All things fall under the providence of God. All things are according to His will, and His timing. That being said, I find our lesson from first Peter (1 Peter 4:7-11) to be most fitting for us, and this very Church in our time of growth; it is fitting in our time of transition, as we move from what we were, and towards that which we can be in the fullness of God. And with that in mind, taking into consideration all that has been said, all that has been done, this passage from Peter could very well have been written to us.
Let’s work our way through that lesson for today.
“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers”
First and foremost, we need to pray. We need to be praying. I can say from my own experience that prayer is hard UNLESS you are sober minded. A sober minded person takes truth seriously; keeps the Laws of God ever before them, just as the Psalms and wisdom books exhort us to do; considers the challenges of incarnating Christ in our own lives. A sober minded person has no regard for his own way, but rather how his life may conform to God’s. Sober mindedness orients us godward, making us more capable, more ready and suitable for whatever prayers we have to offer. Above all, it is to be watchful of our own thoughts, and guarding the heart from those thoughts that seek to destroy our inner peace. (musing)
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
We all know that God is Love. Love is the key to following the whole law. Love is defined within each of us by what we do. It is not an irrational emotion that we follow simply because it feels good, because it brings as a sense of elation, but Love is something we do. Even Christ himself told us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Our Love for him is known, is proven, by what we do. Words are empty without action.
What we do as a Church is vital to the growth of virtue, and to the growth of God’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Most importantly, it is how we incarnate Christ into the world; how we as God’s people exist to be a light unto the world, incarnating Christ, and bringing light to where there is none. Yet, what we do is wholly dependant on each of us, for each is endowed with different gifts, and each is imbued with the capacity for a ministry of their own making, and according to the will of God.
“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
I can say that we have shown our capacity for love, our genuine willingness for hospitality to those in need of it. When Father Gregory’s house burned down, there was almost no delay in this community stepping up to do what was needed. In that moment of darkness, a light shined to dispel it. So should we be to the rest of the world.
”.As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Ministry is important to the life of the Church. As of current, we have none. Our ministries allow us to incarnate Christ into the world, to manifest the love of God and bring light to wherever it is needed. Ministry allows each of us the opportunity to not only speak our love of God, but to do it as well. The ministry of the Church, as the body of Christ, as the Hospital for our souls, allows us to go into the world and be Christ to those who have never known him; to bring a taste, a sample, of the healing which the world cannot give, and the Church provides. It is by our ministry that the love of God will be known to the world, and it is by our love for one another that the world will know Christ through us.
Each of us has the capacity and capability to use those gifts we have been given to Glory of God. Not to repeat what Paul said, but to provide a little modern context: to those who can build, build up the Church to the glory of God; to those who are artists, create things of beauty to incarnation of the beauty and glory of God; to those who can write, write truth and increase understanding; to those who can speak, speak well and truthfully to the edification of all who hear; to those gifted with the skills of administration, keep in order the business of the Church and her people; to those who serve, do so in humility; to those with the fortitude to labor, labor for one another in love, and be the strength of the body of Christ. I can go on, for the gifts and abilities of the children of God are limitless, and maybe some yet undiscovered.
As we go through a time of growth, a time of change, and this time of transformation, may we grow into the praxis of our Orthodox faith and the teachings of the Church. As we embark upon this godward journey, let us also grow into ourselves, making use of whatever gifts we have been endowed with, whether they be physical, spiritual, or material in nature. As we move towards him, may we as the body of Christ be transfigured into the children of God we were created to be.
