Homily: 17th Sunday After Pentecost

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We are one. We find our unity in our love; not the pseudo facsimile of love that the world can only offer, but the love of God, the love of one another, and a peace which the world cannot give. We are one in Christ: One God, One Truth, one cup, one loaf, one teaching, one faith, and one Church. With the Love of which the Gospel speaks, and which Paul demands of us, there is nothing that can divide us, and nothing that can move us. The Church is still here. We are still here.

United in Love

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

The world would have you believe that truth is relative. That there is no absolute truth. The world would have you believe that truth is an individual thing: his truth, her truth, their truth. Lacking absolute truth they seek for those things outside themselves with which they mostly identify, things outside themselves which have little to do with their personhood as found in their humanity created in the image and likeness of their creator: their gender identity, their sexual identity, their social status, their wealth, and everything that lies between. Each broken person is a patchwork quilt of disparate and unrelated ideologies under which they try to find comfort. It is in this individuality with which they have fashioned for themselves their own image away from the image and likeness of their Creator, and it is in this false image of humanity with which they try to find or create community. They are all individual pieces of an unknown puzzle. The picture is a stranger to everyone, even those holding the pieces. They throw themselves together within the same puzzle box, thinking that coexistence somehow replaces that of communion and community. They somehow believe that proximity results in relationships and yet they have nothing of themselves to share with one another other than those things external to themselves instead of anything that’s actually of themselves or even theirs to give. They are “bonded” by the shifting vagaries of the world which will change at the next oncoming social tide. This is a sad and broken existence. The world is insane; for, they continue to do the same things over and over again while expecting a different result; yet, they continue to be broken, continue to be lost, continue in a hopeless misery of life because they lack the absolute truth revealed in the fullness of God. They keep seeking for more because the world has nothing more to give. Their houses are built on foundations of sand, and this is why with time, they nearly always collapse. However, Truth is eternal. Truth is unchanging. Truth is the firm foundation on which we all stand.

We are unconfused about our humanity and who we are. We are certain of ourselves because we are certain of God. We know ourselves because we know Christ. Our purpose is absolute because Truth is absolute. While we recognize the brokenness of man, we understand the frailty and futility of our human condition amidst the vagaries of an often harsh and unforgiving world. We may be broken, but our Hospital, the Church, is here to heal us. We may be bruised, shaken down and trampled underfoot, but we are certainly not divided, and will never be destroyed. We are one just as God is one, and we are united in the love of God. If we are each living stones of the body of Christ, then we are bound together by God’s love as a spiritual mortar, for this love is no common love, as Saint John Chrysostom says, but that which cements us together, and makes us cleave inseparably to one another, and effects as great and as perfect a union as though it were between limb and limb. For this is that love which produces great and glorious fruits.

This is the kind of love we hear about in our Gospel reading for today: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” We give ourselves to God, but we also give ourselves to one another. We give to God ourselves, our whole thoughts, our whole understanding, and our whole life, leaving no part of ourselves no part of our lives that may be justly unfilled by Him. This type of love is absent of self and pride, for we love God first, and then all others, before we even come into our own picture. What’s more, Christ himself has said that “those who love me will keep and obey my commandments.” So, you see, love is not about how we feel, love is not about our emotions, love is not a statement, but it is an action. We love God, we love others, and manifest that love by that which we do in obedience to Him who gave us all things. That being said, what do we do that requires the most time and attention? Is it God? Is it our neighbor? Or is it some paltry thing, or something external to us? Keep this in mind: We become what we love, and who or what we love shapes what we become. If we love God, we become more like God. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, then we become nothing.

Look at those sitting next to you. Look at those around you. You are bound together in an eternal felicity found only in the knowledge and love of Christ. You are each bonded together by the blood of Christ. You share in your lives and salvation by the body and blood of Christ as an eternal food and remedy. We love each other because we love Christ, and it is in Christ by which we are all united. So we must think of this when we fail, not only Christ, not only ourselves, but all those to whom we share this eternal bond. Love is a choice, but Sin is also a choice, and it only seeks to rend that which God has brought together.

Sin is the antithesis to unity, and we see the results of this within the world around us. So when we face down our passions and the temptations of the flesh, when we get angry or choose to do something that would harm ourselves or another, would we do this to them, to any of these sitting around us? Remember this, because we are so united by the Love of God, anything we do apart from that affects not only us but the Church, and all those to whom we are bound by love. This is why confession is so important, because it not only heals our own wounds, but brings us back together with those we have willfully separated ourselves away from, even if we do not yet know it. Confession heals not only our own wounds, but those wounds we have inflicted upon the Church, those wounds we have inflicted upon one another, to those sitting around us, by way of our own negligence

Closing with the words of our blessed Father among the saints, Saint John Chrysostom, I leave you with this: “ Indeed, love is a strong wall, impregnable not only to men, but also to the devil. He who is surrounded by a multitude of those who love him cannot fall into danger; he has no reason to be angry, but always feels peace of heart, joy and gladness; there is no reason to be jealous; there are no occasions for vindictiveness. Look how easily he carries out both his spiritual and worldly affairs. Who can compare to him? He is like a city completely shielded by walls; and he [who has no love] is like a city without any protection.”

