HOMILY: Becoming Truth.

HOMILY: Becoming Truth – October 20th, 2019.

Readings: Matthew 9:1-9

I would like to begin with the story of Sergios and Bakkhos, two martyrs of the Church whom we remember today.

The Holy Martyrs Sergios and Bakkhos were appointed to high positions in the army by the emperor Maximian (who ruled from the years 284-305), who did not know that they were Christians. Malevolent persons denounced them both to Maximian, that his two military-commanders did not honour the pagan gods, and this was considered a crime against the state.

The emperor, wanting to convince himself of the veracity of the denunciation, ordered Sergios and Bakkhos to offer sacrifice to the idols, but they answered, that they honored but the One God and Him only did they worship.

Maximian commanded that the martyrs be stripped of the insignia of military rank, and then having dressed them in feminine clothing to lead them through the city with an iron chain on the neck, for the mockery by the people. Then he again summoned Sergios and Bakkhos to him and in a friendly approach advised them not to be swayed by Christian fables and instead return to the Roman gods. But the saints remained steadfast. Then the emperor commanded that they be dispatched to the governor of the eastern part of Syria, Antiochus, a fierce hater of Christians. Antiochus had received his position with the help of Sergios and Bakkhos. “My fathers and benefactors! – he addressed the saints, – have pity not only upon yourself, but also on me: I do not want to condemn you to martyrdom”. The holy martyrs replied, that for them life – is Christ, and death for Him – its acquisition. In a rage Antiochus ordered Bakkhos to be mercilessly beaten, and the holy martyr expired to the Lord. They put iron shoes on Sergios feet inset with nails and sent him off to another city, where he was beheaded with the sword. All this transpired in the year 300 A.D.

So, why do we remember such as these in the life of the Church?

We are the Church of remembering. We remember those who have gone before us, for they point us towards Christ; they show us what it means to be our faith; they show us how we should respond to the world around us. We remember those who walk beside us. We remember what lies ahead of us as we walk together in Christ towards the eschaton. The Church takes great care to maintain the hagiography of our saints, the stories of those who have passed into memory, for they represent the living witness of our faith. They represent the very essence in both word and in deed in what it means to be Christian. They have gone before us, but they march ever ahead of us, for they have paved the road we now walk on. It is yet another paradox of the Christian faith, like the first shall be last and the last shall be first, when I am weak, I am strong; or the meek shall inherit the earth. Those who have come before us, walk ahead of us, living icons of Christ, lamps unto our feet.

So what is the lesson we can learn from the story of Sergios and Bakkhos, those knights and martyrs of the Orthodox faith? Always speak truth to power. We must not be like the world who seeks to change the very definitions of truth within the world around us. Who changes truth simply to be acceptable to others. We must not be like the world who seeks to confuse and disorient, shifting like sand so no foundation can be laid for one to stand on, till one is left standing like Pilate before Christ and muttering those words of searching: what is truth? We know what truth is. Truth is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Truth is found in the Church, for the Church is the Body of Christ, who IS Truth. The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15), which was established upon the apostles and prophets as her foundation (Eph 2:20). We must never be afraid to speak Christ into the world, into the face of opposition, nor persecution. We must always stand to speak Truth in the face of lies, Truth against heresies, or Truth to those in power. Truth is the last great rebellion in a world imbued with falsity and fantasy. The world may threaten our lives, but we have life eternal. The world may take away our wealth, but it was never ours to begin with, and we have even greater treasures in the kingdom of God. The world might not kill us, but it will wound us. We will be wounded time and time again in both heart, mind, soul, and God forbid in body.

Lucky for us Christ is the Great Physician. The Church, as the body of Christ, who is the great physician, is the great hospital for our very souls. To the world we may seem like an asylum of sorts, and some very well may treat us as such. Remember the words of Saint Anthony the Great when he said “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, “You are mad; you are not like us.” One could reasonably say such a time is upon us. Yet, also remember the words of scripture that tells us that truth, Christ, and the message of the Cross seems like insanity to the world, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. To those of us who are being saved, it is the word of life. To those of use who are being saved, no other word matters.

Can we expect a blind man to know the sky is blue? Can we expect the deaf man to hear the words of truth? Can we expect one dying of cancer to know that he is dying, or what it is that afflicts him, unless a doctor tells him? We must be the truth to those who need it, in our words and in our lives. We become truth and take Christ into the world. We reveal their illness, talk about their wounds, and reveal the scars of our own wounds to give them hope. We seek out those in need of healing, and bring them to the great physician to be healed. The Church is the great hospital for our souls, and all are bidden. Yet, not all may come. Some cannot come on their own. Some may need the helping hands of another.

