John 4:5-42

In this Gospel account of the meeting between our Lord Jesus Christ and
the woman at the well, we see how He seeks to draw all men up from the
things of the earth to heavenly things where it is possible to draw
richly upon His divine grace and to be spiritually transformed. As He
was sitting alone by this well on the outskirts of town, a woman came to
draw water. She was focused entirely on her task – getting the water
that she would need for her household – and had really no thought about
the spiritual life. Even so, she was unexpectedly asked by our Lord if
she would give Him some water to drink. This was surprising for a number
of reasons; He was a stranger and it was uncommon for a man to directly
address and unknown and unrelated woman. Also He was a Jew and she was a
Samaritan and the Jews despised the Samaritans and believed them to be
beneath any kind of notice. But Jesus did address her and engage her in
a conversation speaking first about water and drawing her heart and mind
up from the material world and leading her into a conversation about
spiritual things. Is this not the way that He encounters us as well. God
meets us where we are and catches our interest or attention – sometimes
by surprise. It may seem unlikely to us that God would care about us and
again that we see His presence even in the most mundane of circumstances
but He does love us and He meets us wherever we are. But then from the
moment we first are aware of God, He begins to move us ever so gently up
from our preoccupation with worldly matters to the heights of His glory.

Jesus began His conversation with this woman speaking about water. The
well at which they met was a very old well and had been originally dug
and built up by the Patriarch Jacob thousands of years prior as a place
to water his flocks. The well itself was simply a hole in the ground,
lined with stones, which had at its very bottom a spring of water
welling up from the underground aquifer. The water then collected in the
well and could be drawn out by lowering a vessel of some kind and
letting it fill before pulling it up. Jesus turned the conversation
quickly from the simple request for a drink to the topic of living
water. This was not as abrupt a change of topic as one might imagine in
our modern times, for “living water” was the term given to fresh running
water, especially water that came directly from the earth in a spring.
(The apostolic instructions which have preserved by the Church regarding
baptism specify that baptism should ideally be performed in “living
water”, that is in a stream or at a spring. Failing that, still water
such as a lake or a pond would suffice. A well has its source in the
living water of the spring at its base, however the collected water at
the surface forms an artificial pool or pond and so is still water.
Because of the living water at its base, the water of the pool is still
fresh and good for drinking as it is continually refreshed by the spring
and does not grow stagnant. And so, Jesus spoke to the woman suggesting
that He could give her “living water” – and she understood that to mean
that He had a way to draw water not from the top of the well but from
its very base where the spring continued to supply the pool of the well.
This was a difficult thing to do and she was surprised because the well
was deep and He had no servants or equipment or any other means with
which to reach the top of the water let alone to draw from the very
bottom of the well. Of course Jesus was speaking not of the water of the
well – not even of that water from the spring which fed the well – but
of the spiritual water of divine grace which would satisfy the thirst of
the soul.

In response to the question of living water, the woman asked Jesus if He
was greater than their forefather Jacob who had dug the well in the
first place (for the patriarch Jacob was known as a great man.) The only
water she had ever known had come from the labors of this great
patriarch and now here was someone who implied that he could equal or
even surpass the labors of Jacob and give to her living water. At this
point, Jesus began to turn the conversation more clearly toward
spiritual things for in asking about her husband, He revealed that
though He was a stranger to her, He could see into her depths of her
heart. This sudden revelation was the point at which the spiritual
dimensions of the discussion opened to her and she began to climb to the
matters concerning the worship of God and to her spiritual renewal. She
began to speak of the religious traditions that they (the Samaritans)
had received from their fathers and how they compared to those of the
Jews. Jesus again answered her in a surprising manner indicating that
there was relative truth in both traditions but that the time was at
hand when God would be worshiped “in spirit and in truth”. From this
point on, she began to receive the living water of grace that had been
promised to her by the Lord.

The well and the water remain as a metaphor for us concerning our own
spiritual life. The living water at the source of the well is the grace
that flows from the font of the living God. This grace from the spring
is collected in the well of Holy Tradition from which we draw our
worship of God and which governs our spiritual life. This spiritual well
which is Holy Tradition stays vital, refreshing and life giving for it
has as its source the constant outpouring of God’s grace upon us. We can
draw from this well and from its waters obtain the grace by which we are
saved and transformed into the image and likeness of God. However, we
must never forget that it is not the actions or ritual of Tradition
which saves us but the divine grace from which it flows. If we forget
the source of the well and separate the waters of the traditions from
the grace which is its source, then those traditions become empty and
lose their lifegiving power for they have been cut off from the source
of grace. So also if we take the traditions of the Church and cut them
off from the source of the well – from the grace of God which saves us –
then those traditions no longer are of benefit to us. And just like
water that has become bracken and stagnant could bring illness or even
death when drunk, such dead traditions may even cause spiritual illness
in us.

When Jesus said to the woman (and so to us as well) that we must worship
God in spirit and in truth, He was not abolishing the traditions that
she followed, nor did He abolish the traditions of the Jews which were
held in contrast to those of the Samaritans. He points out to us that it
is no longer sufficient to blindly follow these traditions without
drawing from the source as well. Certainly our adherence to the Holy
Tradition that has been handed down to us from the Apostles and from our
spiritual fathers is necessary – but the Tradition itself is not enough.
Our spiritual life must always be linked to and drawn from the source –
the spring of Living Water, the grace of God which gives birth and life
to those traditions.

When we pray, therefore, we do not just recite the words that we have
learned and heard all our lives, but we say the words each time as our
own, with our whole being; our body, our mind and heart and soul. Each
time we must connect the words of the prayer with their source – the
grace of the Holy Spirit. Each time we must commune with God in our
hearts. When we come to the divine services, each time we must remember
that we are joining our whole selves with the corporate prayer of
everyone there in the Church, and with all Orthodox Christians in all
places and in all times, and again with that of the saints who pray with
us before the throne of God. We do not come to the services just to
watch or to be inspired, but to participate, to give of ourselves and
actively join into the worship of the Living God. Each time we receive
any of the Holy Mysteries whether it be baptism and chrismation, or
confession, or the Eucharist, or any of the other mysteries, we must
participate in it reaching out with the hands of our soul to touch God
who comes to us and to commune with Him.

Our Christian life is filled with traditions. We must never forget that
these traditions are drawn from the well of divine grace which is fed by
the divine spring of the Holy Spirit. We cannot go through our Christian
life on “autopilot” just blindly following the rituals and prescriptions
of tradition – but we must be fully engaged with Jesus Christ, Who
reveals God to us and the Holy Spirit Who as God fills us and joins us
to the divine Life, participating in these traditions in Spirit and in
Truth. We may have grown up with the Church and the life of the Church
from childhood. We may know our prayers as though they were second
nature and live the rhythm of the Christian life as though it were our
own – but that is not enough. We must be joined with the source of this
life, we must be engaged with our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be filled
with the Holy Spirit. We must live the whole of our lives “in Spirit and
in Truth”. Only in this way will we remain connected to the source of
grace which joins us to God to live in eternal union and communion with Him.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

John 9:1-38

The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the result of our
Lord’s victory over sin, death and the devil, it is also the promise of
our own salvation. By rising from the dead and ascending bodily into
heaven, He teaches us that our own salvation is not simply the salvation
of the soul alone, but rather the salvation of our whole being – body
and soul. We know that without the body we are not complete – this is
one of the reasons why death is so traumatic for men, it is the
unnatural tearing apart of the soul and the body. By His resurrection,
Jesus Christ promised us that He would not only save our souls, but that
He would heal this traumatic separation and grant salvation to us as
whole and complete beings. Because salvation is for our whole being,
body and soul, the Church as the ark of salvation ministers to the whole
person as well. The Church doesn’t minister only to the soul, but
ministers to the body as well – the Church doesn’t uplift only the soul
but uplifts the body as well. This work of the Church to save us as a
complete being is seen from the moment we walk in the door. We do not
walk into an empty room or a lecture hall, but we walk into a place
where all of our senses are engaged in the worship of God and where we
are transported, not only in mind but in body as well into the Kingdom
of Heaven.

The primary sense of the body is that of sight and when we enter the
Church we see a different world laid out before us. We see the icons of
the saints and of the life of Christ surrounding us. We see the light of
the candles and lamps burning before those icons. We see arrangement of
the temple as a place designed for the worship of God. It is not only
the eyes however, but all the other senses as well. We hear the chanting
and singing of the hymns and the sound of the bells. We smell the
incense as it rises to heaven with our prayers and the honey aroma of
the burning beeswax candles. We are touched by the hand of the priest as
he blesses us and the oil with which we are anointed. We taste the
blessed bread and wine at Litiya and ultimately the Body and Blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. All this and more engage our senses and
draw the whole body into the worship of God. Our heart is lifted up and
our mind is enlightened by the words of the hymns that are being chanted
and sung expressing the teaching of the One True God. The words of the
scripture which are read and the homilies expounding on those themes
also engage our reasoning ability. And always we come spiritually before
the palpable presence of God and our spirits find rest for they are
home. Every act of worship and blessing in the Church engages our whole
being and communicates the grace of God not only to our spiritual
nature, but to the body and soul as well.

All of the sacraments of the Church have this same complete approach to
our salvation. There is always a physical element and a prayerful
element and the transforming application of the grace of God. The
healing of the blind man which we heard read today in the Gospel is an
example of this all encompassing salvation given to us by God. This man,
blind from birth (meaning that he had no eyes at all – the eye sockets
were empty, sunk in and scarred over) was noticed by our Lord and He had
compassion upon him. In effecting his healing first Jesus went to this
man, who was not brought to Him nor did the man seek out Christ. How
great is the compassion of our God Who could not bear to pass by this
man of such great need without offering to Him wholeness and healing.
Having come to this blind beggar our Lord spat on the ground and made
clay (mud) from the dust. This clay made from the joining of the dust of
the earth and the moisture of His own Body, Jesus placed on the empty
eye sockets of the blind man. Here we see the physical element of the
healing –the application of the clay to the eyes. To prepare this clay
by combining simple dust with the moisture coming from the Giver of
Living Water is similar to our own preparation of the elements of a
sacrament. The mundane elements of the earth (water, oil, etc) are taken
and blessed by the prayers of the priest and are thus infused with the
life giving grace of God. This clay was then applied to the person just
as the blessed elements of the sacraments are applied to us – we are
baptized in the water or anointed with the oil. Jesus then blessed the
man and sent him to the pool of Siloam where he was instructed to wash
the clay from his eyes. The pool of Siloam was a special place, known to
be a miraculous pool for it was fed by a well in which the water level
varied. It was outside the city of Jerusalem and in the time of Hezekiah
the king the enemies of Israel had occupied Siloam – but the water
receded and ceased to run from the well, depriving the enemy army of its
water. But if someone were sent to the well by the prophet, the water
would miraculously flow again enabling that person to draw from the
pool, and then recede again. Because of this, the pool at Siloam was
considered to be blessed of God and by sending the man to wash in this
pool we see again the involvement of grace and blessing in this healing.
However there is more to this than just the blessing of the pool for
this also involved the will of the blind man. By obeying the word of
Jesus Christ and leaving his place where he sat begging and going to
that particular pool to wash the clay from his eyes, the blind man
conformed his own will to the will of God. Certainly there were many
places to wash the clay from his eyes, but he obeyed and went to that
particular place and there washed his eyes. When we approach the
sacraments it is necessary that we too set aside our own will and act in
obedience to God. We do not make up our own rituals, but we conform to
the instruction given to us by God through the Church and by obeying
that instruction we set aside our own self will and align our will with
the will of God.