By the prayers of thy most pure mother, the holy and God bearing fathers, all the saints and the martyrs and the angels, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Homily: Sunday of the Blind Man

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HOMILY: Sunday of the Blind Man – May 24, 2020

Readings: Acts 20:17-38, Epistle James 1:22-27, Gospel Reading John 9:1-38

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

Christ is Risen!

So, today is the Sunday of the Blind man, and I am sure that the irony of my giving the homily on this day is not lost on any of you. Yet, as we remember this story, I cannot help but look back towards Pascha, where Christ rose from the dead, and also forward toward ascension where Christ will rise to sit at the right hand of God the Father, from whence “He shall come again to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.” Yet, in between these days we follow a thread of Sundays and stories tracing a path of faith, and restoration. Pascha was a season of penitence, a season of turning ourselves to God. The weeks that follow are a season of receiving, of acceptance, and of healing, for indeed the Church is the very hospital for our souls.

The first Sunday after Pascha is the Sunday of St. Thomas, wherein Thomas believed when he saw Christ’s hands, feet, and pierced side. Then came the Sunday of the Myrrh bearing women, who saw Christ’s Tomb, and preached Christ is Risen to the Apostles. After this, we have the healing of the Paralytic, who by some transgression of his own was left paralyzed for a lengthy season of his life. Christ gave a command, and he obeyed, and so he was healed. Then today, we have the Sunday of the blind man, who disadvantaged by no fault of his own, was rendered without sight, that the Glory of God may be made manifest at this very moment, not only for the blind man’s sake, but for the sake of those who followed.

Great and Holy Pascha saw the brilliant light of Christ’s resurrection dispel the terrible darkness of the tomb, mankind having been trapped within, because the wages of sin is death. Christ’s resurrection illuminated the path that man had wandered for so long in spiritual darkness, becoming a lamplight at our feet. Yet, a blind man cannot see the light of the sun, but only feel the warmth of its radiance upon his face. He knows it is there, but that is enough. A blind man cannot walk the path, lest one who can see it leads him on the way. One cannot see what lies ahead, unless his eyes are opened, for even in being led down the path, one may still encounter the unexpected, and stumble over the unknown. Even though we who are present here today can see the light of life, and the very joy of our salvation, Jesus Christ, we should not forget that we too were once blind. We should all see ourselves in the blind man. We should see in the blind man a faith expected of us from the gift we have received, and our expectations of the world to whom the cross is foolishness.

Let us remember in the chapter before this, Christ was in the temple with the Jews. He had spoken to the Jews, saying “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” But, who will follow what they cannot see? The Jews did not believe because they were spiritually blind, and their eyes were closed. So, the Jews rejecting the revelations of Christ, left the temple. Christ and the Apostles encountered the blind man, whereon the Apostles asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Now, it is a reasonable question given that at the healing of the paralytic some time before, of which we celebrated last Sunday, the words of Christ attributed his ailment to his sins, where upon his healing he was told “behold, you are made whole, sin no more.”

Christ came to him unbidden; Christ did not ask if he wished to be healed for the blind man knew nothing else, having been born with his infirmity. Yet, if we look back to the healing of the paralytic, Christ asked him if he wished to be healed, for he was fully aware of his state, and how he ended up where he was. The blind man was given without request, without prayer, and without any sign of faith. This is grace. This is the free gift of healing, or σῴζω, often translated as salvation in the scriptures. Christ, who created the heavens and the earth, who authored all of creation, He who spoke all things into existence, He who created man from the dust of the earth, knelt down and fashioned clay with his own spittle and dirt, then placed it over the blind man’s eyes. Some say he fashioned new eyes with the very clay. Then, Christ’s work complete, commanded him to wash in the pool at siloam. The blind man was bidden by the unseen, and by faith he obeyed, and in his obedience his eyes were opened. Such is our own life in Christ.

The story of the blind man is the story of us all. We were all blind, but now we can see. We were all blind, but healed by the grace of God, and by our own obedience and contrition of heart, our eyes were opened in the waters of baptism, for which the blind man’s bathing in the pools of siloam is a typology. We were blind, but now we can see the light of life, and fully see, receive, and experience the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is within this joy that we proclaim Christ to the world, much like the myrrh bearing women preached the Risen Christ to the apostles; and the blind man, once healed, proclaimed Christ to the Pharisees, even though he did not yet know who Christ was as the Son of the living God. For, it was not by great knowledge of God that he was healed and brought to Truth, but by faith. All knowledge of Truth can be brought by faith. Indeed, the Pharisees had all knowledge of Truth, but not Truth itself; they possessed great intellectual wealth, but were poor in spirit. They lacked faith.