In the Epistle reading for today, Saint Peter writes of struggle, specifically here to that of servants under their masters. He exhorts them to be mindful of God in their suffering, and endure just as Christ endured. Indeed it is a gracious thing to be mindful of God when we suffer diverse sorrows, trials, and afflictions all for the sake of our faith. Yet, it is equally gracious for those of us who suffer likewise and simply endure because of our faith. For our faith is one of endurance, as Paul writes, stating that when we endure our sufferings for doing good, it is gracious in the sight of God. We are reminded elsewhere by James as to why we do so, writing in his Epistle that the crown of everlasting life is promised to those who love him who persevere in their faith. Though, it is not suffering to which we are called, for suffering in and of itself is not a good thing; but, the fruits of our suffering are what separate us from the world. In it we are tempered like steel against the anvil, and purified like a precious metal in the refiner’s fire. Our faith is a journey of purifying transformation.
Anyone who believes, or anyone who tells you that the Orthodox Christian faith is easy, anyone who says that a life lived in the shadow of the cross is comfortable, such a person is misguided. According to Saint Theophan the recluse, “All the saints accept the only true path to virtue to be pain and hard work… lightness and ease are a sign of a false path. Anyone who is not struggling, not in podvig, is in spiritual delusion” Podvig, a Russian word understood to mean “spiritual struggle,” is often used to describe our faith, for our faith is one of struggle. Our faith is a continual struggle against ourselves, against the passions of the flesh that persist against us daily. Our struggle is against the ailments of our minds and bodies in day to day life. Also, our struggle is against the world, against daily misfortunes, against people and their wills, against a symphony of noise wholly aligned against the silence of God. Nowhere in the whole of scripture was it ever lauded that our walk of faith would be easy. To say as much is a lie propagated by those false teachers and preachers of the prosperity Gospel, men and women who say that health, wealth and prosperity can be ours in this life through Christ.
Christ left everything behind in the performance of his ministry, and told others that did likewise, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” The Apostles lived austere lives, and all were martyred for their faith. The brightest lights of the Orthodox faith were the ones who sacrificed the most in the name of Christ, those who sacrificed of body, of ambition, of needs, of wealth and every worldly thing. Often when the world is at its darkest moments, the brightest lights shine through to dispel the shadows, such as those great Russian saints in Soviet Russia whom we venerate today. They have shown us that our way is not of this world, and have revealed that the greater our attachments to the things of this world, to the ambition and desires of self, the greater the sorrows of our struggle will be. The manner in which we respond to that struggle and suffering is a good barometer of our faith, and how close indeed we are to Christ in our lifelong pursuit of purification, and theotic illumination. Suffering and struggle proves the purity of the faith possessed of the faithful. It is a pure soul that meets hatred with love, injury with kindness, violence with peace, slander with silence, and insults with a smile.
How did the saints respond to their struggles within their own enduring faith? The Church recalls the response of Saint Lawrence, who was essentially grilled alive on a great gridiron over hot coals, entreated his torturers “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!” The desert father Saint Macarius came across someone robbing his cell, so helped him load his beast of burden with his own possessions and sent him on his way, recalling to himself that “We brought nothing into this world but the Lord gave, as he willed, so it is done: blessed be the Lord in all things.” One Saint was threatened with death, and replied, “Ok, and then what will you do to me?” Abba Anthony says of those not able to bear insults, “You are like a village magnificently decorated on the outside but destroyed from within by robbers.” So it goes, on and on with examples from the hagiography of the Church. The more we are attached to the things and matters of this world, the easier sorrows find our soul.
Indeed, there are those who are murdered for their faith, their light extinguished by the very darkness they sought to enlighten, but I say they have it easy. Though they have made the ultimate and final sacrifice for their faith, they had but one choice to make. They can choose to live, clinging to the dead promises of this world, or they can choose life in Christ, and their struggle is over. They will are wreathed in the crowns of martyrdom. Though, this is not a common circumstance for most, as few will be forced to make such a sacrifice living in the relative comfort of their home.
Christ is the way, the truth, and the Life.. His is the way because He is risen, enduring the death of the cross for all men, to open the gates of paradise. He is life because He is risen, trampling down death by death! He is Risen because He is God incarnate in the flesh, he who condescended to become one of us, that we may be able to become like him. Though, while He is Risen do not forget that we are still fallen. He is Risen, but we will only rise with him through the patient and enduring struggle of our faith. Ours is a faith of action, a spiritual life that lives in friction against the world. It is in this friction, this very day to day struggle that we truly come to know ourselves and the depths of our own faith..