Following this miraculous healing we see that not only was the man
enlightened by being able to see, but also his spirit was enlightened
for he confessed Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of God. Even in
the face of harsh questioning by the leaders of the Jews, the man held
fast to his simple confession of faith “this I know that once I was
blind but now I see … If this man were not of God he could do nothing”
By this sacramental healing performed by our Lord, not only was the body
of the man made whole and filled with light, but his whole being was
healed and he was filled not only with the material light of this world,
but also with the divine light of Christ.

This healing of the man born blind is an example of our own salvation
for when we approach our Lord seeking to be made whole, it is not just
the soul that is addressed, we are not only given spiritual healing, but
the body as well is touched and our whole being is transformed by the
grace of God. He is our creator and He knows that it is not possible to
save the body without the soul and it is not possible to save the soul
without the body. In the resurrection at the last day the body and soul
will be reunited and we will stand before God not as a disembodied soul
– a half person – but as a whole person comprised of the unity of soul
and body. And it is as complete person that He will bring us into His
kingdom.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

John 17:1-13

In a couple of weeks we will celebrate American Memorial Day, when we
honor the memory of all those in the armed forces that fought defending
this country from its enemies. Last week we also marked Russian “Victory
Day” honoring the memory of those who defended the Russian land from her
enemies. Today we have, in the Church, a sort of “memorial day” of our
own; we remember those who have fought to defend the Church from those
who would try to lead us away from the Truth into various errors and
heretical beliefs. We pray regularly for our bishops that God would
preserve and strengthen them that they may “rightly divide the word of
Truth”, that is that they might see clearly to discern truth from error
and thus lead us unerringly toward the Kingdom of Heaven. Today we
celebrate the memory of the Holy Fathers, the bishops, of the first
ecumenical council who stood in defense of the Church against the heresy
of Arius.

In the Gospel we heard read the archpastoral prayer of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He prays to the Father that we who believe on Him and who follow
Him, might be protected and safely granted eternal life, saying, “And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Eternal life is to know God, eternal
life is to know Jesus Christ, eternal life is to live in union and
communion with the Holy Trinity. Thus in order to have eternal life, it
is necessary to avoid false ideas and notions about God and about
Christ, and to hold fast to the truth that He has Himself revealed to
us. If eternal life is to know He Who is Truth, then it is imperative
that we steer away from any error and from those who would lead us away
from truth into error.

For this reason God has given to His Church the pastors and archpastors
to care for His flock, the flock of Christ and to keep us from wandering
away from the truth and to preserve us from those spiritual wolves that
would steal us away from the Truth and lead us away from God and into
all kinds of error, thus depriving us of the opportunity to know God and
so depriving us of eternal life.

The heresy of Arius was that he taught that Jesus Christ was not of the
same essence of the Father, that is not begotton of the Father as we
confess in the Creed, but rather that He was at some time created by God
and so had no essential commonality with God. Certainly, Arius taught,
He was an elevated and godlike being, imbued with the energies of God,
but not with His essence. This heresy infected many people and it was
spread by the popular preaching of Arius and by other means, including
popular songs that spread among the people that supported this heresy.
This heretical movement, away from the Church, caused a great stir in
the empire and began to lead to a great deal of civil unrest. The
Emperor, wanting to preserve the internal peace of the empire and of the
Christian people, called together to the city of Nicea all the guardians
of the faith, all those who were given the responsibility to “rightly
divide the word of truth” and to shepherd the flock of Christ – that is
all the bishops of the Christian Church. They were given the task of
evaluating this Arian teaching and deciding once and for all whether or
not it was the truth. The gathered bishops, after hearing Arius present
his teaching and after much prayer and discussion, came to a decision
and solemnly proclaimed this teaching of Arius to be in error and
condemned it as “anathema”, that is “cursed”. Arius was deposed from his
rank and excommunicated (that is, he was cast out of the fellowship of
the Church).

Now we may think, what difference does this really make. Does it matter
whether or not we think of Christ as “begotten” of the Father or whether
we consider that He comes from the Father in some other way. What is the
difference to us really as long as we love God and follow the teachings
of Jesus Christ. The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is the God/man,
that is He is God incarnate and as such is fully God and fully man. His
humanity is joined inseparably to His divinity (and for this reason when
He ascended into Heaven, as we just celebrated, He ascended with His
body and did not leave it behind, for now His humanity was inextricably
linked to His divinity.) Arius on the other hand taught that Jesus
Christ was God and man – that His humanity was alongside but not joined
to His divinity. According to the teaching of Arius, the divinity could
be separated from the humanity allowing for a sort of “dual life”. This
imperfect union of God and man then made it possible for us to be saved
on one hand, but also to have our own private life apart from the life
of Christ on the other. We could live as we wished in our private life,
and that would not then affect the life our “spiritual” side. We could
pray and attend the divine services and receive the sacraments on one
side – but then put all that aside while we lived as we wanted during
the rest of the time allowing our passions and temptations full and
unfettered expression.

But we know that this is not possible, we know that just as Jesus Christ
was truly the God/man and His divinity is inseparable from His humanity.
There is no separation and thus we must conclude that a Christian must
always and everywhere *be* a Christian – in our private life and our
public life – in all ways and at all times we live the life of Christ.
Thus the Holy Fathers said, in effect, to Arius, “You and your followers
cannot be Christians for you do not understand the meaning of Christ’s
coming to earth. Christ is incarnate, not only to reveal to us the true
teaching about God, but also to live according to God. He came on earth
to fulfill the commandment of love for God and neighbor. And He requires
fulfillment of this commandment from us in every aspect of our lives.
Those who do not fulfill this commandment remain outside of the Church
and are alienated from God and from the eternal life that He gives to us.”

Just as the Church rejected the teaching of Arius and insisted that we
cannot separate our Christian life from any other part of our life so we
are taught the same thing. We are followers of the God/man Jesus Christ.
We have accepted the life that He gives, His own life, as our own. Just
as He, in His incarnation, inseparably joined humanity to divinity so in
us, he joins His divinity to our humanity so that we might live in
eternal union and communion with Him. “And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent.”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the Church in tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit did not only
descend upon the Holy Apostles but He also descends upon us and fills us
and lives within us, granting to us the life of the Holy Trinity. On
this day, the apostles received the fullness of the power and presence
of God – and so do we. For this reason the feast of Pentecost is
sometimes referred to as the “birthday of the Church”. Now the Church
is, of course the Body of Christ – that is you and I in mystical union
with all the saints in all places and in all times. However sometimes
when we think of the “Church”, we think of the “temples” in which we
gather and we build structures in which we try to express this mystical
heavenly union filled with the Holy Spirit but we must not confuse the
inner reality with the external symbol. On this, the birthday of the
Church, I would like to share with you a sermon by St Theophan the
Recluse on how we properly use the external Church building that we have
been given so that it strengthens and truly expresses the internal
Church which is the unity of Christ and the believers filled with the
Holy Spirit.

+++

God gave us a Church – We need to make use of it as we should

So, your labors and cares in the construction of another needed church
are complete. Thanks be to God for such a gift! I say a gift because,
even though you had quite a bit of work, what could you have done if it
had not been for God! In rendering help in unexpected troubles as well
as in everything else, haven't you felt His imminent helping hand?
Openly proclaiming the gift, what shall we give the Lord, our
Benefactor, in return? Let us give what is due to His intent, by using
the gift, namely:

1. The church was not built to be an external, empty witness of good
order, but to be always filled with those for whom it is designated. And
this places on you the obligation to be present in this church for all
services established by the rule [typicon]. Having taken vows to labor
for God in prayer and ascetic labors, you, of course, do not intend to
indulge your laziness in this regard. Don't be tempted by any of the
attractive pretexts common to workers like yourselves, In the first
place, don't allow the urge to miss this or that Divine Service tempt
you because of a need to complete necessary work. Remember that any work
cannot be successful if God's blessing is not upon it, and that blessing
must be called down from Heaven. By which means? And where? Through
prayer in church. When the blessing has been sought, one hour takes the
place of a whole day's labor; but without the blessing everything falls
apart and gets mixed up, and the day goes to waste. I think you have
already had a lot of experience with this. Do not incriminate yourselves.

Secondly. don't be tempted to yield to the artificially attractive idea
of staying in your cell (or at home) while the others are going to
church, out of the wish to pray with a little more fervency in solitude.
Aren't there other times for solitary prayer than the hours set aside
for common prayer? If so, then pray alone at those times. You must
always go to the common service established by the rule. Here, in
assembly, prayer is warmer and more fervent, and always more fruitful.
Where two or three are gathered in My name, says the Lord, there am I in
the midst of them (Matthew 18:20), and where there is God, there is
every spiritual good. What a pity that some people deprive themselves of
this treasure! Doesn't it happen that some who stay in their cells not
only miss the common prayer but also don't manage to pray at home, and
in this way do two wrongs – break the rule and harm themselves as well?
Therefore, isn't it better to set yourself a rule once and for all,
never to yield to such a thought?

Thirdly, don't be tempted to indulge yourself in not coming to church at
the beginning of the service or leaving before it is over. Remember,
each service is a complete unit and it can provide its full benefit only
in its entirety. Just as food is tasty only when it is fully seasoned,
so the service can completely satisfy the spiritual taste only when it
is heard in full. Thus, he who misses the beginning or does not remain
until the end is laboring, but he deprives himself of the fruit of his
labor – or, he creates with one hand and destroys with the other. So,
having built, decorated and consecrated this church, go to it without
fail, rejecting all false pretexts-and this is of primary importance.

2. Further, one must go to church not inattentively, but as one should.
It is always possible that one may go to church not in a way worthy of
praise but rather of condemnation, i.e., by going and not receiving any
spiritual benefit. Everything in this regard can be converted by the
following rules: at the first stroke of the bell, you must drop any
work, and prepare your soul for prayer in church, reciting the prayer
"Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!" or "Heavenly King," "Our Father," or
some other such prayer. Approaching the church, you must leave every
care and worry about your affairs at the threshold in order to enter
with a serene mind. Entering the church, you must put on reverence like
a garment, remembering to Whom we are coming and to Whom we intend to
address our prayers. Having taken your place in church (best of all, the
same place each time), you should gather your thoughts and mentally
stand before the face of the omnipresent God, offering Him reverent
worship in body and spirit, with a contrite heart and in humble
reverence. After this, you must follow, without wandering thoughts,
everything that is going on – what is being sung and read in the church
– all the way to the end of the service. That is all! In this way, we
won't be bored in church, looking here and there and starting
conversations, and we won't be wishing that the service be over soon.
Instead, passing from one prayerful feeling to another and from one
reverent thought to the next, we will be like those in a fragrant
garden, moving from one group of flowers to another. Consequently,
spiritual warmth, which is the fruit of attentive prayer, will fill our
hearts with ineffable sweetness, which won't allow us to notice the
physical hardship of standing and will make every service short. On the
other hand, one who is inattentive to what is taking place in church,
who dreams of empty things and activities, doesn't help those matters
but wastes the time of prayer. He upsets himself and deprives himself of
the fruit of prayer, which is, so to speak, ready to be put into his
hand. May the Lord deliver you from this sin!