Our Epistle reading for today tells us about this faith; a faith in action and what it looks like (in part), giving us an idea of what the Pharisees lacked. They were hearers of the word, but not doers. The Pharisees thought themselves religious, but their praxis of faith was empty, and without justification. For the θρησκεία, or religion, of the Pharisees was one of intellect alone. They knew the prayers, but did not live them. They knew of love, for God is Love, but possessed none themselves. They possessed the Law, but did not follow it. They worshiped God, but their offering was empty, because they lacked a “broken and contrite heart,” of which God will not despise.

We, as the body of Christ, are to manifest Christ into the world; we as the body of Christ are to live out and manifest the light Truth and the joy of salvation into this world. This is why we hear James, the same who penned that “faith without works is dead,” also wrote in our epistle reading for today that “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

So as we regard the courageousness declarations of the blind man before the Pharisees, we look forward to the ascension of Christ, only a few days ahead of us, whereupon we receive our great commission to go forth into the world and “ make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” For, the joys of Holy Pascha are not confined to a season; the joy of our salvation is not confined to us alone who have received it; the light of Christ is not confined to the Church, for one does not light a lamp to hide it under a basket; the light of Christ is for the whole world, for whom Christ came to save.

The way is open. It was made by He who gave life, and the living keep it until the end of days. So, lead the blind to the hospital for our souls, the Holy Orthodox Church, wherein Christ the great physician will heal them of their blindness and infirmities. May we all walk the way together and keep it, that the blind shall not stumble on their way to be healed. May we not stumble in our own journeys, keeping Christ’s commandments and true religion through contrition of heart, prayer, humility, obedience, and our participation in the Holy Mysteries of the Church.

Our participation in our faith is required. For, If the paralytic did not pick up his mat and walk, would he have been healed? If the blind man had not washed, would he have received his sight? We can receive the free gift of God’s grace, but if we do nothing with it, then it is of no benefit to us. So, just as Paul lived out his faith among the Ephesians; as James has exhorted us to incarnate our faith in deeds beyond words; as the blind main proclaimed Christ in the face of great opposition; as Paul instructs us to run the race, and work out our faith with fear and trembling; as Christ himself begins his ministry with the words “follow me,” go and do likewise.

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

Amen.

Sermon on the Sunday of the Blind Man / OrthoChristian.Com — Icon: Sunday of the blind man.

HOMILY: Sharing in Christ’s Lonliness

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HOMILY: Sharing in Christ’s loneliness – April 12, 2020

Readings: Readings: Philippians 9:4-9, John 12:1-18

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

This Lenten season has taken on a unique character of its own, especially in light of the situation in which we live; and the societal problems and disruptions caused by the threat of a pandemic pestilence. Many people have been forced to go without certain foods and other necessities as the foolish people of the world descended on the stores in panic, buying everything that they saw. To those in the world, it was a massive blow, and a great struggle, but to those in the Church it was just more of the same. Society has been shut down, preventing many from partaking of those activities that consumed and often composed their daily lives, enforcing a solitude that many found unsettling, and even uncomfortable; but, those within the Church carried on, for we live in the world, but not of it. As the threat of contagion bore down upon states and cities, churches shuttered their doors, leaving many without a Church to attend; yet, those Orthodox Churches still permitted to do so, carry on within their liturgical life, fearing not death nor disease, but remembering the promises of Christ, ever looking forward towards the life to come. The world has accused us and ridiculed us for our faith, but we carried on because the Church will prevail. The world called us crazy, but we know the cross is foolishness to ones such as they. At times like these we remember it was once said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack them, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” These words of Saint Athony the Great were prescient. So. we go forward into the week ahead with a sense of isolation, a sense of loneliness, but we are not alone in our loneliness.

Today begins the final week of our Lenten struggle. Today is the day of the triumphal entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into the City of Jerusalem. Christ, who so wondrously forshew the light of life and the Kingdom of Heaven through the merits of his earthly ministry, has entered the dark days of His Passion week, wherein he is shrouded in a terrible loneliness. He has come as a conquering King, but not as the Jews had hoped. He came not to free them from the slavery of godless pagans that ruled over them, but to free them from the bonds of death that ruled beneath them. They did not understand Him, and what he came to do, so Christ stood alone in his conviction in what He came to do. Christ found the money changers and in righteous anger overturned their tables and drove them out, and Christ was further despaired for they had turned away from Him, using and abusing what they had been given. He came to give them life abundantly, but they came to make a profit, using holy places and holy things for their own gain. They turned their back on God in pursuit of worldly things. Later, after speaking to all the disciples for the final time, he chose His closest disciples – Peter, John and James – to go with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, but they fell asleep, not able to remain with him even in prayer. His disciples would later abandon him in his greatest time of need, and Peter would deny Him three times. The people, who once greeted him with praise and adoration, would turn around to cry “crucify Him.” Then, on the cross, crucified with abandoned men, forsaken by the people of the nation he had come to save, Christ would cry out “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Christ died alone, without anyone or anything, save His love for His Father, His love for all mankind, and His Mother’s love for Him. \

Even in the greatest depths of despair and loneliness, love remains.