Ours is a vigilant faith. Ours is an enduring faith. When the darkness comes, we patiently wait for the coming dawn. When sadness finds us, we wait till joy finds us again. When chaos crashes around us, we await for the peace that the world cannot give. When the rain falls, we remember that the Lord is merciful, the Lord is just, and he rains on both the just and the unjust. Where the rain falls, the sun shines likewise, so while we recognize and remember that all things come from God, we also accept that these are not the measures of our spiritual life. Each is a test of our faith, good and bad, our struggles and successes, and each brings a suffering of its own. For we indeed were exhorted to carry our crosses daily. If Christ can carry his cross, even falling three times, on his miserable sojourn to his own death, then surely we can endure our own crosses, carrying them as we march to our eternal life.
So, as we distance ourselves from the end of Great Lent, let us not forget the gains we have made from our own struggles of faith, the ascetic practices undertaken and with which we sever our attachments to the things of this world. Such practices are our spiritual struggle through which we build up our faith and strength of spirit. Our struggles with the things of this world are the means by which that faith is tested, and in the perseverance of an enduring faith made even stronger. However, if you find yourself feeling as though you missed out, as though you failed in prayer, repentance, fasting, or any number of spiritual exercises for the building of our faith, then fear not. Great Lent will come again, and we will be reminded once again that He is risen! For, indeed our faith is an enduring faith, a journey of struggle and growth through which we grow into Christ. Even though Great Lent is behind us, our life in this world is still standing before us, so we must keep watch just as Saint John of Kronstadt exhorts us:
“Every day, hour, and minute, keep a strict watch and consider every thought, desire, and movement of the heart, every word and deed, and do not let yourself be defiled by one sinful thought, desire, or movement of the imagination, in word or deed, knowing that the Lord is the Righteous Judge Who is judging you every instant and is evaluating the inner man. Continually keep yourself pure for God.”
Faith is life. Faith is continual. Faith is enduring. Faith finds growth through struggle. We have faith because – He is risen! He is risen! He is risen! May we all live to rise with him.
In our Gospel and Epistle readings this morning, we hear two different stories, with two different messages, yet both of them are related in that they point towards the same end. Though, I will admit that one story with the message “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last,” when held against another story about racing, seems somewhat counter productive, but I digress. That aside, they both point towards the same end, the same reward, and that is the crown of everlasting life promised to those who love him, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In both stories we see a labor for the reward received, not that we should believe that we receive it by what we do, but we shall receive nothing if we do nothing, for a faith without works is dead (James 2:16). In the Gospel reading all the laborers worked, though not all equally, and all received the same reward. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is speaking of a race, in which all compete, but will only receive the reward if they finish the race. In both cases, the plurality of voices found within the patristic witness of the Church agrees that these are active analogies of our faith, that the reward is indeed eternal life in Christ our God. I say they are active analogies because the case is clearly and plainly presented that our faith is an active faith. We must do something with our faith. A mental ascent and acquiescence to the teachings of the faith alone is not enough. Simply saying “we believe” and “we love” is not enough. Our faith is not a feeling. Simply checking the box and showing up on Sundays is not enough. Indeed our faith is an active faith, for an idle mind is the seed of many sins, but an idle body is the field from which they grow. We must remember the words of Christ, who himself exhorted, “if you love me, you will obey my commandments.”