3. Using church services as we should, we will gain, little by little,
the main thing for which these visible churches are given to us - that
is, continuous mental prayer to God in our heart, which makes of our
heart a temple of God not built by human hands. The commandment to pray
has been given us by the holy Apostles; all the holy ascetics have
striven after it. We will be ashamed if, having established this
external church, we don't take care to establish the internal Church for
which the external church actually exists. What is the use of having a
tool and not knowing how to use it to do that for which it is made? The
one who comes to all the services without fail and listens to them as he
should can easily attain this priceless spiritual good. ... He doesn't
have to add much to this labor of uninterrupted attendance at church;
but he must take care to preserve unextinguished the warmth of heart
which is ignited in church through preservation of attention, by which
his soul is blessed in church. And for this, he must enjoy [sitting
alone in his cell (except for necessary work)], frequent worship of God
[before the icons], [sometimes] reading the Word of God and patristic
writings, and, most importantly, acquiring the habit of continuously
repeating the short but powerful prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me" Through these labors, the soul will be sanctified more
and more with the blessed presence of God, which raises the mind to God
and lifts the heart with delightful sighing; this, really, is
uninterrupted prayer.

I wish you most of all this gift of God as a reward for your labor.
Having established and decorated this dwelling place of God, be
yourselves established within it, the spiritual temple, to offer
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:4-5). Amen.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 4:18-5:12

The beatitudes, which we not only heard read this morning but which we
also sing every Sunday as a part of the Divine Liturgy, hold a place of
great preeminence in our Christian life. In ancient times the Law was
given to the people of God through the prophet Moses, and at the
foundation of the Law were the 10 Commandments. At the incarnation, God
became man and dwelt among us. The God/man Jesus Christ fulfilled all
the Law – in other words He embodied in Himself the purpose and end
result of the Law, which is the perfection of man. But the perfection of
our humanity is not the final purpose of God – if that were the case the
Law and the 10 Commandments would have been sufficient. God’s purpose
for us is not that we become perfect men, but even more that we might
become like Him and live in union and communion with Him. For this we
needed not only the Law, by which our humanity is perfected, but we also
required the transforming action of the grace of God which makes us more
than human – it unites us with God our Creator.

To this end we are given a further law by Jesus Christ – alongside the
10 Commandments of the law, he also gives us the 9 Beatitudes. The
Commandments of the Law were given to exclude all those things which
tainted and distorted our humanity. They defined the sin which pollutes
our souls and which separates us from God. By perfectly following the
law, we avoid the pitfalls and traps which distort our being and which
make impossible the realization of God’s purpose for us. But the power
of the commandments ends here. Having cleared the path for us to follow
God and acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, the law cannot lead us
along the path to our sanctification and theosis (deification, i.e.
becoming like God). For this a further guide is needed and that guide we
find in the Beatitudes. The ten Commandments of the Law are restricted
to prohibiting those acts which would be sinful. The Beatitudes explain
to us how we may attain the Christian perfection of grace.

In the Gospel there is a parable given to us by Christ which likens the
people of God to a vineyard which is prepared by God. In the parable it
is described how the owner of the vineyard carefully prepared it,
digging out the stones and clearing the weeds and building a wall around
the fields to keep out the animals that would harm the vines and steal
the fruit. This describes the actions of the Law. The purpose of the
commandments is to dig out the stones of sin from our souls, and to
clear the weeds of the passions which overwhelm us. The Law acts as a
wall which repels the intrusions of the demons who would take us captive
and lead us away from God. The vineyard of the soul is thus prepared and
made into the perfect environment for the growth of the vines and the
production of fruit.

But there remains something that is yet to be done which the law cannot
accomplish. Having prepared the vineyard, the owner then filled it with
life – he planted in it the vines which would be nurtured and tended,
fed and watered, and which would grow and produce the desired fruit. So
in our souls, God plants the seeds of life and these seeds are watered
with the grace of the Holy Spirit just as the rain falls upon the plants
of the earth and the Light of Christ shines upon us continually warming
that life, invigorating it and drawing us to Himself, just as the sun
warms the plants of the earth and draws them to itself. This part of the
parable describes for us the purpose of the Beatitudes – the nurturing
of the life of Christ within us and the production of the fruit of the
Holy Spirit in us.

The Commandments were given to restrain man from evil by prohibiting
certain evil acts which lead us into sin. The Beatitudes are given to
Christians to show us what disposition to have in order to move in the
opposite direction and draw closer and closer to God, to acquire
holiness, and together with that, blessedness, which is the highest
degree of happiness. Holiness arising from nearness to God, is the
greatest happiness that any person could possibly desire.

Just as the Commandments of the Law laid out the path which avoids the
pitfalls of sin, leading to the perfection of our humanity, so also the
Beatitudes lay out the path for us to follow Christ and for the
acquisition of the Holy Spirit, leading to our glorification and
transformation, realizing in us the image and likeness of God. The union
and communion with God which is the result of this transformation is the
true meaning and essence of our salvation.

It is beyond our ability here today to go into detail regarding each of
the Beatitudes, however, in summary we can look at the goal and purpose
of each one in our Christian life. The first beatitude, “Blessed are the
poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven,” leads us to the
foundation and mother of all virtues, which is humility. Without the
poverty in spirit, humility, we can make no progress in the growth of
the life of Christ in us. Humility is the opposite of pride, it is the
setting aside of all our self centeredness and all the “self”
characteristics that we frequently seek (self-esteem, self-worth,
self-sufficiency, self-dependence, etc). In humility we replace the
“self” in these things with God so that we become not self-centered, but
God centered.

The second beatitude, “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be
comforted” speaks of the necessity of sorrow in our lives. First the
sorrow of repentance for our sins, but also of the compassionate sorrow
that we feel when we see the trials and difficulties of others. The
greater this compassion extends, even to the whole world, the more we
share the compassion of God for all mankind.

The third beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth” describes for us the soul in which the love of God is fully
developed. The characteristics of this love are described by the Holy
Apostle in the 13th chapter of the First Epistle to the Church in
Corinth. In such a person the love of God for the whole world is made
manifest.

The fourth beatitude, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for
righteousness for they shall be filled” reminds us that we are to desire
God above all else. This is the restatement of the first and greatest
commandment to love God “with all your heart with all your soul with all
your mind and with all your strength.”

The fifth beatitude, Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain
mercy” speaks clearly of the necessity of the active work of compassion
in us (this compassion was introduced earlier in the second beatitude).
When we think of mercy, we think first of forgiveness of wrongs – but
mercy is not limited to forgiveness alone, but to all the works of mercy
of both body and soul (feeding, giving drink and clothing those who are
in need, visiting those in prison and who are sick, hospitality, caring
for the dead, witnessing to the Truth of the Gospel, comforting the
grieving, returning good for evil and praying for others, etc.) These
actions of mercy are the evidence of compassion in action.

The sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God”, instructs us that it is not only necessary to lead a righteous
life openly and outwardly, but that our inner life, our thoughts our
feelings, the depths of our soul, must also be pure. This we accomplish
through ascetic labor and constant prayer.

The seventh beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be
called the children of God” describes for us the nature of our life in
the community. We are to live ourselves in peace and harmony with others
and we encourage others to live in peace as well.

The eighth beatitude, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” simply restates
the words of our Lord which tell us that when we follow Him, we will set
ourselves against the fallen nature of the world and so the world will
be against us. Just as God the Son, Who became man and dwelt among us
was persecuted and even killed by the powers of the world, so also we,
when we follow Christ will suffer at the hands of those same powers.

The ninth beatitude, “Blessed are you when men shall revile and
persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
points out for us that “no man hath greater love than this, than he lay
down his life for another.” This is expressed openly in the lives of the
martyrs who gave their lives for Christ’s sake. This is also the
expectation of us all that we sacrifice our own lives, dying to
ourselves and to the world, that we might live instead to Christ and be
filled with His life.

These beatitudes are the directions by which we are filled with the
grace of God. They are the directions which lead us into the kingdom of
heaven and by which we are transformed and made anew in the image and
likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. They bring us to our salvation to
live in union and communion with God. Let us follow them with joy and
eagerness, anticipating the great blessedness of holiness and eternal
life with Christ for which we were created.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 6:22.33

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, in our daily lives we often find that
there exists a sort of contradiction: We call ourselves Christians, we
are supposed to be filled with the joy and peace of Christ, and yet, we
find that so much of our daily life is filled with pain, with sorrow and
with anxiety; often, peace – especially inner peace – is so far from us.
And so, we can ask ourselves, "Why is this so?" The Scripture readings
for today, in a very direct way, give us the answer to this perplexing
paradox.

Our Lord tells us in St. Matthew's Gospel that no one can serve two
masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will
be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon (Matt. 6:24). Here, I think, is the real source of our problem.
We experience the anxieties of life and allow them to disturb our peace
because, in effect, we are passing through life with double minds. We
really don't know just Who to follow and we haven't really decided to
center our love and devotion on God Who is the only source of true
happiness and peace.

We have to seriously ask ourselves, just whom do we serve. Is our life
centered around God and His Holy Church, or is it centered around the
things of this life? – our homes, our jobs, our possessions, our family
and friends, our little pleasures and recreational activities? How many
of us call ourselves Christians, call ourselves faithful and dedicated
Church¬goers and yet, if we truly and honestly examine our personal
lives, find that surely God and His Church does not come first?

Yes, we find ourselves in church on Sunday mornings and a few feast
days, but what about the other Divine services? Vespers, Matins, Vigil,
and so on? How often do we find many excuses not to come to church?
Perhaps, and this is especially appropriate at this time of year, we are
on vacation. How much of an effort do we make to find an Orthodox church
within which to glorify God on Sunday morning? Or perhaps we say that we
can't come to a feastday Liturgy because we have to work – but there are
still the beautiful evening services, the Vigil ¬which actually begins
the feast. How wonderful it would be if we would come to services on
Saturday night to begin our preparation for the Sunday morning Liturgy –
we certainly are often able to find many other less important or useful
things to do during this time!