In our Gospel reading today we heard the tale of Jesus healing the paralytic. As soon as he had left his boat, and arrived into his own town, two men carried a parlyzed man to him, lying on a mat. This was a man that depended on others to be brought before Christ. When Christ set his eyes upon them, he saw not the faith of the paralyzed man, but the faith of those who brought him. It was by their faith that Jesus Christ healed the paralytic. And so he arose, healed of his infirmities of both body and soul, and carried himself back to his home.

The Church is our home. We who have been healed are the two men carrying the paralytic. Some of us, at one time, used to be the paralytic. Maybe some of us still are. Yet, we should be carrying others back to the Church in the fullness of our own faith, so that the other may be healed; that the other may find their own faith, and walk home to the Church on their own. One day, they too shall carry another back to the great Physician, for the healing of soul and body. For we are the Church, and we stand together. We are one body, brought together in one cup, one loaf, and one and the same belief and teaching. We fall alone.

Christ tells us that where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them. Sergios and Bakkhos stood together against the world, and Christ was with them both. Those two men stood with the paralytic, for the paralytic, and Christ was with them also. May we stand with one another always, to face the world in all that it shall bring. So, may we now stand together in one faith and one accord, for Christ is in our midst; he is and ever shall be.

Amen

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Homily: Be opened.

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Homily: Be opened. – September 1, 2019

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen

I would like to open with a reading from the Old Testament today. It is not one we have heard read today, but it is wholly relevant to what we have heard so far, and what I have to say.

From Isaiah chapter 35, beginning at verse 3:
3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The whole of the Old Testament points towards forwards towards the messianic promise, points forwards towards Christ, but this particular verse is a direct prophecy of Christ which we hear partially fulfilled in our Gospel reading for today (Mark 7:31-37). In this reading we hear of the man who was deaf and dumb, as they say, who was brought to Christ by others to be healed. Christ pulled him to the side, stuck his fingers in his ears, spitting on his finger and touching the man’s tongue, he looked to the heavens and said one of the few obscure Aramaic words we hear in the Gospels: Ephphatha.

This word means to be opened. In the Greek, which is given along side the Aramaic, the word is dianoigō (διανοίγω), which specifically in this case means to be opened, but more generally used it refers to an opening of the heart; an opening of the mind and the understanding; to open one’s self to the sense of a thing. Yet, why did Christ find it necessary to speak this word as part of this act of healing? Could He not have just healed the man through the spirit? Could He not have just willed his healing into existence? Of course the answer is yes, but he does this because words have power. Words have the power to heal, and the power to destroy. Words have the power to build up and encourage, as well as tear down. Words are important. In fact, in the chapter preceding our Epistle reading for today, Saint Paul speaks at length about the gift of speaking in tongues and prophesying. What we say matters.

The Son of God spoke all of creation into existence, for indeed He is the Word of God. Christ drove out evil spirits with but a word. Saint James warns us of the dangers of the tongue and the words we speak, with Christ corroborating this in the Gospel of Matthew by warning us that “those things which proceed out of the mouth comes from the heart,” and these are what defile a man. Those that came to Christ in His ministry – the man with leprosy, the Centurion, the paralytic, and others – when asked what they needed, though God knew regardless of the request, they spoke their needs to Christ that they may be heard and met likewise. We pray so that our needs might be heard, rising before the saints and the throne of God like incense that they might be heard (Psalm 141:2, Revelations 8:4) Even Saint John of Kronstadt places an importance upon the words we speak into this world, exhorting that “man, in all his words, does not die. He is immortal in them, and they speak after his death.” So, if we should be judged by that which we say, then surely we should be mindful of that which we say, and what manner of words we bring into the world. Do we speak slander, or do we speak praise? Do we speak Truth, or babble on endlessly about the things of this world. Be mindful.

Christ spoke words of healing, because He is the Great Physician. Christ spoke words of Truth, because he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Christ calls each of us to be opened, so that we can be healed of our spiritual deafness, so that we may receive the Truth. The healing of the deaf man is a metaphor for all men. It can be taken as an analogy of the Christian life, speaking of those outside the Church in the wilderness (of the world) alluded to in Isaiah chapter 35.

