow the life of our Lord Jesus given to us in baptism to be seen in what we say and do, in who we are. No earthly reward can approach the value of this gift we have been given; and any earthly suffering, whether it is as little as keeping the fasts or as great as that endured by the martyr Laurence, is treasure we set aside for ourselves in heaven. May the God Who loves us and Who has saved us grant us the grace to follow Him faithfully, as did the holy martyr Laurence, so that we may show Him to the world while in this life, and join the choir of heaven to sing His praises!

Why Do You Doubt?

You’ve probably heard of the “Grand Canyon Skywalk”; a horseshoe-shaped structure that extends out about sixty-six feet over a side canyon in the Grand Canyon.

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It is made of two-inch thick glass walls and floor, so that visitors may look out to see the main gorge in which the Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon; and can also look down to see the side canyon which is 500 to 800 feet below the Skywalk. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to make the six and a half-hour trip to pay $75 to walk out and look down through the glass floor at the canyon below any time soon! But I think that imagining what the experience might be like might give us a bit of insight into what happens in the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

The disciples of our Lord, some of whom are experienced fishermen, are in a boat during a storm at night while sailing across the lake on their way to Gennesaret. In the midst of the storm, during the fourth watch of the night, they see our Lord walking on the water, and imagine that they have seen a ghost, and are terrified. They hear Him say to them, “Cheer up! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” In an incredible moment of faith, Peter replies, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.” Jesus tells him to do so; and Peter steps out of the boat onto the wind-tossed waves, and begins to walk on the water. He’s doing fine, until he takes his eyes off of the Lord, and he begins to sink. He cries out for help, and the Lord saves him; but also questions him, saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Can you imagine yourself leaving the relative safety of the boat – mind you, it is being tossed about by the waves, so it’s not as if it were safely anchored – to walk on the water? Most of us would probably be so uncomfortable with the glass floor of the Skywalk that we wouldn’t even venture out there, much less try to do something as miraculous as what St. Peter attempted. As such, we need to examine our own lives, and our own faith, and ask ourselves, why do we lack even the small amount of faith that St. Peter had? We should ask, because it is clear that, if we had even a fraction of the “little faith” he had, our lives would be remarkably different.

We lack the faith to work miracles. Could it be that the reason we are not successful in the transformation of who we are and how we live is because we lack the faith needed to do so? The evidence of this can clearly be seen in how often we must confess the same behaviors, over and over and over again. Why does victory elude us? Our Lord’s question is also directed to each and every one of us: Why do you doubt?

I wish there was an easy answer to this question. I wish that there was a simple way to change the situation in which we find ourselves. I think the problem is that we are trying to “walk on water,” but find ourselves sinking into the cares and concerns of this world, as St. Peter sank into the stormy waves, because we so seldom have our eyes fixed on the Lord, Who has called us to come to Him as He called to St. Peter. We see instead the problems of this world, with all its suffering and pain, filled with hatred, disease, famine, war… We seek instead to escape from the problems with our jobs, with our families; we seek the pleasures and comforts of this world, and yield ourselves to our passions, rather than looking for the kingdom of God and the righteousness of that kingdom. When we do these things, we cannot walk on the waves of life, as did our Lord, as did St. Peter.

There is no easy answer; but I offer this to you for your consideration. God loves you. Our Lord Jesus Christ came in love to save you. There is nothing you can do to save yourself; but there is nothing that you must do to save yourself, except to do what St. Peter did as he began to sink. All we need to do is to cry out, “Lord, save me!” – and believe that He is able to do what He has promised. Then, we need to live trusting in that promise: that the power of death has been broken by His death and resurrection; that our sins are forgiven when we confess them and ask to be made clean, and whole; and that we have been given His life to live, so that we may honor and glorify Him, and find peace and rest for our souls.

Brothers and sisters, let us trust in the love of God Who saves us; and let us ask Him each day, each hour, each moment for the grace to keep our spiritual eyes upon Him, that we will not sink beneath the waves of the cares of this life, but may walk with Him through this life until we come to dwell in a life without end in the glory of His kingdom.

Weakness in the Face of Temptations

Our holy father Sisoës the Great was born in Egypt. As a young man, he left his city and went into the desert, settling finally on the same mountain where St. Anthony the Great had lived and struggled with the ascetic way of life, until he came to victory over the flesh, the passions, and the demons. Sisoës did the same, praying and fasting and in other ways taking no regard for this world or for his body, seeking only communion with God and a desire for the kingdom to come. He also won the victory; and God gave him the ability to heal the sick, to cast out demons, and to raise the dead. Many people came to the saint, and he helped them for some sixty years in this world before departing this life; and has been a healer and a helper after his repose, until today.

He gave many people direction for their own spiritual development. A monk asked the holy father what he needed to do in order to please God, and be saved. He was told to leave the world and everything in it behind, and to draw near to God with prayers and with tears of repentance. Another complained that he was not able to memorize the wisdom given to him by the elder, so that he could repeat it. The holy father told him that he should rather work to obtain purity of mind, and then to speak from this purity, trusting to God in everything. Then it would not be necessary to memorize someone else’s words. He taught that when temptation comes against us, we must acknowledge that this is the result of our sin, and we must then yield ourselves completely to the will of God. Likewise, when something good comes to us, or when we respond to a situation by doing what is good and pleasing to God, we should acknowledge that this, too, is because of God’s mercy, and not anything of which we can claim for ourselves. When asked about acquiring humility, the holy father taught that, when we consider every other person as being better, more worthy, than ourselves, we are on the path to being truly humble.