Even more important than simply attending Church services (though the
services are themselves important), how much of the Gospel – the "Good
News" of Christ – do we bring home and actually put into practice? How
hard do we actually try to live our lives worthy of the Name
“Christian”? Do we try to forgive those who hurt us or wrong us? (And
here we don't mean just family and friends!) Do we try to love everyone
we meet as if we have just met Christ Himself? Do we ask God’s blessing
before every task and give glory to God for every good thing that we
might do, realizing that without God's help, on our own we are incapable
of doing anything good? Do we give thanks to God for every blessing and
help that comes our way? Do we really believe, as Scripture tells us,
that the sufferings of this life are a result of the spread of sin in
the world and that, as St. Paul tells us, we [should] rejoice in our
sufferings, for we know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance
produces character, and character produces hope – the hope of sharing
the glory of God (Rom. 5:3-4,2)? The Martyrs marched into the arena with
hymns of joy on their lips, but how often do we complain at the
slightest discomfort or inconvenience?

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus speaks to us about what the proper
attitude should be concerning the material side of our lives: “I tell
you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you
shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life
more than food, and the body more than clothing? … Therefore take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For … your heavenly Father knoweth that
ye have need of all these things." (Matt. 6:25-31). The key to all this
comes in the very next verse: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (vs.
33) (*). This is the standard by which we should guide our lives and
from which our values are drawn. The first priority in our lives, the
one consideration that comes before all other circumstances is to seek
the Kingdom of God. God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, has promised to
us that if we focus all our efforts on seeking Him, then He will provide
for us all that we need in this life. On the icon of our Savior which is
in the entry way to our Church, we see that He is holding a scroll with
this very Gospel written on it. This is our reminder as we come and go
that wherever we are and whatever we are doing, our first priority is to
seek the Kingdom of God.

What then does that mean to us, to “seek first the Kingdom of God”? For
those of us who live in the world and thus have “worldly cares” about
which we must concern ourselves, this means that the Gospel and the
heavenly Kingdom should always be a part of that concern. We must always
be aware that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God and therefore we
should live and act in accordance with the values and standards of the
Kingdom (that is the Gospel). Therefore, in each aspect of our lives we
must bring the standards of the Gospel to bear. Just as we heard last
week in the Gospel we must strive to exhibit the qualities of poverty of
spirit, the sorrow of repentance and compassion, meekness, desire for
righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peace and the joyful endurance of
trials and suffering for Christ’s sake. When we make decisions about
where to go and what to do and how to manage our own affairs, our first
concern should be whether or not this is the best choice in pursuit of
the Kingdom of God. When you consider a career, consider how you can use
this career to act out the life of Christ. How will you spend your time?
Our first consideration should be to choose those activities which are
consistent with the life of Christ, those things which bring us closer
to Him. It is a truism that we always make time for the things we really
want to do. Therefore, if you are pursuing the Kingdom of God above all
else, you will always have time to pray, you will always have time to be
in the services, you will always be able to do those things which
glorify God, for you will choose to do them above all else.

When you are given possessions and riches, do not ask how you can retain
them or enlarge them (this is the thinking of this world) but rather how
you can use these things for the glory of God. In fact when we consider
all that we think we have it is best to remember that, in Christ, we
have nothing at all. All that I possess in this world (down to the
smallest crumb of bread and the old pennies under the sofa cushions)
comes from God. They are God's and He has given them to me that I might
use them in His service. Thus all the things that I have - my house, my
car, my food, my clothes, my books, etc, etc. - are not mine, but God's,
I only use them for now. I have nothing of my own, I only have use of
these things that God has given me - and if I have them tomorrow, it is
because of His will and if they are take away, it is because of His
will. I know that all that I need for this life and for the next is
provided for me by God - it may not be my idea of what I think I should
have, but it is what God, in His infinite wisdom and compassion knows
that I need. So, despite the fact that I "have" a house, car, bank
account, and an embarrassing multitude of possessions - I have nothing,
it is all God's that He has permitted me to use.

This is the key to the Christian life: to place above all else, the
Kingdom of God. Everything else, every other consideration is of
secondary importance. If we order our lives thus, then there is no
question that God, who loves us and who cares for us, will provide all
that we need. This is the true life of the Christian. “Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given
to you.”


(*) The comments to this point are heavily quoted from a homily by
“M.A.” published in the book “The Living Word, Vol 1”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 8:5-13

"Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For
there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea
obey". So spoke King Canute the Great, the legend says, seated on his
throne on the seashore, waves lapping round his feet. Canute had learned
that his flattering courtiers claimed he was "So great, he could command
the tides of the sea to go back". Now Canute was not only a religious
man, but also a clever politician. He knew his limitations - even if his
courtiers did not - so he had his throne carried to the seashore and sat
on it as the tide came in, commanding the waves to advance no further.
When they didn't, he had made his point that, though the authority of
kings might appear 'great' in the minds of men, it was as nothing in the
face of God's power and authority. King Canute clearly demonstrated to
his people and to us that while a man may have some authority over his
own affairs, he must recognize God’s power and authority and submit to
it willingly.

This same lesson of the power and authority of God and man is given to
us today in the Gospel. This centurion, a pagan, but also a pious man in
his own way, had a great deal of earthly authority. He commanded not
only the military company of a hundred men, but as the commander of such
great force, he also ruled over all those who lived under the power of
that company – and in this case that included our Lord Jesus Christ. As
the military commander, he had complete authority over his soldiers and
he could order them to compel everyone else to do as he wished. He had
absolute authority over the affairs of all the people in his district.
But this centurion was also a wise man for he recognized the limits of
his authority, he knew that he could not simply be a dictator, but that
there were times to set aside his authority and act instead of out of
compassion and humility. This we see in the events of the Gospel, for
one of the servants of the commander became ill, so sick that he was
dying. The centurion had heard from the Jews of this rabbi, this
teacher, who was also able to work miracles healing the sick, giving
sight to the blind and even raising the dead. In such a person the
centurion recognized that here was a power greater than his own. While
he could have simply ordered the soldiers to find this rabbi, Jesus, and
bring him to the bed of the sick man and order him to heal, the
centurion saw that such a display of power was empty and foolish – as
empty as King Canute ordering the tide not to come in as it began to lap
about his feet. Therefore he chose a different path.

The actions of the centurion first demonstrate for us the power of love
and compassion. This servant who was ill could not in any meaningful way
repay the centurion for his efforts. The centurion acted instead out of
love and compassion for his servant, reaching out to obtain whatever
care was necessary simply out of compassion, not expecting anything in
return. There was nothing this sick servant could give his master that
the centurion could not already command for himself. But the centurion
set aside his own position, set aside his own interests and instead took
compassion on his servant expecting nothing in return. This is like the
love of God for us. He sees that we are sick unto death with the disease
of sin and out of His compassion and love for us, while we were yet
sinners, set aside the glory of His divinity and became man so that He
might destroy the sin which had infected us and which held us captive
and prevented us from enjoying His love and the grace which He pours out
upon us.

The centurion also models for us our own response to God’s love and the
necessity of setting aside our own pretensions, our own self interest,
our own efforts and acting instead in humility, trusting in the power of
God. The centurion knew the nature of power and authority – that within
his competency, he did not have to do anything himself but could simply
order it done: saying to this man, “go here” and he goes or to this man
“come” and he comes or to another “do this” and he does it. He also knew
that Jesus had a power greater than his own, for while he could order
men about, Jesus had the authority to command the forces of the world.
In Jesus the centurion saw not a worldly power but the power of God.
Thus the centurion humbled himself before Jesus Christ, and came himself
before Christ as one who was summoned and did not command Jesus to heal
but asked that he might do so. And when Jesus agreed and set out to
follow the centurion to his home, the centurion humbled himself even
further claiming that he was not worthy that Jesus should come to his
house, but rather he knew that his authority and power were such that he
had only to say the word and all would be done. The centurion not only
humbled himself, but exhibited complete faith and trust in Christ. He
did not demand that Jesus heal his servant and even when Jesus agreed to
do so, the centurion did not demand or insist upon any certain method or
show, but rather trusted that all that was necessary was the word of
authority and all would be done. The centurion demanded no proof, no
verification, no authentication – but rather accepted in faith that the
word of Christ was sufficient. He willingly received all that God gave
in the manner in which it was given.

This for us is instrumental in shaping our own faith and trust in God.
We heard not many weeks ago that our Lord said to us that we need not
worry about what to eat or drink, what to wear, or for any worldly need
but that if we first seek after the Kingdom of God, that He will provide
our worldly needs. We hear this, but too often we do not believe this.
We think that we must control our own affairs, that we know best how to
get what we need in this world. We “pray” and tell God what kind and how
much food we want and what type of drink to give to us. We describe to
God in great detail the particular fashion of clothing that we “need” to
wear and demand that He order his provision for us according to our
desires. We do not trust God to give us what we need, instead we tell
him what we want and demand that he give us those things instead. We
expend our energy and put forth our own efforts on ordering our lives in
this world as we see fit rather than focusing on obtaining the things of
the Kingdom of God. Remember Job, the longsuffering servant of God. Job
was given many gifts by God in this world, riches, a great house,
flocks, children and the respect of his peers. But then, these things
were lost, the riches were lost, the house destroyed, the flocks died
off and his children were killed. Even his former friends came to gloat
over his ruin. But Job did not lose faith in God’s care and provision,
but put all of his hope and trust in God. Job did not make demands of
God, but rather said, “the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be
the name of the Lord.” He set aside his own ideas of what he needed, and
instead accepted from God that which God gave.

We too should follow the example of the centurion and of the righteous
Job. Rather than demand this or that from God, rather than expend all
our effort on making sure our worldly affairs are in order, we can
simply trust God that He will provide for us as He sees fit according to
our needs. We will exert ourselves instead in the work of prayer and
denying ourselves. We will take up our cross and follow Christ (rather
than demand that He follow us). If we do this, if we place a priority on
seeking first the kingdom of God, then He will provide for us all that
we need and in such a manner that we will not only meet our earthy needs
but we will also build up treasure in heaven.

Brothers and sisters, let us imitate the centurion of the Gospel and
trust God to do that which He has promised us to do and in return let us
humble ourselves and relinquish our own authority and control and place
ourselves completely in the hands of our merciful and compassionate
Lord. This is that great faith in God, when we believe that He can and
will care for us and we abandon ourselves into His love and compassion.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Romans 12:6-14

Every year around Thanksgiving there is a fundraiser in town for the
food bank. Throughout the year, school children and other volunteers
make ceramic bowls for this fundraiser. The people who come to the event
make a donation and select a bowl and get some soup to put in it. The
bowls are at once all the same and again all very different. They are
made with the same stuff, with clay and glazes which are then baked to
make them hard and shiny, but this same stuff is shaped and colored
differently by each hand that touches it. The end product is a bowl, but
each bowl is different showing the imagination and creativity of the
person who made it.