So, in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians he uses the imagery of a race. It would not have been lost upon those hearing this letter read to them, that in those races Paul uses as an analogy, in order to race within those races, one must first be a Roman citizen in order to participate. So, before one can even participate in this race, our race to which Paul speaks, one must first be a citizen within the kingdom of heaven – a theme alluded to in some of his other writings – which is accomplished through our baptism and Chrismation into the body of Christ. So, this is a letter not only to the Corinthians, but to all baptized Christians to complete the race as athletes in Christ, so that they may receive the crown of glory as their prize. Yet, one cannot hope to succeed in any race, as I am sure some of our runners here can attest, unless they become proficient and practiced athletes. Yet, we do not run with sore feet, we do not lift heavy weights, we do not exert ourselves to physical feats of fortitude and glory, but our athleticism is a spiritual one; our training is found in the ascesis of the Church; our strength is found in Christ who grows in each of us, as we ourselves willingly and sacrificially decrease.
In the words of Tertullian of Carthage, in his own commentaries on these verses, he speaks to the same sentiment here:
“Your master, Jesus Christ has anointed you with the Spirit and has brought you to this training ground. He determined long before the day of the contest to take you from a softer way of life to a harsher regimen, that your strength may increase. Athletes are set apart for more rigid training to apply themselves to the building up of their strength. They are kept from lavish living, from more tempting dishes, from more pleasurable drinks. They are urged on, they are subjected to tortuous toils, they are worn out. The more strenuously they have exerted themselves, the greater is their hope of victory.”
We who are on the cusp of great Lent, are about to enter into the Marathon of our faith in the coming weeks, where we test our spirits, strengthen our resolve, and temper our very bodies and souls into the image and likeness of Christ. Yet, when Holy Week comes and goes, and Pascha passes us by, it is yet just another lap completed in the sacramental life we live within the sacramental rhythm of the Church. It is race we keep running till the day we take our last breath, and it is a reward not received until the day of the dread judgement when we can finally hear those sweet and gentle words of our Lord and Savior – well done my good and faithful servant.
So, how do we as mortal men and women become spiritual athletes in the eternal arena of our faith? How do we as Christians accomplish this in the scope and context of our faith? Using the words of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, we do this through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
“Prayer, fasting, vigils and all the other Christian practices may be, they do not constitute the aim of our Christian life. Although it is true that they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end, the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, are the only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God.”
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; these are the practices of our Christian faith that strengthen the spirit in those qualities virtue and goodness, and make us stronger spiritual athletes, with which we can overcome all obstacles of faith. These are the means by which we obtain the rewards promised to those who love him.
In our struggle to become better spiritual athletes, I will go over the three main spiritual exercises that strengthen us for the race ahead.
Exercise one – Prayer
“Prayer alone will give your soul the strength… In order to acquire spiritual muscles, you have to go to the spiritual gym.” – Elder Sergei of Vanves
Our prayer life is our spiritual gym. Our prayer is the locus by which all virtue is obtained, and in the words of Theophan the recluse:
“If you are not successful in your prayer, you will not be successful in anything, for prayer is the root of everything”
By prayer we unite the mind and heart, and also the mind and the heart with God. We pray so that God’s will would be done in this life; that whatever we have need of would be given; that whatever we do and all that we do, we do with full awareness that we depend God in all that he is, in all that we are.
Without prayer, there is no spiritual life alive within us. For, in the words of Saint Tikhon, “As a bird without wings, as a soldier without arms, so is a Christian without prayer.” So in his words we understand that without prayer we cannot rise to the heavens without wings, and we cannot engage in battle without arms, and so it is without prayer that we are flightless, defenseless, and without aid from on high. Yet, Prayer consisting of words alone is not of any assistance to us if the heart does not participate in prayer.
Our faith, our prayer, should become a state of being – it is not enough to say prayers, to simply be a Christian, but we must become our prayer, become a Christian, and incarnate our faith by word AND deed. Our prayer life should be lived, and our prayers should be interwoven with our life, otherwise they become vestigial words and phrases that we simply offer in our short periods we turn towards God. Our prayers and our actions should become two expressions of the same situation. Also, We must approach our prayer life as a mutual relationship of friendship. God must be the object of our prayer, our wanting, for the intensity and elation of our prayer is often about the object of our prayer rather than the one to whom our prayer is addressed.