Christ lived in this world so that we may not see death in the next. Christ died so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. Christ endured unbearable loneliness, so that we may never be alone in this life. For as Paul exhorted the Romans, “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his,” and so “we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” So let our time of peril amidst our Lenten struggle be for the strengthening of our spirit, and the fostering of our faith. Though, as we sit in this shadow of circumstance, let our hearts not remain there; let our spirits not dwell on the darkness of the world, but heed the words of our epistle reading for today:

“...whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 9:8-9

As we move forward towards the end of our Lenten season, and step forward with Christ into this week of his ignominious passion, we must ask where we ourselves stand within the crowd. Do we approach Christ with hopeful expectation, or step back in hopeless despair? Do we stand with indifference amongst the world, not realizing that by doing so we too are equal members of that terrifying crowd that condemned Him, for did not Christ Himself say, “whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Do we see the cross and fear the death that it may bring, or do we carry our cross likewise, and join him on the hill? When Christ is in the tomb, will we remember him when we go home; when we eat; when we rest, and endure the fatigues of the coming day? May we never forget the light of Christ as we endure the darkness of the days ahead. May Christ remain in us always, even when the world has abandoned us, or when we have been cut away from the world. May the Truth remain in us, even as the world shouts against us. May the light of life and the joy of His salvation be with us always, even as the days rain on both the just, and the unjust. Run the race, enduring till the end so that you may receive the prize. Endure this time of trial, remaining steadfast in the faith, so that when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of everlasting life, promise to all those who love him,

When the days are darkest, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Those words of Paul stand for us as true today as they did for those he wrote them to; for, the light of Christ is eternal, and no darkness shall remain wherever it shines.

Christ came as a conquering King, but He is our King, opening the Kingdom of heaven to all who believe. He came as high priest, by who’s honorable blood the Church was established. He came as prophet, where through the healing of Lazarus proclaimed and forshew the resurrection that was to come. As He soon faces down the crowds who cry out “crucify Him,” we will soon look upon Christ crucified with great compunction and remorse, but also with hopeful expectation for the hour in which we can praise and proclaim that “He is Risen!”

By the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, and all the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.

HOMILY: Adoration of the Cross

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HOMILY: Adoration of the Cross -March 22nd, 2020

Readings: Hebrews 4:14-5:6; Mark 8:34-9:1

The cross is ubiquitous within our day to day lives as Orthodox Christian. I would venture to guess that most of you have one around your neck; most of you probably made the sign of the cross as you entered the nave of the Church; it is found within and throughout our iconography; it is emblazoned on our books; it adorns the church, the altar, and even our priests. It is found within many of the rites and sacraments that take place within the Church: the blessing of the waters at baptism, the bestowing of grace and the sealing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Chrismation, the change of the hosts of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the blessing of the faithful, the absolution and healing of our souls and bodies, and so on. In fact, even outside of the Church, I would dare say it is perhaps one of the most recognized symbols of any faith, even among other religious, atheists, and agnostics. To them, it is the symbol of our Christian faith.

Today is the day we celebrate the adoration of the cross, and to us Orthodox Christians the cross is more than just a symbol. Yes, it is a symbol of Christ’s victory over death, and the triumph of good over evil; it is a symbol of the new testament; it is a symbol of the joining of heavenly and earthly things, as saint John Damascene affirms: “As the four ends of the Cross are held together and united by its center, so are the height and the depths, the length and the breadth, that is, all creation visible and invisible, held together by the power of God.” So, we adore the cross for what it is; we adore it for what it did, what it does, and what it continues to do for us in the age to come.

Beyond this symbolism, as the Church sings, the cross is an “invincible weapon, adversary of demons, glory of martyrs, true ornament of holy monks, haven of salvation bestowing on the world great mercy.” It is the tree of life. The first Eve took the fruit from a tree in disobedience of God’s will, bringing death into the world. The second Eve, the holy Theotokos, put the fruit of her womb onto a tree, the cross, in perfect obedience of God’s will, and through obedience was brought into the world eternal life. The cross is the door to paradise, for through it, through Christ’s crucifixion, the will of the Father was fulfilled and the flaming swords removed from the gates of paradise. The way is open, and the cross was the key.