God gives to us all His grace which is, according to the Fathers, His
divine energy. This same grace is given to each of us, however, it is
used and seen in different ways in each person as we work out our
salvation. The Apostle today refers to this when he says that we are all
given different gifts of grace – not different graces but that the same
grace of God that is given to us has unique characteristics in each
person. Therefore, to some, he says are given prophecy, or ministering
(serving), or teaching, or exhortation, or giving, and so on. Whatever
the gift, he says, let us use it with diligence. The key here is not the
kind of gift that God might give to each person, but that we use the
grace that God has given with diligence, with care, with zeal. First is
the necessity of using the grace of God that is given to us for we
cannot leave it unused. As we noted last week in the gospel of the
deliverance of the demon possessed men, they were delivered from the
power of the demons by the grace of God because they responded and used
that grace to resist the evil one. On the other hand, the townspeople,
when offered the same grace, did not use it but remained enslaved to
their passions. So also for us the first and most vital necessity is to
use the grace that God gives and not let it sit idle and ineffective.
This is the reason that the scripture and all of the saints tell us that
we must “work out” our salvation. God gives us the raw material (his
grace), but we must use it and allow it to act in our lives.

In each person that grace is incorporated and shaped by the nature of
that person and it takes on the characteristics of that nature. Thus for
some the grace of God manifests as prophecy, or the ability to discern
and speak the words of God. For others the grace of God manifests as
ministering, that is serving others and caring for the flock of Christ.
In some we see that by the grace of God they are able to teach and in
others that they exhort. Some have the spirit of giving, charity and
hospitality while others manifest leadership and still others acts of
mercy. This is the list that the apostle gives us, but it is not an
exhaustive list of the gifts of God, only one that provides examples.

When he first speaks of the gift of prophecy, he sets the tone for all
the other gifts for he says that it is exercised “according to the
faith”. This is important not only for prophecy but for all these gifts.
St John Chrysostom, in explaining to us what the Apostle meant here,
tells us that to exercise our gifts “according to the faith” means that
we must do all things within the boundaries of the faith that we hold,
that is the tradition, doctrine (teaching) and practice of the Orthodox
Christian Church. We must not use our gifts and abilities in a self
willed manner but we must submit to the teaching of the Church. Thus in
order to use the grace of God effectively for our salvation we must stay
within the limits prescribed by the Church. If we go off on our own and
introduce novel ideas, novel practices, novel doctrines and so on, then
the use of God’s grace will not only be useless but will be to our
condemnation. The gifts of grace can only be used effectively within the
walls of the Church in accordance with and in submission to the
tradition of the Church.

In this list of gifts we see that some seem to be greater than others.
The first gifts mentioned, those of prophecy, serving, teaching &
exhortation describe not only in the literal use of words which are the
titles of the ordained offices but also in the primary duties and
responsibilities of those who are ordained. This tells us that these
gifts are most often found among those who are ordained or who are
candidates for ordination for their spiritual nature has brought them to
this place within the order of the life of the Church. But, St John
Chrysostom cautions us, these gifts are not found only among those who
are ordained but to some degree they may be exercised throughout the
Church. In addition, those who are ordained manifest these gifts
differently according to their nature. Every one of us may encounter any
or all of these gifts in our own lives at one time or another for God
gives them to Christians as necessary for the welfare of the whole
Church. However, no matter where we find them in our own lives, they
must be used in accordance with our own place in the order of the life
of the Church lest they bring not salvation and benefit, but chaos due
to our own self will.

Also the Apostle indicates that these gifts are used “in proportion” to
the faith that we have. This tells us that in order to properly develop
the characteristics and gifts of grace in us to their full potential we
must deepen our faith by the tried and true path of salvation laid out
for us by Christ – to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow
Him. Thus the importance of self denial, that is of ascetic labor
(especially fasting) to quell the passions and sinful impulses and
drives in ourselves. Also the necessity of dying to the world, of
setting our values and priorities not only the things of this life, but
on those of the next. And finally to follow Christ, that is of living
within the limits and at the direction of His Body, guided in all things
by the tradition and life of the Church. Thus there is a kind of
hierarchy to the exercise of the spiritual gifts indicated in the
examples given us by the apostle. Those who are beginning in the
spiritual life exercise the simpler gifts of acts of mercy, giving and
hospitality. But the higher gifts, for example caring for the corporate
life of the Body (ministering), teaching and prophecy are manifested by
those who are advanced and experienced in the spiritual life.
Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos in his writings on the cure of the
soul links this spiritual maturity and thus the ability to manifest the
higher gifts to the levels of ordination within the Church. He tells us
that those who would be ordained as ministers, as priests, as bishops
must exhibit beforehand in their lives the spiritual development,
experience and maturity that will allow them to manifest the gifts that
are necessary to their calling. Thus it is best not to seek particular
gifts according to our own self will but rather to accept the simpler
gifts that God places within the grasp of each of us, laying first the
spiritual foundations, as the Apostle instructs us: “Let love be without
dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour
preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit;
serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing
instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” If
we do these things, then we will be ready to use the grace that God
gives us in the working out of our own salvation and for the benefit of
the life of the Church.

Christianity is not a passive faith, but an active one. We are given the
grace of God and expected to use it. But we must use it in accordance
with the faith that we have. That faith is given to us in the
traditions, doctrines and life of the Church. That life should be our
guide in all that we do so that the grace of God can work most
effectively in us. The manifestation of God’s grace in each of us is
shaped by the personality, the unique characteristics of every person
and comes out as spiritual gifts, expressing the grace of God in us. In
order to receive and use these gifts, it is necessary to follow the path
of salvation given to us by Christ to “deny yourself, take up your cross
and follow [Christ]”. The Apostle gives us practical directions about
how to set this basic foundation for the working of the grace of God in
us and as we incorporate these things in our lives, the gifts that God
gives will shine forth in us to the benefit of the Body of Christ and to
His glory.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 8:28-9:1

In this Gospel, we see two sides of the same coin. We see people who are
held captive, enslaved, by their own sin. Coming into the country of the
Gergesenes, our Lord was met by two men who had been possessed by
demons. These men were quite fierce and had been driven out of the city
to live in the tombs among the dead. They were, as we might say today,
?out of their minds?. But when these demon possessed men encountered
Christ, they themselves cried out with the voice of the demons that
tormented them. In this we see that in the presence of Christ the demons
lost their power over these men that they tormented. They could not
abide the presence of Christ, but were unable to make the men to flee
from Him. Instead they had to flee from the men because they could not
endure the presence of the God/man. See here what a remarkable thing
happened by the power of God. Through their own sin, these men had come
so completely under the control of the demons that they were possessed
and tormented. However as soon as the God/man Jesus Christ entered their
presence the men were released from their captivity by these demons.
They chose not to flee the presence of the Lord, which in turn meant
that the demons who had possessed them had to flee from them. Note how
great is the power of repentance and resisting temptation. We need only
to choose Christ, choose to remain with Him and the evil one no longer
has any power over us. The power to choose has been restored to us by
Christ.

The ?other side of the coin? can be seen in the citizens of the city who
came out to meet Christ. Having heard what happened to the men possessed
by demons they came out to see Christ. But while they did not appear to
be in the same condition as the possessed men, these citizens were
actually caught in the same captivity. In opposition to the law and due
to their own self will and greed these men raised swine. They were
enslaved by their own sins just as surely as the men possessed by demons
were enslaved. But these men upon encountering the God/man Jesus Christ
did not choose to abandon their sins of self will and greed, but they
chose instead to turn Christ away and push Him out from themselves. And
so we see that even though Jesus Christ frees us from the power of sin,
He does not force us to follow Him. It is our choice to follow Him or
not. This is what the coming of Christ gives to us, the freedom to
choose: to choose to follow Him or to turn Him away.

We too are afflicted by our passions and temptations, and our Lord Jesus
Christ offer us the choice to repent and follow Him or to remain captive
to our sins. However the temptations of this life and especially our own
passions are relentless. ?No sooner does a man break God?s law (give in
to them), than he is spiritually punished: having lost grace, he eats
away his heart in vain longing, endeavoring all the while to choose for
himself the best of many equally bad things. These longings and
endeavors deflect his attention away from his real good and dim his
intelligence. Soon, having become the slave of his passions, he can no
longer resist their lure: then the sweet mead of pleasure becomes the
bitter sting of retribution.? (St Macarii of Optina)

This is the state of those of whom we read in the Gospel for they were
enslaved by their own passions. Rather than seeking God, they sought the
fulfillment of their own desires until finally they became enslaved by
those desires. The very things for which they longed and which had been
sweet to them, turned bitter and tormented them. No longer were they
?sweet? but also no longer could they easily turn from them.

?Our passions are indeed our most pitiless tormentors. So unrelenting
are they that even the humbled sinner who, having recognized them for
what they are, wishes to free himself from their domination and decides
to leave them and face the light, even though he is still tormented and
tortured by their murky brood. They pursue him long. They crowd around
the unfortunate until his constant resistance to their renewed attacks
and his active penitence have wiped their very memory from his heart.?
(St Macarii of Optina)

In his struggle of resistance to the attacks of the passions and active
repentance for his failures, man requires help from God. By ourselves,
we might be able to keep from drowning in the sea of temptations for a
brief moment but only our Lord Jesus Christ can pull us from the sea by
His grace and set us in the safe refuge of the ark of salvation. Just as
He restored to the ones whom He encountered in the Gospel the choice and
the power to turn away from their sins and choose righteousness, so also
by His death and resurrection, He restores that choice to us. When faced
by temptation and even sin, we can choose Christ.

Having chosen to follow Christ, He then helps us by His grace. But this
is not some kind of self acting magic that over-rides our own will and
our own efforts, but rather it is the power of God which we are given to
use by applying our own will and joining our own efforts to it. Just
having the grace of God alone will not save us, but we must use it. If
we are given the grace of God but do not use it, then that will be to
our condemnation; just as the servant who received the talent of gold
from his master and buried in the ground was condemned. We must rather
make use of this grace ? use it to reinforce the choice of our will to
conform to the will of God, use it to empower our actions in sympathy
with the will of God in us. Having done this we will be like the
servants who, having received the talents of gold from their master,
used them and multiplied them. They were praised by their master and
were welcomed into his presence.

We are constantly assailed and tormented by temptations, both from
within and without that seek to turn us away from Christ and to enslave
us. But our Lord Jesus Christ has come to us and restored to us our free
will. We can choose to follow Him and when we do, He frees us from that
enslavement. But sin does not abandon us entirely ? it constantly seeks
to reattach itself to our soul. Thus we are given the grace of God by
which we struggle against those temptations and by which we are in turn
transformed, actualizing the image and likeness of God with which we
were created. This is our salvation to be freed from enslavement to sin
and using the grace of God to be transformed and become like Christ,
living in union and communion with Him

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 9:27-35

Two weeks ago we heard the Gospel of the two men possessed by demons who
were delivered by Jesus Christ. This Gospel initiated a series of Gospel
readings in the following weeks that bring into detail the ways in which
our sin impedes our spiritual lives. Last week we heard of the healing
of the paralytic youth and this week we heard both the healing of the
two blind men and of the man who was mute. These three illnesses, though
they are physical, mirror for us the spiritual illnesses that sin brings
upon us.