“All of life, each and every act, every gesture, even the smile of the human face, must become a hymn of adoration, an offering, a prayer. One should offer not what one has, but what one is.”
This is the gift we give, our lives. We do this because it is the only gift we can give which is reciprocal of itself, given in response to the gift which we have received ourselves – which is eternal life.
Exercise two – Fasting
In addition to prayer, we find fasting as a prescription of the Church. We fast, in addition to, and in conjunction with prayer, in order to train the body, to train ourselves in resisting the passions of the flesh. For, If we cannot resist even the smallest morsel of food, then we have no hope in battling the greater temptations in our own lives. Start with the small act of fasting, and your foundation of iniquity will erode and collapse as though a house built on sand.
In a hymn by Saint Basil the Great, we hear the following words:
“Let us fast an acceptable and very pleasing fast to the Lord. True fast is the estrangement from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood perjury. Privation of these is true fasting.”
We fast from food to strengthen us in fasting from all things harmful and unneeded to our spiritual lives. Fasting is a means in which to practice self control on our path towards conquering the passions of the flesh. Fasting is an exercise of both penitence and sacrifice (for there is no love without sacrifice), which assist in conquering of self, and being more attentive to those in need. Indeed, fasting was a practice often commended by the Fathers of the early Church, and was considered a universally applied spiritual discipline, as can be seen in some following quotes:
“Just as the most bitter medicine drives out poisonous creatures, so prayer joined to fasting drives even sinful thoughts away.” – Amma Syncletia – Desert Mother.
“If a man goes about fasting and hungry, the enemies of his soul grow weak.” Abba John the Dwarf – Desert Father.
“There are three levels of partaking of food: abstinence, adequacy, and satiety. To abstain means to remain a little hungry after eating; to eat adequately means neither to be hungry nor to be weighed down; to be satiated means to be slightly weighed down. But eating beyond satiety is the door to belly-madness, through which lust comes in. But you, firm in this knowledge, choose what is best for you, according to you powers, without overstepping the limits.” Saint Gregory of Sinai
Last but certainly not least, Saint Basil the Great:
“Be cheerful since the physician has given you sin-destroying medicine. For just as worms breeding in the intestines of children are utterly eradicated by the most pungent medicines, so too, when a fast truly worthy of this designation is introduced into the soul, it kills the sin that lurks deep within.”
Fasting builds a quality of character in the Christian life through the mortification of the flesh. We conquer ourselves in the defeat of gluttony, for indeed the appetites of the flesh are roots of much evil. So, we counter sin with virtue, gluttony with fasting, and develop our ability for self control.
Exercise three – Almsgiving
Almsgiving is a practice of virtue that goes hand in hand with fasting, and prayer. When one practices virtue through prayer and fasting, one must also show our love of Christ, our love of one another through active and sacrificial giving to others. Like our prayers, like our fasting, we must remember to keep them always in secret, for what we do we do not for man, but in the presence of God alone.
We know that love fulfills the whole law, and is the greatest of the commandments, but scripture also tells us that there is no real love if we do not share what we have and/or have in excess with those who do not:
“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” ~1 John 3:17
“A Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” ~James 1:27
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” ~ James 4:17
There are many other verses in scripture that attest to the necessity of our attention and care to others in need. A spiritual man must give of his own sustenance cheerfully and not reluctantly to those who are poor, and in need. The giving of alms must also be sacrificial (for again there is no love without sacrifice), so we must take from ourselves when we give to others. We give for the sake of others, for if we first do not see ourselves in the other, then we may never see Christ, for “your neighbor is your true self. You have no self in yourself.” Also, in the words of Saint Basil, “If every man took only what was sufficient for nis needs, leaving the rest to those in want, there would be no rich and, and there would be no poor.”