The cross is a weapon of the faithful against the evils of this world, and against demons and diverse enemies that attempt to bring us harm. It is a great and “invincible weapon that conquers all.” With the sign and power of the cross we defend ourselves and fight against the many passions and temptations of the flesh, as Saint John of Kronstadt exhorts to use in his writings:

“Glory, O Lord, to the power of Thy Cross, which never fails! When the enemy oppresses me with a sinful thought or feeling, and I, lacking freedom in my heart, make the sign of the Cross several times with faith, suddenly my sin falls away from me, the compulsion vanishes, and I find myself free… For the faithful the Cross is a mighty power which delivers from all evils, from the malice of the invisible foe.”
Saint John of Kronstadt

As the Stichera of Great Vespers in the byzantine tradition tells us, the Holy and life giving Cross is worthy of honor; it is the fair paradise of the Church; it stands as a tree of incorruption that brings to all of us the joy of eternal life, where there is the ceaseless sound of those that keep festival. The Holy and life giving Cross is that unconquerable trophy of the truth and the true faith, and the helper of the faithful. It was from this Cross that Christ’s honorable blood was spilled, and from it the Church was established. It is around the Church that the same cross exists as a rampart, as Saint Clement of Alexandria tells us, “We have as a limit the cross of the Lord, by which we are fenced and hedged about from our former sins. Therefore, being regenerated, let us fix ourselves to it in truth, and return to sobriety, and sanctify ourselves.” The cross is raised. The cross is eminent. The cross is exalted. The cross is our implement of sanctification.

So, what then is this cross that Christ exhorts us to carry in our Gospel reading for today? What precisely does it mean to carry our cross? What is our cross that we are to carry, and why are we to carry it? On one hand it is the forbearance and participation in the suffering that we endure in this world; for, as Saint Isaac the Syrian has said:

“The knowledge of the cross is concealed in the sufferings of the cross. And the more our participation in its sufferings, the greater the perception we gain through the cross. For, as the Apostle says, “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”

The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac of Syrian

So, the taking up of our cross means the willing acceptance of God’s providence, of every means of purification and healing – bitter as the means and medicine may be – that is offered to that end. For, as Saint John Chrysostom has said, “we should not dread any human ill, save sin alone; neither poverty, nor disease, nor insult, nor malicious treatment, nor humiliation, nor death.” We fear nothing of this world, only the dread judgement in the age to come.

In carrying our cross, we must give up ourselves to His service just as Christ did, and just as we say every Sunday before partaking of the Holy mysteries. We must become a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable unto Him. We must crucify our passions and evil habits, our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, and carry that cross daily. We carry it as part of our daily struggle, not partaking or participating in that which was nailed to the cross, but in the lifelong struggle to reach the end where Christ awaits. We follow him in this life through a kind of death, sacrificing this world for the one to come; we follow him by crucifying our sinful selves to the cross of our ascesis, so that we might share with Christ eternal life.

Gregory Palamas details in one of his homilies that “The Lord’s Cross discloses the entire dispensation of His coming in the flesh, and contains within it the whole mystery of this dispensation.” Through the cross the triumph of the Church is expressed, and within the cross our theology is found, for “we preach Christ crucified.” Though, towards this end the cross is not the end to our means, but a means to our end, and it is within this understanding that the theologies of east and west soon depart.

Much of western theology points to and stops at the cross. It never seems to move past it, and builds much of their understanding of atonement and justice upon what happens on the cross. It is here that we find the idea of Christ offered as the atonement for our sins, a juridical transaction meant to appease God’s wrath in the fulfilment of God’s justice. It seems to present God as both angry and vengeful. Yet, the Orthodox Church looks at what takes place after the crucifixion, and towards the resurrection, not only that of Christ, but of ourselves also. For, the Church is not a courtroom; our salvation is not our innocence and freedom from punishment, but healing from sin and the freedom to live life eternal. God’s justice is not found in a juridical exchange, but in restoration, where creation is returned to that which it was always intended to be. God’s justice is the restoration of man, his image and likeness in God, and all of the created order to what was intended at the moment of creation.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son; Christ so loved the father that he lived in a cooperation of perfect love with the will of His Father, sacrificing Himself for the salvation of all who rightly believe in Him. So, we should expect no less than to do what we pray every Sunday – by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee, in holiness and righteousness, all our days through Jesus Christ our Lord – so that we offer not an empty prayer, words spoken in vain, but rightly given in the expectation that a life of faith and sacrifice will follow. Christ carried His cross, His instrument of death and crucifixion, enduring mocking, scourging, and falling no less than three times on His way to His own ignominious death. So, surely we can find the strength to pick up our own cross and endure the torments and temptations of this world, as well as our ascetical struggles, as we march towards Christ and eternal life.