First, sin paralyzes us spiritually. When we are afflicted by sin, we
become ever more sluggish and unable to move in any spiritually
beneficial direction. Righteousness and good works – that is acting in
accordance with the grace of God in us – becomes more and more difficult
until finally we are unable to respond at all to the prompting of grace.
One of the first places that we notice this paralysis is in our prayer
life. The rule of prayer becomes more and more burdensome; it seems that
we are unable to maintain our attention for even the briefest of
prayers. The mind wanders during prayer such that we might even have
gone through the whole rule without even once engaging our mind and
heart in the prayer. The time for prayer becomes more and more fractured
with frequent intrusions from the world which we seem to be unable to
avoid. All of this is the first symptoms of our own spiritual paralysis.
Soon it is not only our prayer, but all of our other spiritual
activities that seem to be affected. Even the remembrance of God in our
daily lives fades away. We have become so sunk in the mire of sin that
we cannot make any spiritual moves.

The good news, however, is that this paralysis need not rule over us.
Just as the paralytic was brought by his friends to Christ, so we are
upheld and brought into the presence of God by the intercessory prayers
of our Christian brothers and sisters. As we stand before Christ,
paralyzed by sin, He first removes the chains by which we are bound
saying, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then He gives us the command, “Take
up your bed and walk” encouraging us to act on our faith in Him. The
power of God is the remedy for our paralysis. We need only repent of our
sins and then step out in faith and begin again to do that which we
thought was impossible – to pray, to act with mercy and charity and
hospitality, to remind ourselves of God’s immanent presence with us
every moment.

Paralysis, however, it not the only spiritual ill that we face. Sin also
blinds us by clouding our spiritual senses. We lose the ability to
perceive the spiritual world. Sometimes, as with the paralysis, we lose
our awareness of God’s presence with us or perhaps we cannot see God’s
purpose in our lives. The Gospel and other spiritual words seem to lose
their meaning. We become, in fact, spiritually blind, groping our way
along what we hope is the path of salvation.

Blindness is just as fleeting as paralysis in the presence of God.
Spiritual blindness is born of the darkness of sin and when He who is
the Light of the world enters the picture, the darkness is pushed back
and flees from us. Again it is our faith in God that allows us to regain
our sight. Just as our Lord asked the blind men, “Do you have faith that
I can do this?” so also He asks us, “Do you have faith in Me? Do you
trust Me?” Then He gives us the light necessary to see the path ahead.
Perhaps we don’t see the end of the path, perhaps we only see the next
step – but we have faith that God knows the path and He knows where to
lead us and He shows us each step as it comes to us. Those who have
walked long with God and who have learned to trust Him are sometimes
granted even longer sight and can see further ahead. These are the
saints who are vouchsafed such gifts of spiritual foresight and wisdom
and even clairvoyance. They can see further for they have sharpened
their senses to be more open and receptive to the Light of Christ. For
us, it is enough to see what God shows us each day and each moment and
to have faith that He will reveal to us all that we need to walk
securely on the path of salvation.

A third effect of sin that we heard is that of muteness – the inability
to speak or express ourselves. The greater the hold that sin has upon us
the more difficult it becomes to speak of spiritual things. We may be
glib when it comes to worldly topics and in discussing such things as
current events, sports, movies, and the doings of our friends. However,
the moment the topic of conversation turns toward spiritual matters all
of sudden we can say nothing. In fact at times we become so impaired by
sin that any time a spiritual topic arises, we turn away, unable even to
listen, hoping for something, anything that will distract us from
hearing the Word of God.

As the Gospel indicates such aversion to speaking of and hearing
anything of a spiritual nature is born of demonic influence. We must be
freed of this influence by the power of Jesus Christ. No matter how
difficult it might be we must force ourselves to listen to those things
which have spiritual content – the hymns and music of the Church, the
reading of the Gospel, the spiritual conversations of others. Even as
these spiritually potent words enter our ears the power of the demonic
muteness is weakened. Then we begin speaking again of spiritual things
ourselves by reading the prayers, by singing the hymns of the Church and
reading aloud the Psalms and the scriptures. Every word that we speak
which is filled with the power of God loosens the tongue more and more
and encourages the hunger and thirst for more divine content.
Eventually, being filled with hymns, psalms and spiritual songs, we are
able not only to tolerate spiritual conversations but to desire them
above all else and to eagerly participate in them as they are the food
and drink for our soul.

Sin does indeed impair us in the spiritual life, but the power of God
wipes away the effects of sin. Repentance and obedience wipe away the
chains of sin which paralyze us; trust in God lightens the darkness with
which sin tries to blind us; hearing and speaking in hymns psalms and
spiritual songs to one another breaks the demonic muteness which stops
our mouths and turns us away from the nourishment of spiritual
conversation. All of this is accomplished by the power of God for when
we are with Him, none of these spiritual illnesses can remain and we see
with our eyes, hear with our ears, confess with our lips the glory of
Jesus Christ and follow with our whole being as He leads us on the path
of salvation.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 14:14-22

In this miracle of the feeding of the 5000 our Lord gives us instruction
about many things. This is one of the most important miracles of the
Gospel indicated by the fact that it is the only such miracle recorded
by all 4 evangelists. By providing food for those who came to hear Him
preach, Jesus gave an object lesson of what He had said verbally in the
Sermon on the Mount that we need not concern ourselves with what we
shall eat or what we shall drink but rather “seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto
you”. Jesus showed His disciples a clear example of His provision for
all our needs, both spiritual and physical.

Beyond this obvious lesson, we also see in this miracle how it is that
God provides for us our spiritual nourishment. As we have seen in the
past weeks, various physical conditions have served as examples of
spiritual conditions. Here again, the physical condition of the hunger
of the people shows us our own hunger for Jesus Christ and our desire to
be filled with Him (blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness for they shall be filled). The people gathered together to
hear Jesus preach – 5000 men as well as women and children – had not
eaten the whole day and the evening was approaching. They were in the
wilderness and so the disciples suggested that Jesus dismiss the crowd
and send them home or to the villages so that they might find food. But
Jesus said to the Apostles that they instead should feed the multitude.
This is the first lesson in this miracle. Jesus did not send the people
away to find food elsewhere, to the villages, or to forage for
themselves in the desert, but gave them into the care of the Apostles.
When we come to Christ, He does not send us away here and there for
spiritual nourishment, nor does He feed each of us independently but
rather gives us all into the care of the Holy Apostles, instructing them
to feed us. Where else then should we receive spiritual food except in
the Church at the hands of the Apostles and those whom they have
appointed to carry on their pastoral work (that is the bishops who are
appointed as archpastors each to care for the local flock of Christ)?
Jesus Christ does not send us off alone to feed ourselves only from the
scripture and the ideas of our own mind and feelings of closeness to
Him. Nor does He expect us to go and find spiritual nourishment in any
other religion from those who teach strange things. Rather He
specifically puts us into the care of the Apostles, appointing the
Church as the place where we are all to dine upon His Word together.

Receiving this instruction the Apostles object that they cannot feed so
great a multitude and in fact were only able to find five small loaves
of bread and two fishes. They had very little to give to this multitude,
certainly not enough food to feed all. But this too is part of the
lesson of Christ for taking what little they had, he blessed it and
broke it into twelve portions, giving a little to each of the disciples
and sent them out. The food then miraculously was multiplied so that
everyone received all that he needed. The Apostles do not feed us their
food, but rather that which they receive from Christ. All that they had
they gave to Christ insufficient though it was and He then makes it
sufficient and returns it to the Apostles to give to all. Two things
stand out here. First is that the food we receive comes from Jesus
Christ, and even what we think we have, we give first to Him rather than
distributing it on our own. The only source of teaching, of wisdom, of
true knowledge, of spiritual nourishment is from Jesus Christ and He
gives this food to us through the hands and voices and words of the Holy
Apostles, and by them through the bishops and then the priests and deacons.

The second thing here is the process by which we give to Christ
everything of our own: our own works, our own ideas, our own reasoning,
our own opinions. We recognize that what we have is insufficient for our
own salvation; it is incomplete, or has a fundamental flaw, or is mixed
with that which is harmful. We take what we think we have and give it to
Christ, that is we submit it all to the Church which is the repository
of the riches of the grace of God and the Body of Christ. He then
blesses what we give to Him and in doing so purifies it, completes and
perfects it and then He returns it to us. Is this not for us a
foretelling of the Holy Mysteries. We bring to Christ the works of our
hands and minds and hearts, bread and wine. No matter how good that
bread and wine might be, no matter how much effort and skill and love we
put into making it, it is still insufficient for our salvation. And so
we give to Jesus Christ our imperfect gifts (note that in preparing the
Holy Gifts we use 5 loaves of bread, just as there were at this miracle)
and He receives them from us poor as they are and He takes them, blesses
them, hallows them, makes up that which is lacking and transforms them
into His own Most Holy Body and Most Precious Blood. Then He gives to us
this perfect Food for the salvation of our souls. This is nothing that
we could do for ourselves, nor do we receive them from any other hands
than those of the Holy Apostles into whose care we are given.

After all had eaten their fill, the remnants were gathered and there
were twelve baskets full of this miraculous food remaining. This
instructs us that this spiritual food is given now to each the Apostles
and the are in turn sent into all the world to feed all mankind from
this supersubstantial food given to the world by the hand of the God/man
Jesus Christ through the Holy Apostles. In this we recall that as we
confess in the Symbol of Faith (the Nicene Creed) the Church is One and
derives her substance from one source that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Church is Holy for that substance is blessed and hallowed by God
Himself. The Church is Catholic for from the Church the spiritual
nourishment of the Kingdom of Heaven is given to the whole world, to all
men in all places and in all times. The is Apostolic for this wondrous
spiritual food is given to us by the hands of the Apostles, that is it
comes to us only through the Church and from no other place.

The Lord said, “blessed as those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness for they shall be filled” In this miraculous feeding of
5000 men plus women and children shows us how indeed this promise is
accomplished. When we hunger after spiritual nourishment, we are fed by
our Lord Jesus Christ. He commits us into the care of the Holy Apostles
and then instructs them to feed us. That is He places us into the One
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the ark of salvation and only here
do we receive the spiritual food that satisfies our hunger. The Apostles
and those whom they appoint (that is the bishops who are given the task
to “rightly divide the Word of Truth”) feed us not from their own
substance or their own resources, but they feed us from the miraculous
food given to us all by Christ. That spiritual food is the Truth which
is given to us by the self revelation of God incarnate and contained in
the Scripture and Tradition of the Church and in the teaching and lives
of the Apostles, the holy fathers and mothers, the martyrs and all the
saints. This spiritual food comes not from man but from God, offered to
us by Jesus Christ through the hands of the Apostles.