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we hear of our Lord healing a man who was paralyzed. What does our Lord say? He says, “Your sins are forgiven.” It is only after the teachers of the law accuse Him of blasphemy that He directly addresses the physical ailment, commanding the man to rise, take up his bed, and walk. St. Sisoës shows us the same connection: When we do not acknowledge that we are weak in the face of temptations, when we do not confess our sins and our weakness, we are overwhelmed, and become paralyzed by our sins: certainly in spirit, and sometimes even physically, for we are beings of body, mind, and spirit, and what harms one part harms us in all our parts. As did the man healed in the Gospel, we need to draw near the Lord with faith, with prayers, and with repentance with tears. It is our Lord’s desire that we be made whole, a gift freely given to us, ours for the asking, because of His love for us – a love so great that He endured His Passion and the Cross and burial to set us free from sin and death.

When we are honest with ourselves, and remember our sins, how can we think that we are better than another person, more worthy, entitled to anything good? This is the entryway into the humility that gives us an indication of how well – or how poorly – we are serving as vessels of the love of God and for our neighbor we are meant to be. This is not easy. Indeed, the most restrictive fast is nothing compared to acquiring humility. Standing in prayer throughout the night is far easier than thinking that we are each first among sinners, and everyone else has not sinned as we have. The person who cuts you off in traffic; the person who ignores your plea for help; the person who rejects your efforts; the person who ridicules your faith, and your effort to show the life of Christ in your own – yes, I am saying that the people who anger and injury and hate and even kill you are meant to be considered more important, more valuable, and more worthy than we think of ourselves. When you find it difficult or impossible to do this, confess this as a fault, asking, begging, God for help – and remembering above all God’s love for you, and all that He has done for you, and has promised that He will do for you. When we allow the truth of the great mercy and love of God for us to fill us and to guide our thoughts and words and deeds, then we, like our holy father Sisoës, have come one step closer to mastering our passions, and to leaving this world and all its snares behind.

Holy father Sisoës the Great, pray to God for us!

Who Do >You< Look Like?

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In the reading today from the Gospel According to St. Matthew, our Lord asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Their replies make a list of holy men, prophets of God, including Elijah, and Jeremiah, and even John the Baptizer, who had been executed only a short time before. Then our Lord asks them directly, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Remember that, by the time this conversation between Jesus and His disciples takes place, He has given the Sermon on the Mount; He has healed many who were sick; He has cast out demons; He has worked other miracles – the feeding of the five thousand, for one – and has taught them far more than He has publically proclaimed. Remember also that, by this time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses have accused Him of breaking the Law of Moses and of casting out demons by the prince of demons, and have already started plotting to kill Him. In the midst of all this, the common people have recognized Him as being holy, but have not perceived Him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God whose coming had been promised by God and foretold through the prophets. Remember that Nathanael, at the time of his being called to follow Jesus, had exclaimed, “You are the Son of God!” Remember that those who were in the boat when our Lord calmed the storm and Peter had walked on the water had also declared, “You are truly the Son of God!” What was different about what St. Peter had said, that earned him a blessing?

Have you ever noticed how children look like their parents? In some cases, the resemblance is there, although not always clearly; while in other cases, the resemblance is so strong as to be striking. This is true not only of appearances, but in mannerisms, such as sounding alike, walking alike, and other in other ways as well. So it is with all the previous declarations that had been made, saying that Jesus is the Son of God – for we are all sons of God, in that we are made in His image, and after His likeness. St. Peter’s declaration went beyond that, when he said, not just that Jesus is the Son of God, but that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Deliverer promised by God, and proclaimed by St. John the Baptizer as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Human senses were not sufficient to perceive as deeply as St. Peter did when he made this statement of faith. God the Father revealed this truth to the saint, so that His Son might be made known – and not just then, but, through the testimony of St. Peter, to all who hear the Gospel, at all times, and in all places. The loop of resemblance between the Father and the Son is completed, in a way, when, at the Last Supper, Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. He replies, “Have you not known that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

What about us? If the question was put to us, what would we say? Of course, because we have heard the Gospel, we know the correct response to give – but does that mean we also are blessed, as St. Peter was blessed? Or is there more to it for us than that?

Everyone has heard this bit of “folk wisdom” – “Talk is cheap.” Everyone knows this one as well: “Actions speak louder than words.” We who have been privileged to live in this time, with the Gospels written and the Church well established and a God-pleasing way of life taught to us; we who have been privileged to have been buried with Christ in our baptism, and empowered with the Holy Spirit as we were chrismated, and have received the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ – how do we truly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do our lives reveal Him through what we say and what we do, and what we do not say and do not do? Can He be seen in us, in who we are, in how we live? Or do we look just like everyone else, indistinguishable from all the rest of those in the world who do not say that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

Let us commit ourselves, and one another, and all our life unto Christ our God. We say this again and again in our prayers, both in the worship of the Church, and in the privacy of our prayer corner. Let us also ask God the Father for the grace we need to be transformed more and more into the likeness of His Son, so that what we say and what we do brings the knowledge of Jesus Christ to those trapped in the ways of the world, longing to be set free. May God grant us grace to show the world His Son in us; and may we show the world in word and deed that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, pray to God for us!