By the prayers of the holy fathers and mothers, and all the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy upon us and save us.

Amen.

The Adoration of the Holy Cross – Damascene Gallery — The Adoration of the Holy Cross

HOMILY: Theophany – A day of illumination.

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HOMILY: Theophany – A day of illumination – January 19, 2020

Readings: Matthew 2:1-12, Isaiah 60:1-6

Thus ends the twelve days of Christmas! Having just celebrated the birth of Christ our Savior, our God and our King, here marks the beginning of Christ’s ministry on earth. Today is a day of illumination, the revealing of God the Son incarnate in the flesh, and the revealing of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a day that predates our celebrations of Christmas, preserved from the second century. It is also a public holiday in a number of European nations. If only we could be so lucky.

This is a feast which I find to be somewhat unique in the life of those Orthodox Churches who celebrate the western rite. It is a multi faceted feast day, whose focus of celebration and remembrance differs depending on the direction you are facing. In the western traditions, this particular feast day is referred to as the day of epiphany, where the day is identified with the visit of the Magi in Bethlehem to behold the Christ child, to which the star in the east had led them. This is the event foretold in our lesson from Isaiah:

“A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.”
Isaiah 60:6

On this day, through the visitation of the Magi, is celebrated the physical manifestation of God incarnate in the flesh, and His revelation to the Gentiles. The Magi were the first Gentiles to whom He was revealed, but this is not a revelation they could have come to on their own, for they were teachers of a false faith. They had been illumined by the grace of God overflowing from the birth of Christ. As Saint John Chrysostom has said, “The Magi are enlightened so that the goodness of God may be made manifest: so that no one need despair, doubting that salvation through faith will be given to him, seeing He bestowed it on the Magi. The Magi therefore were the first from the Gentiles chosen for salvation, so that through them a door might be opened to all the Gentiles.”

Today is a day of illumination, or more appropriately a celebration of illumination. We remember the illumination of the Magi in the west, but we also remember our own illumination in the east, wherein the focus of this day – the Feast of Theophany – is centered on the Baptism of our Lord and God and savior Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan river. This is the day that Christ made himself known to all mankind, for the people had not yet known him. It is also upon this day that the Holy Church asserts its faith in the mystery – most noble and incomprehensible to the rational mind – of the Three Persons of the triune God. Jesus Christ ascended out of the waters of Baptism, the Holy Spirit descending upon him in the form of a dove, with the voice of the Father echoing from above, unseen, “this is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Jesus Christ, having no need of cleansing, having no sin to be cleansed of, and being born of a Virgin and without the corruption of Adam’s sin, was baptized in the waters of the Jordan not for His sake, but for our own. Christ descended into the waters of the Jordan that all the waters of creation may be sanctified for our sake, for our own purification and cleansing of sin through our own baptism. His baptism is our baptism. His life is our life. His death is our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection.

By our baptism, cleansed of our sin and joined to Jesus Christ, we renounce the world and live a new man. So, it is not unreasonable for us to remember our own baptism on this day, remembering the vows we took, or were given on our behalf if one was blessed enough to be born into the Church. It is within these vows, as Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) has said:

“…in which a Christian has promised God to renounce Satan and all his works and to join himself, to unite himself with Christ, these vows are not only forgotten by people, but many in general know nothing about them or about the fact that these vows were pronounced for them and that they ought to think a little about how they must fulfill [them]… One thing is needful – only one thing is necessary – and to remember that we must join ourselves with Christ, that is, not only fulfill His commandments, but also endeavor to unite ourselves with Him.”
Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesenksy) – Holy on Theophany.

He further exhorts us later in his Homily to think and remember what it means to each of us to renounce Satan and all his works; that we may join ourselves to Christ. We do this through the process of theosis, which we began through our own baptisms, when we were purified of our sins, and purified of all the defilements of this world. Having been cleansed, we began “the perfecting of Holiness in the fear of God,” just as Saint Paul exhorts in his second letter to the Corinthians. Holiness is achieved through the path and process of Theosis, a path which begins in the Church, for the Church is Christ, and He is “the way and the Truth and the life.”

The Church is humanity illumined; a humanity baptized in the grace of God; a humanity illumined by the beauty of its creator; a humanity illumined and healed by His dignity – our own dignity restored – God becoming man that we may become more like Him; a humanity illumined in His beauty, that we may incarnate His beauty into the world, becoming living icons of truth; and a humanity illumined by the Light of Life, that we may shine like morning stars, and lead others to the truth just as the Magi were led to Christ.