As those few of you who have attended my classes may have learned by now, I filter my theological viewpoint and my entire basis of understanding the Truth through the understanding of the Church, for the Church is the pillar and foundation of Truth (1 Tim 3:15). So, with that being said, the deaf man is every man standing outside the Church. He cannot receive the Truth. He cannot speak the truth because he does not know it. But, Christ calls each of us to be opened, but it is not an opening that can be forced. He wills each of us to be opened to the Truth, but we must first turn towards Christ, and do so by our own volition. All are called, but not all respond. Christ came for all mankind, but not all will receive Him. Christ speaks, but not all hear his words. He meets everyone where they are in life, but not all will experience Him. So, how can a blind man see the sun? He cannot see it, but he can feel it. How can a deaf man hear the words of truth? He cannot hear it, but he can see it, or experience it. The Truth must be incarnated into the world, becoming all things to all people, so that all spiritual infirmities may be overcome for the receiving of the Truth. We must bring the Truth to all men, so that man may know and accept it; turning towards Christ; turning towards the Church; turning towards the Great Physician and the Hospital for our souls, so that we may be healed of our spiritual infirmities..

Most of us started in the world, living for the world. We encountered the Truth and accepted it, turning towards Christ, and subsequently the Church. We repented of our sins. We knocked on the door of the Church by our act of confession, where the wounds of our souls were healed with the absolution of forgiveness. We put on the garment of baptism, sealed with the oil of Chrismation, and were allowed into the Church, the body of Christ. We approached the Lord’s table to partake of the Holy Mysteries, becoming one with the Truth. We are now a living stone of the Church, the body of Christ. Our eyes are opened. Our ears are unstopped. Our tongues are loosed. It is now our responsibility to share this Truth we have received to those who would receive it. In word and in deed we must incarnate Christ in the world, for this is the way of Holiness mentioned in Isaiah chapter 35, and this is what we are called to be. We must preach the Gospel message to all mankind in both word and in deed; to all the spiritually deaf and blind who have yet to turn towards Christ amidst their clinging to the things of this world

Yet, what is the Truth? What is this Gospel message that we are so inclined to declare unto the world? We find the answer to this in our Epistle reading for today (1 Cor. 15:1-10). We hear Saint Paul making dogmatic statements which we are so familiar with, and hear every Sunday in the words of the Nicene Creed:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

We preach the resurrected Christ, for He is Risen! This is the pivotal and most important act of Christ’s ministry on earth. Even though Pascha is behind us, it is also simultaneously ever before us in the sacramental rhythm of the Church, and we must always remember the Risen Christ. We must always be willing to proclaim that He is risen, and do so with every fiber of our being, every moment of our daily lives in all that we say and do. He is risen, he who endured 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. If Christ had never risen from the grave, then we should never leave it. If Christ had never risen, then death would never have been defeated. If Christ had never risen, then his death upon the cross would have been in vain, and our entire Christian life an empty promise.

He died so that we may live in the presence of God. We live, so that others may die to this world and all that it may bring. We all die to the world so that we may all live in Christ. So let us speak the truth so that it may be heard. Let us incarnate the Truth, so that the Truth may be experienced; the truth may be seen; the truth may be felt; and the truth may be known. By the truth may all ears be opened, that all men may hear and know the Truth of the risen Christ, and turn towards Him to be healed of their infirmities of spirit, and to be healed of infirmities of mind, body, and soul. You were once deaf, but now you can hear. You were once mute, but now your mouth is opened to proclaim the truth. So then, we must ask ourselves, why aren’t we?

By the prayers of our holy Fathers and Mothers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

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Homily: Nativity of John the Baptist.

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Homily: Nativity of John the Baptist – July 7th, 2019

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

We hear these words, a few among many read to us every Sunday, found in the final Gospel reading of the Divine Liturgy, taken from John chapter 1. Indeed he was sent from God and today we celebrate his being sent. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Holy, Glorious, Forerunner and Baptist John. He is the first joy sent to the human race by God. He is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, just as the prophet Isaiah foretold, a voice crying “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God …And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Regarding the Nativity of Saint John, Saint Ephraim the Syrian had this to say:

“He who was to baptize with water would proclaim him who would baptize with fire and with the Holy Spirit. The light, which was not obscure, would proclaim the Sun of Justice. The one filled with the Spirit would proclaim concerning him who gives the Spirit. The priest calling with the trumpet would proclaim concerning the one who is to come at the sound of the trumpet at the end. The voice would proclaim concerning the Word, and the one who saw the dove would proclaim concerning him upon whom the dove rested, like the lightning before the thunder.”