Partake now all you who are hungry and thirsty of this great banquet set
before us here in the Church. Partake of the life of the Church,
incorporating into your lives the traditions and practice of the Church,
ordering your lives according to the law of God. Read the Gospel and all
the Scripture; fill you mind and heart with the words of the Holy
Fathers and other spiritual writers among the saints. See the Truth
shining from the icons, hear the Word of God proclaimed in the preaching
and teaching of Gospel and in the words and melodies of the hymns. Touch
the relics of the saints and icons with veneration and honor which
through them we offer to Christ our God. Receive the sacraments,
especially the Holy Communion, which bestow upon us the grace of God by
which we are transformed into His image and likeness. We who are hungry
are now offered a great banquet and invited to eat our fill so do not be
shy but partake of all that our Lord offers to you, immerse yourself and
fill you life with all the riches offered through the hands of the
Apostles in the Church established by Christ as the ark of our
salvation. Come all you that hunger and thirst for righteousness for you
shall be filled.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matt 14:22-34

After the crowd of 5000 had been fed and then sent home, Jesus sent his
disciples across the sea of Galilee in a boat while He remained behind
to pray. As the disciples were crossing the sea and storm came up and
threatened to sink the boat. Just at that time, Jesus came to the
disciples, walking across the sea. Peter, when he realized that it was
Jesus, was so caught up in the moment that he asked to exit the boat and
come to Jesus on the surface of the sea. Jesus told him to come but as
soon as Peter lost sight of Jesus and saw the sea, he began to doubt and
he began to sink and cried out to Jesus for help. Jesus came and took
Peter by the hand, lifted him up and placed him in the boat with the
others. Then Jesus Himself, also entered the boat and the storm calmed.

This event reinforces the message from last week about the necessity of
being in the Church. Archbishop Andrei of Novo Diveevo describes this
scene with spiritual eyes: “A wonderful image of the Church of Christ is
drawn for us here. The boat, as it were, represents the Church: its
sides are the rules and canons of the Church; the disciples are all of
us Christians; and the stormy sea is the sea of our life. And now too
Christ has ascended a mountain, which means He is sitting at the right
hand of the Father. He sees our Church boat and directs it. … And when
they (the disciples) found themselves in danger, He walked to them on
the water.” How clear is this picture of the Church as the ark of
salvation; a ship sailing on the stormy seas of life protecting those
within from the violence of the tempest by her sides which are the
teaching and tradition of the Church, conveying all safely to their
destination. In times of trouble, our Lord, looking down upon us from
heaven, sees our need and comes to us walking upon the surface of the
water. Last week we heard how our Lord places us in the Church, in the
care of the Apostles so that we might draw all of our nourishment from
their hands as they receive it from Him. This week we see how our Lord
places us in the Church to protect us from the tempest of this life and
the raging attacks of the evil one.

There is more, however, for we have yet to speak of Peter and his coming
to Christ on the water. The Gospel says that the disciples entered into
the boat to go to the other side, not of their own will but rather that
they “were constrained” by Jesus to do so. This means that they were not
acting according to their own will but rather that they were acting in
obedience to Christ. Again we have repeated for us the lesson that when
we come to the Christ we surrender our own desires and ideas and conform
our will to His own. Now when the disciples saw Jesus come to them
walking on the water, they were at first afraid but Jesus calmed them
with His word. Peter was so excited that he called out to Christ saying,
“Lord, if it is you, then let me come to you on the water.” See here
that Jesus did not call Peter, but Peter himself came up with this idea.
Obedience changed into boldness and Peter filled with a surge of faith
and zeal took a bold step. But then something happened and a wave came
and hid Jesus from Peter’s sight and Peter found himself alone. His
foolishness overcame him and he realized that he had over reached
himself. His faith faltered and his zeal changed to fear and he began to
sink. But still he cried out to the only one who could save him, saying,
“Lord help me!” And immediately Jesus was there and took Peter by the hand.

See here the necessity of obedience, the necessity of denying the self,
of following Christ in all things rather than our own ideas. Out of
obedience the disciples entered the boat and crossed the sea, and they
were protected even from the fierce effects of the storm. But when
Peter’s desire reasserted itself, even with something that seemed good –
an act of faith, imitating his Lord and Master – then he found himself
in danger. Even when we are foolish, even when we forget to obey, even
when we allow our own zeal to override everything else, even then, Jesus
is still there to save us, to pick us up, to lift us out of the danger
in which we find ourselves and to preserve us. But Jesus did not pick
Peter up and set him again on his feet to walk with Him on the surface
of the water, but rather Jesus picked Peter up and placed him in the
boat with the others. Jesus placed Peter back into the ark of salvation.
We are not saved alone, but we are saved in the company of the Church.
We cannot walk through this life on our own strength or even on a surge
of faith in Christ – we are instead placed by Christ into the ark of
salvation, into the Church. Within the Church we are protected by the
stiff planks of the sides and keel which are the canons and doctrines
and traditions of the Church. The ark is guided by the sure hand of the
Apostles who are its officers and crew, chosen and set apart by Christ.
The sails are filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, pushing us
along to our destination. And the Captain of the ship who guards us and
comforts us and watches over us is our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.

With his clear spiritual sight, Archbishop Andrei sums it all up for us:
“What a profound lesson is hidden for us here: in Christian living there
should be evenness, there should be quiet. And for this to be so, we
must never step over the side of the Church boat. We must keep the
statutes of the Church, we must live the life of the Church. And then,
even if we find ourselves amid the stormy sea of life, we will be able
to cry out, “Lord save me.” And He, the Merciful One will stretch out
His saving hand to us too, as He did to Peter, and we will find
ourselves in the boat of the Church (the ark of salvation), and a great
calm will come.”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

St Seraphim, to whose memory our parish is dedicated, was primarily a
man of prayer. This characteristic, in and of itself, is something that
should stand as an example and inspiration for us all. When we pray, we
know that we do not pray alone but that such an accomplished master of
the art of prayer prays with us.

St Seraphim, known in the world as Prokhor, was born into a merchant
family in Kursk. His life is full of miraculous interventions which
preserved his life including being healed from a serious illness during
an unexpected visitation of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Virgin Mary. His
demeanor as a young man also indicated the course that he would follow
in his adult life. His young life revolved around working, praying and
reading, especially spiritual books. He sought out friends who had
similar interests to his and was attracted to adults who could talk with
him about spiritual topics. His mother saw this tendency in her son and
did not discourage it or place any hindrance in the path of her son. As
a young man of 17 he revealed his desire to enter monastic life to his
mother and she was not at all surprised. Although he was a great help to
her in the family business, she willingly gave him her blessing to
pursue the life to which she knew he was called.

Prokhor in company with his likeminded friends traveled to the caves
monastery in Kiev, the heart of Russian monasticism. There he sought out
the clairvoyant elder Dositheus who recognizing the destiny of the
future saint sent him to the monastery of Sarov there to work out his
salvation. From Kiev, Prokhor returned to his mother’s home where he
remained for a time but finally, again with her blessing, set off for
the Sarov monastery.

The monastic life of the young novice Prokhor was marked by his diligent
labor of obedience in all things as he worked to set aside his self will
and break his worldly pride. Even later in life, St Seraphim would
instruct the nuns of Diveevo convent, “Remember always, obedience
surpasses everything. It surpasses fasting and prayer! And we should not
only not refuse it, but we should run to meet it!” In due time the
novice Prokhor was tonsured into monastic life and given the name
Seraphim. He was shortly thereafter ordained to the diaconate. During
the time of his diaconate, the Saint was first given the spiritual care
of the Diveevo convent. This convent would become the receptacle of his
spiritual heritage and a gift to the world. Even today his relics rest
there. After about 7 years as a Hierodeacon, St Seraphim was ordained to
the priesthood. Within the year, the abbot of Sarov monastery, Fr
Pachomius, died. St Seraphim had been close to the abbot and as parting
gift, received from him the blessing to live in seclusion. Thus began
the time of his life when St Seraphim perfected the art of prayer in
himself, spending long periods of time completely shut off and separated
from the world but fervently turning himself constantly to stand in the
presence of God.

One of the many remarkable circumstances of the personality of St
Seraphim that appeared during this time is that he would greet his
visitors with the Paschal, “Christ is Risen!” no matter what time of
year. This was not an affectation that he adopted to appear spiritual.
The Saint, as a result of the time spent in prayer and in striving to
stand before the throne of God, began to see the spiritual world with a
clarity that few of us ever achieve. Once a year, when the Paschal
season approaches, we all engage in the collective exercise of self
denial, ascetic labor, and intensified prayer that is Great Lent. For
just these few weeks we enter into the same intensity of life that St
Seraphim lived continually. When we approach the feast of the
resurrection of our Lord, we begin to get a sense of the great joy and
brightness of that great event in the history of the world, indeed in
the history of the universe – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This joy
we sense in the hymns even of Holy Friday. That joy builds in us until
it erupts in the explosion of joy at the matins of Pascha and we begin
to shout to one another the Paschal greeting “Christ is Risen, Truly He
is Risen!” We experience in that brief moment and for some time
thereafter the joy of the Resurrection for we have come face to face
with the Risen Lord.

St Seraphim, because of the constant state of prayer in his heart, stood
in the presence of the Risen Christ, directly experiencing the joy of
the Resurrection every moment of every day. His greeting, “Christ is
Risen, my joy” was not a calculated affectation, but a genuine and
spontaneous expression of his constant experience of the presence of the
Risen Christ. He lived constantly in the joy of Pascha that the rest of
us experience only on the feast and even then maybe only once or twice
in our lives.

It is a great blessing to see the results of a life dedicated so
completely to Jesus Christ, however, we cannot all enter into such a
deep life of prayer, we cannot all flee from the world as did the saint.
Does this mean that we are somehow failing or lacking, that perhaps we
cannot be saved at all, due to the circumstances of our lives. Of course
not. We must recall the words of the Holy Apostle who likens the Church
to a body. He says that “the body is not one member but many” … “if the
ear should say, ‘because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,’ is
it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would
be the hearing…” “But now God has set the members, each one of them in
the body just as He pleased.” … “God composed the body … that there
should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the
same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members
suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice
with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually” (1Cor
12: 12-27) Saint Seraphim is one part of the Body and we are other parts of the
Body – and it is necessary
that we have such parts as he, those who are called to be masters of the
art of prayer, to live on this earth as though in heaven. At the same
time he has called many others: rulers, laborers, craftsmen, husbands,
wives, children, monks, laymen, clergymen and so on. We are all together
part of the body of Christ and so we give what we have to Christ and we use
what He gives us to His glory. St Seraphim, and the other saints who
lived lives of such deep and profound prayer stand beside us as we pray
and they join their prayers to ours to make our prayers more effective,
more powerful, more beautiful. And when we cannot pray due to the
necessities of our lives, St Seraphim continues to pray for us so that
we are never left without prayer. When our eyes are clouded by the world
and we are unable to see God clearly, St Seraphim tells us what he sees
so that we do not despair and are reminded of the joy of the Lord. He is
part of us and his prayers, his struggle, his spiritual vision and so on
are ours as well. He does not forsake us, running on ahead, but rather
he is constantly reaching back, lifting us up, helping us, pulling us
along, encouraging us, strengthening us and waiting for us so that we
might all enter into our reward together, for we are all members of the
one and same body in Christ.