Theosis presupposes life within the Church, the body of Christ; the body of illumined humanity. We enter it by following Christ through the waters of baptism, and together are illumined by the same Spirit that sanctified them. It is within the Church that we become a part of, and partake of, the body of Christ. It is within the Church in which we partake of the sacraments, that which is necessary to acquire the sanctifying spirit and be transformed into the divine likeness of God. It is within the Church that we come into communion with Christ, and so participate in the divine worship of the Church triumphant, the Church militant being the living icon of that Church in heaven, the living icon of Christ. It is within the Church that the meaning of the scriptures are revealed to us. It is in the Church alone that the truth is revealed to us, and the means necessary to our salvation are provided to us. The Church is taught by the Holy Spirit, and there exists an indissoluble unity between God and His Church, for “The Church is the earthly heaven in which the heavenly God moves and dwells.” We must choose to be where God is, in striving towards a unity of spirit.

Christ’s baptism on the Jordan River revealed this unity of spirit, the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Theophany illumined all of creation with the revelation of the Triune God: God in three persons, yet one essence; three wills, and two natures; infinite and present in all things, yet udivided; ineffable, yet knowable through Jesus Christ, our King and our God. Christ’s baptism opened the door to follow him into unity with Him as living stones within the Church provided by his honorable blood. This Church confesses and asserts our faith in the mystery of the Trinity. It teaches to confess and glorify with equal honor and divinity each person of the Godhead. It reveals and renders impotent the teachings of those wherein finite and human terms attempted to describe the Creator of all things. It establishes for us the place, importance, and necessity for our own baptism, a gift and grace of God granted unto us by the Holy Spirit, for “as many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ.”

The world changed when Christ rose from the waters of the Jordan: the waters of creation were sanctified, the divinity of Christ was revealed, the triunity of God was made manifest unto men, and Christ went forth to begin his ministry. Christ left the waters the same as He entered into them: God the Son incarnate in the flesh; yet, everywhere he went, the fire of God’s love molded the very hearts of men. So, go and do likewise.

By the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, and Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.

Image result for icon theophany — Icon of the Theophany

A Desire for tears.

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A Desire for tears – January 15th, 2019.

It is said, the Devil is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Does he not hunt? Does he not prowl nor prey upon? He roars because he is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He devours those who have given themselves over to him, caught in the subtle snares of temptation. For he has no power over us except that which we give him. Yet, we can avoid such traps, but often our curiosity gets the best of us. What is behind that door? What if? What will happen? What does this feel like, taste like, or look like? We already know the answers to these questions, but we open the door, or pursue the answer in hoping that it will be different this time. We continue to do the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result; a different answer. This is a basis for insanity. The world is insanity.

I pray for the fortitude to avoid these temptations, but from time to time my imagination gets the best of me, haunting me from the edges of my own volition. I try to look back upon my sins with contrition, and sometimes I may get a tear or two to shed from my wearied eyes in the midst of prayer. Though, I am not an emotional person, and lament my own lack of tears. I do find music to be a key to the heart, and so there is a song I play when I feel the need to cry, because for the lyrics alone, I cannot but help cry. It is not even a Christian song, but the words reverberate in my very soul.

?Shine, shine your light on me
Illuminate me, make me complete
Lay me down, and wash this world from me
Open the skies, and burn it all away
‘Cause I’ve been waiting, all my life just waiting
For you to shine, shine your light on me?

O Lord, that I would be purified from the stains of this world; that your all consuming love would burn away the superfluities of the flesh, and my soul would be free of the passions that plague me May your light illumine me, that I may shine your light into every dark corner of this world you lead me into.

No photo description available. — Sketchbook entry from 8-10 years ago.

Church: Hospital or Hospice?

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Church: Hospital or Hospice? – July 20, 2019

The idea of the Church as a hospital for our souls is nothing new. This was an ideation voiced by Saint John Chrysostom; an idea embodied by Saint Basil the Great; an idea echoed all throughout the writings of the Holy Fathers of our faith:

“For indeed the school of the Church is an admirable surgery – a surgery, not for bodies, but for souls. For it is spiritual, and sets right, not fleshly wounds, but errors of the mind, and of these errors and wounds the medicine is the word.”

~Saint John Chrysostom.

The idea and understanding of the Church as hospital for the soul requires a proper understanding of our humanity, but also a proper understanding of the Church. Christ is the great physician, He who came to heal the sick, the sinner, the ill and infirmed. The Church, as the body of Christ, is by extension the very Hospital of our Great Physician, Jesus Christ. The priests work as her doctors and administers of medicine, the healing salve of confession applied to the wounds of sin which we have inflicted upon ourselves, and the Eucharist as food for the soul. Towards this end, the theology of the Church is a therapeutic science. As the doctor cannot know what remedies to apply to what wounds without proper education and training, neither can the priest do likewise to the myriad spiritual wounds of sin. The Priest or spiritual director is no different in this, in the work of diagnosing those wounds, identifying the illnesses that ail us, so that the priest may apply the correct remedy. One cannot find the wounds and identify the illnesses if he does not know what to look for. The goal is holiness (wholeness) and is the direct result of our having submitted in all humility to a life of repentance, a life to which we are directed by the loving guidance of a spiritual director.