All earthly possessions are not our own, but belong to the creator of all things. As such, men are but stewards and caretakers of all that belongs to the Lord, and as such we should be good stewards with what we have been entrusted with, that we would be rewarded with even greater treasures in heaven. Saint Basil the Great says that a man who has two coats or two pair of shoes, when his neighbor has none, is a thief. For us to store up earthly possessions, Christ has told us, is foolishness.
For those who strive for the perfection of Christ, to give is to gain. He who is truly perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect is one who gives, and who has given all things for the sake of others. Such a man is truly living a spiritual life, for he has no attachment to the things of this world, and it is man’s attachment to the things of this world that causes much suffering, both to ourselves and to others.
In Conclusion:
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the three great ascetic practices of our faith, the exercise and growth of our spiritual lives in the race we run towards the reward of our eternal life. If we grow in our spiritual lives, grow in strength through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, we become able athletes in the race of faith that lies before us. Yet, our spiritual life is far more than just our thoughts and feelings, and in fact it is comprised of the whole human experience, the full depth of our humanity: thought, feeling, heart, soul, vision, mind, and body. Not only this, our spiritual lives should be comprised of our everyday experiences – work, school, our social life, family life, home life – and not just be compartmentalized to Church on Sunday mornings. We should live our life cognizant of the sacramental rhythm in which we exist as Orthodox Christians, and incarnating Christ in our lives not just on Sunday, but in everything that we do. The spiritual life is important for all Christians, because it is the only life that a Christian can live, it is the only life that directs our whole being towards Jesus Christ. Any other life lived is but a poor imitation, and a life lived beneath our intended human dignity.
We must be cognizant that spiritual growth only happens by patient struggle, struggles with temptation, pride, the passions, and ourselves. Though, in fighting through our myriad struggles, we must remember to have faith in spite of what happens, and not because of it, for our faith is what brings us hope.
Children of God – A Homily given on January 13, 2019
Christ is Born!
As many of you are well aware, we celebrated the Nativity, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ this past Monday morning. It was and is a joyous day, the first major feast day within the liturgical year and within the sacramental rhythm of the life of the Church. It is the day that the Son of God became incarnate in flesh. As we say every Sunday in the words of the Nicene Creed, that for us men, and for our salvation He came down from Heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
God became man, and He became of his own volition that which we are by nature. He assumed Human nature, yet never sacrificing or diminishing his Divinity, His divine nature. By His incarnation, he participated fully in our Human nature, our humanity, so that we might be able to participate in His divinity. By the condescension of His incarnation, we are allowed to become by His Grace, that which He is by nature. This is of course theosis, the deification of Man, wherein he strives become like God.
Christ was the child of a woman, and adopted by Joseph, for he was not his by flesh or by blood, and he received sonship from His Father by this adoption. For in those days, when one was adopted by the Father, the patriarchal head of the household. the paterfamilias, he was granted not only His sonship by this adoption, but all the rights of inheritance from the Father also. Those sons thus adopted, became heirs to the estate. So, it is for a reason that scriptures emphasize our place as the children of the father, and that this is accomplished through our adoption by God as Sons and daughters of the living God.
We hear one instance of this concept of adoption in our Epistle reading this morning:
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God”
And we also hear it elsewhere in scriptures, in Romans Chapter 8:
“14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
And yet again in 1 John Chapter 3:
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
Indeed it is an astonishing act of love, that while we were all yet sinners, we should be adopted as Sons and Daughters, the children of God. This is a gift bestowed by the Love and grace of God. For, it is indeed glorious to be the child of an earthly king, to be accounted royalty by birth or by right, but how much more glorious and beyond compare is it to become the children of the Heavenly King. Yet, while we are elevated by our adoption into the heavenly kingdom, Christ condescended to become man by his birth and subsequent adoption into the earthly realm. He was born of the Virgin Mary into His humanity, and we are born into our birthright of the Heavenly Kingdom by our Baptism.