Saint John was the first prophet since the time of Malachi, with no prophetic word of God having been uttered for hundreds of years since then. God was silent. Now, the priest of the temple was also silent, having no voice to speak with, silenced by an Angel of the Lord.. Also, the King who ruled all of Judea was not even Jewish, and sat as a false and illegitimate king. These three offices, later fulfilled in Christ, were currently vacant (the prophets), silent (the priest), or without validity (the king). So, it was time to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, and so he sent his prophet John, uttering those words we hear throughout the whole of the Old Testament: Repent!

The entirety of the Old Testament points forward to the coming of Christ. Saint John is the final voice of proclamation before His coming. John would baptize for the remission of sins, but Christ would come to remove them. Saint John would point to the Law, he was a finger pointing at God who exhorted all who would hear him to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Then, the Kingdom of Heaven would arrive, and Christ would come to assume the mantle of the Law, becoming the Law of the Spirit of Life. John would orient us towards God, who would then come as the Son of God incarnate in the flesh, and we would be expected to follow. We would follow Christ because He is the Son of the living God, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The timing of the Forerunner’s birth, exactly half a year before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, depicts his mission and ministry of preparation, to prepare the way for the Lord. During this time of year, our days grow shorter after the Solstice of the summer Season. Looking forward to the birth of Christ, the days then begin to grow longer. We see embodied the living psalter of God, written across the colors and creatures of all creation, those words later spoken by John at the inception of Christ’s ministry: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The birth of Saint John is closely intertwined with the birth of our Lord. The aged Elizabeth gave birth to John, who would live to become the last of the prophets. The Virgin Mary was a young girl, who would give birth to He who is the word of God, the author of Creation, the breather of stars. Elizabeth, the daughter of Aaron, would give birth to the voice crying in the wilderness. Mary, the daughter of David, would give birth to the very voice and word of God. Elizabeth gave birth to he who would strive to reconcile men through repentance, but the Mother of God bore He who purify all of creation, an act completed by both John and Jesus through baptism – John through the baptism of Men, and Christ through His own baptism, sanctifying all the waters of creation. One would baptize with the waters of creation, and the other would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit through which creation would be perfected and cleansed.

“Today the formerly barren woman gives birth to Christ¹s Forerunner, who is the fulfillment of every prophecy; for in the Jordan, when he laid his hand on the One foretold by the prophets, he was revealed as Prophet, Herald, and Forerunner of God the Word.”

~ Kontakion of the feast

Saint John is a prophet, but Christ has said that he is greater than a prophet. Saint John is but a man, but Christ has said “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” For, as Saint John Chrysostom has said , indeed “he lived as though he were already in heaven, and having got above the necessities of nature, he travelled as it were a new way, spending all his time in hymns and prayers, and holding intercourse with none among men, but with God alone continually.” Saint John was the Forerunner of God both in life, and in death. He preceded the Son of God in life in this world, so would he also precede the Song of God in death at his beheading by Herod, another day the Church will remember later this year. Though I could find no writings saying as much, I believe that Saint John continued even in death his proclamation of repentance even in Hades. I envision him making straight the way of the Lord from this life into the next, preaching Christ to those who had not yet heard the good news, so that when the good news finally arrived, they were ready to accept it.

We who are the body of Christ are called like the forerunner to proclaim the miraculous and wonderful works of God, the good news of salvation, the healing of soul and body, and life eternal in Jesus Christ our Lord. We are called to follow Christ and incarnate the Love of God into the world created by Him, because the world knows Him not. We heed the words of the Forerunner, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” for repentance begins our walk of faith as we turn Godward away from the things of this world. Our walk of faith brings forth the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as the Church serves to incarnate Christ into the world.

“O Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ, we who venerate thee with love, are in perplexity how worthily to praise thee; for the barrenness of her who bore thee and the dumbness of thy father are loosed by thy glorious and precious nativity, and the incarnation of the Son of God is preached to the world.”

~Troparion of the feast

Oh glorious John the Baptist and Forerunner, may we deem to follow you on those paths you have lain straight in preparation for our Lord Jesus Christ, that we too should follow you into death, and unto life eternal.

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Homily – Sunday after Nativity 2019

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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.

Amen.