The Church is ultimately a part of the medicine for the whole human being, and is preoccupied with the fate of human beings. A humanity plagued by sinfulness, the passions of the flesh, and destructive behaviors, is an overall abnormal state of existence. The end to which all humans must go to, death, is an unnatural state from the created order, separating body from spirit. Through Christ we are given a way to purification, cleansed of our sins by repentance, confession, baptism, and continued participation in the divine nature of God, but he has also conquered death by death, that in the resurrection we may be reunited soul with body, and return to that state in which we were created, and were always intended to exist.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This idea of Church has all but disappeared among much of the various groupings of mainline Christianity. No longer are people healed and prepared for their encounter with God. The Sacraments are gone. The doctors have been evicted. This fleshly sentiment of individuality identity taking precedent over our personhood, over the restoration of our humanity in the image and likeness of God, has all but destroyed the Christian faith. No longer are people conforming to the healing prescriptions of the Church, recognizing that we are wounded; recognizing that we are sick and fallen in our human nature; recognizing that we are all sinners. Instead, people approach God with their open wounds, because “it’s ok, I am forgiven.” Their minds never get beyond the Cross, that Christ died for the sins of all mankind, and never get to the joyousness that lies behind it. The Church has become a courtroom in some respects, a place of worship where people in wait of judgement. In other respects, instead of a hospital, it has become a hospice, where people turn towards the cross and simply wait to die. They are made to feel better through emotional appeals, like an opiate for the terminally ill to ease the pain. They are enraptured by the words they are given, not hearing the words of the Doctors who have gone before them, the Great Physician who died for them:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

~ Matthew 3:2

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

~ James 5:16

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

~ Mark 16:17

“Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many.”

~ Mark 14:22-25

These directives, these prescriptions given to us are not unique to the scriptures, but are echoed through the centuries and millennia of Christians who have gone before us. The Historical witness of the Christian faith paints a very clear picture as to the soul and purpose of the divine-human institution of the Church. Though, one has to enter the doors first before healing can occur.

We must identify those wounds we have inflicted upon ourselves (repent). We just receive the salve of healing, applied to those very would by our confession before God (confession). We are then baptized, cleansed of the stain of this world, by the very waters of creation the lord sanctified for us by virtue of his own baptism in the Jordan. We are then Chrismated to seal the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Properly adorned in the garments of righteousness, we approach the Lord’s table to receive that precious and eternal life giving medicine of the Eucharist.

Much of mainline and consumer Christianity simply tells and teaches us how to die. The pain of our wounds is lessened, but the wounds in many cases are not healed. It is a passivity of faith that accepts there is a cure, but then does nothing to receive it. Yet, the Christian faith is a faith of action, and should tell us how to live. The Church tells us how to live in this life and the next. The entirety of this life should be a preparation for life in the kingdom of heaven, for it is indeed at hand. It is with us now, it is among us, because we as the Church should be living our lives to incarnate Christ into the world. We do not come to Church to prepare to die as a hospice, but we come to Church as a Hospital, that we may be healed and made whole for a life eternal in Jesus Christ.

“Virtues exist in us also by nature, and the soul has affinity with them not by education, but by nature herself. We do not need lessons to hate illness, but by ourselves we repel what afflicts us, the soul has no need of a master to teach us to avoid vice. Now all vice is sickness of soul as virtue is its health.”

~ Saint Basil the Great.

Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

Pondering on truth and grace in light of imperfect man.

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Pondering on truth and grace in light of imperfect man. – June 14, 2019

To think an impurity of mind, or even a lingering stain of sin upon one’s very soul, somehow renders one unsuited to speaking against moral fallacies and failures is a false idea. Such a belief is kin to the Donatist ideal that the same makes one unsuitable for the administration of the sacraments. The failures of man do not diminish the grace of God, nor do they diminish a truth spoken. Any darkness in man does not in any way diminish the light he carries. A man standing in the way of the light does not cause the essence of that light to decrease, the brightness of its rays to cease, but simply stands in its way from reaching its full potential and exposure. Likewise, we are not diminished or exhorted to retreat from speaking truth because of our own moral failures, but indeed we should be more imbued with the necessity of fervor to speak it with greater exuberance. Then perhaps by our own words, when speaking truth to power, when speaking truth to an enemy adored, we may not only save them from the condemnation of their lie, but also save ourselves from our own lie in the process.

May we never water down our words, turning our faith into a sales pitch. May we never be afraid to speak truth to power, and into the face of the enemy. May we never be afraid to shine the light because of our own darkness, but continue to do so in spite of it. May we always bring light to the darkness, so that darkness may not reign. If the darkness overcomes our bodies, may the light we left behind continue to shine.