Let us remember our Baptisms, by which we received His most exalted mercy, that we should be called the children of God. As Children, we strive to be like our parents, for they are the ones that lead us in our growth, following in their steps, reaching towards their likeness. Therefore, let us follow in the steps of Christ, who is fully God, showing by our word and deed that we are indeed the Children of the living God. We should be holy just as He is holy. God is righteous, so too should we also strive to be righteous. God is Good, so too should we also strive to be good. He is merciful, so let us also be merciful, and compassionate. He is the Pure One and despises sin, so let us also despise sin, turning away from it, but let us never despise the sinner or turn away from them who are wounded in their sin. As God forgives, let us also forgive, for by the same measure by which we forgive, this shall be used against us. As Paul exhorts in his letter to the Ephesians “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children.” We we have shown ourselves worthy as Children of God, we shall receive the inheritance of the Kingdom, and the crowns of everlasting life promised to those who Love Him.
What is the Kingdom of God, that royal and heavenly inheritance to which we are promised as the true Children of God? To begin with, the Church is the Kingdom of God on earth; and the abode of the Holy Spirit, by which the presence and power of the Kingdom is identified. So, it is the Church which Christ built and left to us, this is the Kingdom we are inheriting, the Holy Spirit abiding in us. The Kingdom of God is Incarnated through the Church, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us as the perfecter of all things, our participation in the divine nature of God incarnating Christ within the Church. As the Apostle Paul has exhorted in his letter to the Romans, “The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.” So, it is Jesus Christ that we must pursue in our lives, and in our pursuit of His holiness, following in His steps, we in turn become Holy.
The sole purpose of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, the means by which we inherit the Kingdom of God as the Children of God, and this is achieved by the perfecting of virtue, as Saint Seraphim of Sarov details in his book, On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit:
“Prayer, fasting, vigils and all the other Christian practices may be, they do not constitute the aim of our Christian life. Although it is true that they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end, the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, are the only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God.”
Christ is born, and through Him is born the Church; through Him is born the means of repentance; through him is born the means of sonship, and by virtue of this is given to us the means of inheritance of the Kingdom of God. By His birth, death, and resurrection, are we given the same opportunity for a rebirth by our baptism, our death to this world, and the same resurrection into eternal life in the presence of God. While Christ is Born, it is yet by His death that we are given the means to get there, by a continual repentance, participation, and purification of our very soul, so that it might withstand the scourging fires of God’s love.
This purification is but the first step in our Theoria, or the process of our gazing at, and being aware of God. It is the first step we take towards our own perfection. Yet, that step takes us closer to the source of Divine light, and as we move closer to the divine, we become more intimately aware of our misgivings and imperfections. The process of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit begins, and continues in repentance. Yet, we never really leave this stage, it is our continual journey on the spiritual way. It is the endless journey that we partake of in this life, and the next.
How does one purify their heart? Abba Poemon, a Desert Father of the Church, once said, “Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.” If we have truly given our heart to God, then only the things of God can truly satisfy our heart. We give our hearts to God with the simplicity of a child’s love and acceptance, fully dependent on a faith knowing that our Father will provide for us, as our need and His will requires. “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” A child is young and unassuming, they have not acquired wisdom and hold no great strength of knowledge. Children are curious and without guile. They are a book whose pages are still empty, yet to be filled with the knowledge of this world. So should our hearts be, so that the truths of revelation may be written there as we contemplate upon God.
Christ is born, and a child is born to us, the Son of God incarnated as a child of men, so that we may in turn become the children of God. Christ is born, adopted by Joseph as his Father, so that we may be adopted as Sons and Daughters of the Almighty. Christ is born, the creator of all things contained in a child’s body, weak and helpless, so that we may become like a child before God, weak and helpless in our infirmities. Christ is born, the giver of life who in the end chose death, so that we who are doomed to destruction, might in the end, choose life.