Today we celebrate the feast of St Seraphim, a day to honor his memory.
Today we not only remember St Seraphim, but we also recognize that he
remembers us. Today, he prays for us; today, he lifts us up; today, he
encourages us; today, he says to us, “Christ is Risen, my joy!” We are
all part of the one Body of Christ and together we will enter into the
Kingdom of God. St Seraphim is our particular helper, guide and
shepherd, bringing us with himself, into that Kingdom, all the while
reminding us of the joy that awaits us, his eyes fixed on the goal and
describing what he sees, he encourages us with the cry, “Christ is
Risen, my joy!”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 18:23-35

This parable instructs us in the meaning of the words that we pray every
day. Each time that we say the “Our Father” we always ask God to
“forgive us our debts/trespasses/sins as forgive our debtors/those who
trespass against us/those who sin against us.” And here we see this
necessity: that having been forgiven by God, we, in turn, need to
forgive others.

In order to understand this connection between being forgiven and
forgiving, it is helpful to look further back at the nature of sin
itself. Certainly this is a topic of much greater scope than we will be
able to consider here and now, however, there are some particular
characteristics that we can look at. Sin is, in its most general
definition, anything that separates us from God. Anything that creates a
barrier between man and God or anything that increases the spiritual
distance between man and God is a sin. Since God loves us and constantly
strives to draw us to Himself, it is then obvious that sin can only have
its origin in man. How then do we create those barriers and to move away
from God and what effect does our sin have on us?

When we sin, that is when we separate ourselves from God, we essentially
withdraw our love and dependence upon God and join ourselves to some
other object. This what the first commandment of the ten instructs us to
avoid for it says: “You shall have no other God before me” and it is
reiterated in the greatest of all commandments, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your heart
and with all your strength.” In other words all of our love, all of our
desire, all of our dependence should rest upon God and when we divert it
to some other object, we sin, we erect a barrier between ourselves and God.

When we divert our love, desire and dependence away from God, then this
new object of our love becomes our master and we are enslaved to it. It
has a hold upon us that grows ever stronger the longer it remains. That
false god, our new master, demands more and more of our resources, our
energy, our strength until the bond is so strong that we cannot break it
by ourselves. We have become ruled and controlled by sin and we need
help if we wish to break away from it. This then is the first
characteristic of forgiveness for it is indeed the forgiveness of God
which breaks the power of sin over us; it cuts the cords of sin by which
we are bound. Our God knows that we are weak and He knows that we are
unable to break away from sin by ourselves. But as the scripture tells
us, His strength is made manifest in our weakness. All we need to do is
turn away from our sin and call out for help. Remember just a couple of
weeks ago when the Apostle Peter was sinking in the waters of the stormy
sea, he could not save himself, and he called out to our Lord Jesus
Christ. Immediately, Jesus was there reaching out to lift Peter out of
the water and save Peter by His own strength. This is how it is for us,
when we see that we have been caught in the trap of sin and are unable
to break free of its power, we cry out to God, “Forgive me” and
immediately He is there and the power of sin over us is broken.

However, we know from experience that we seem to fall into the same sins
over and over. If the power of a sin over us is broken, how is it that
we seem to come back to it time and time again? Here we begin to
recognize the second aspect of sin’s power over us and the second aspect
of forgiveness. When we fall under the power of sin, our fallen nature,
which is inclined towards sin, becomes accustomed to its new master and
in some ways even enjoys being under the control of sin. Our sin reaches
out and grabs us, but at the same time we also hold onto our sin. When
we call out to Jesus Christ to save us and forgive us, He comes and
breaks the hold of sin on us, but then we must release our own hold on
sin. We have to let go of our sin and begin to act in a new way. If we
hold onto our sin, then we invite it back into our lives over and over
and constantly we voluntarily fall under its control again and again.
Jesus Christ, in forgiving our sins, breaks the power of sin over us,
however, it is necessary for us to act in concert with the power of
Jesus Christ and release our own hold on the sin.

Having heard all this, we can now apply this knowledge of how
forgiveness works to our understanding of the parable that we heard
today. The servant who was in great debt was like a man who was
completely under the power of sin. This servant, through his own greed
and acquisitiveness had acquired a massive, almost incomprehensible
debt. All of his thoughts were burdened and colored by the massive debt
that hung over him. He was constantly putting the acquisition of more
money as his primary goal so that somehow he might be able to repay the
debt he had acquired. Had he encountered his fellow servant who owed
even a small amount earlier, his insistence on repayment would have been
understandable for he was acting under the weight of repaying his own
debt. Everything in his life served that debt and yet he was powerless
to repay it – the debt had become his master and he was enslaved to it.
This is our situation when we are under the power of sin.

When the servant was called before the master and payment of his debt
was demanded, he called out and begged for mercy. The master extended
his greater power and forgave the debt, overcoming its power and freeing
the servant from is enslavement. No longer was he required to see
everything in terms of repaying the debt, no longer did he have to carry
this burden, no longer were all his actions dictated by the need to make
money. Not only that, but his master, to whom he owed the debt, gave him
a new example of how he could act in his newfound freedom. Just as the
servant was freed from the power of the debt by his master, so are we
freed from the power of sin by Jesus Christ, our Master.

Newly freed from the obligation of his debt, the servant then went out
from his master’s home and met his fellow servant who owed a small debt.
Here was the chance to be free of the power of greed and acquisitiveness
and to act without that great debt influencing his every action. The
hold of the debt over him had been broken, now it was time for him to
let go of the debt himself. He had the chance now to act in a new way,
imitating the mercy of his master. But he did not let go – the old greed
and acquisitiveness called to him and rather than reject them, he ran
back to his old dependence. He refused to act according to his new
freedom, and instead reverted to his old enslavement. As a result the
weight of his debt fell upon him again his enslavement was even stronger
than ever.

Here we can see clearly the effect of sin and forgiveness in our own
lives. When we fall prey to sin, even if it is a small sin of no
consequence, even before its power over us can become strong in us we
must run to Christ calling out for help, asking for forgiveness. But
then in order to completely banish that sin from our lives, we must act
in a new way, rejecting the necessities imposed upon us by that sin. If
you become angry, first run to Christ asking forgiveness for your anger,
but then do not return to your old way, but imitate Christ, turn to your
brother and forgive him. In this way you will no longer hold onto your
anger or the self love and pride which is behind it, but rather learn a
new way to live, in imitation of Christ, not in the same old rut which
leads us back into sin.

God forgives us our sins and in doing so He breaks the power of sin over
us. We are then free to act in a new way, moving away from sin and
moving closer to God. We are able to reject that which pulls us away
from God and choose instead the path which leads nearer to Him. By
forgiving others we imitate Christ, we act like Him and become more like
Him. By rejecting the familiar path of sin which leads us away from
Christ and embarking on the new path which draws us nearer to Him, we
alienate ourselves from sin and join our lives to the life of Christ.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 19:16-26

The image of a camel passing through the eye of a needle is very vivid,
even for those of us who have not seen a camel (outside of a zoo) or who
use a needle infrequently. This image was especially vivid for the
apostles for they were much more familiar with such things than we are
here and now. This image made an unforgettable impression on the
disciples about the nature of our salvation and the lesson it conveys
continues for us the lesson from the Gospel last week about letting go
of the sins that we continue to hold on to. Indeed they were amazed and
asked how anyone could then be saved. But our Lord answered them that
even such things that seem impossible to men are made possible with the
help of God.

A rich young ruler (Nicodemos) had come to Jesus and asked how he might
be saved. Seeing into his heart and finding those things which had
attached themselves to him, Jesus instructed him to give up all that he
had that those attachments to the things that held him enslaved in this
world might be broken. Realizing the degree to which he was enmeshed in
the world and held by it the young man went away sad for he knew how
difficult it would be to follow Christ.

This lesson that our Lord gave to the young man is the same one that He
gives to us. He sees into the depths of our hearts and He knows the
passions that hold us prisoner, that drive us from one thing to another
in this life as though we were slaves. These are our “riches” to which
we hold that prevent us from following Christ. These are the things that
compete with Christ and which hold us back from the kingdom of heaven.
The animals are driven by their instincts and desires, they will always
act on the strongest instinct with no regard for anything else. Usually
that instinct is for survival and so the search for basic needs – food,
shelter, safety from enemies – is what drives them. A secondary
instinct, the survival of the species, also is a strong driving force
leading to the drive to mate and produce offspring, to nurture them and
in the higher animals to protect one’s own young, even at the expense of
their own lives. But we are not animals, we are given by God something
that they do not have – free will. Yes we have passions and desires and
even instincts as do the animals, but we have the free will to choose
whether or not we will follow them. This is the difference between
mankind and the animals that is the mark of our separate creation. With
this free will, we can choose who and what we will follow.

It is this very free will that allows us to choose to follow Christ and
to do those things which are inspired by eternity rather than by this
world. We can choose to live in His Kingdom according to that life even
while living in this world and being pushed by the instincts, desires
and passions of this life. Here we return to the image of the camel
passing through the eye of a needle. It is obvious to all that the camel
is much too large to pass through this small space on his own let alone
carrying any baggage. Thus the first step for the camel is to be
relieved of every attachment and to set down every piece of baggage. The
same goes for us, for we do not pass through the eye of the needle, but
rather we pass through the door of the cross. In order to ascend the
cross with Christ and to be transformed in that passage into a creature
of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must first divest ourselves of everything
in this world that weighs us down and that has attached itself to us.
Some of these burdens we drop willingly, however, there are those things
which we hold close to our heart, those passions to which we have become
tightly attached. These are the ones that are the most difficult to
leave behind. For this young man who came to the Lord by night, it was
his attachment to his wealth and position that was held most closely to
his heart. For others of us we might be attached to pleasure, or to food
and drink, or to possessions, or to reputation, or to the love of
friends and family, or to the ideals of romantic love, or to our own
good deeds, or to any other thing rooted in this world. To each of us,
our Lord says, as he said to the rich young man, go and get rid of that
thing which holds you back and then come and follow me. This is the
first step as we approach the eye of the needle.

This dis-attachment to the things of the world is the purpose of our
ascetic labor in the Church. Our fasting and self denial are the tools
by which we divest ourselves of our attachments to all those things
which are rooted in this world and which prevent us from passing through
the cross into the Kingdom of God. We have been given this great and
powerful tool to help us prepare ourselves to follow Christ. All that
encumbers us, all that holds us back and ties us to this world can and
must be set aside. This the purpose of the ascetic aspect of our
Christian life. Fasting helps us learn to deny ourselves, fasting
provides a help and method for setting aside these worldly attachments.
Only when we have stripped ourselves of all that has a hold on us in
this world can we ascend the cross with Christ and die to the world with
Him that we might also be raised with Him in glory and live with Him in
the Kingdom of God.

Stripping the camel of all its burdens and attachments won’t suffice for
it to pass through the eye of the needle, just as divesting ourselves of
all worldly attachments will not suffice to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
The camel must somehow be transformed, its nature changed in such a way
as it is no longer restricted by the laws of this world that it might
impossibly pass through such a small place. So also for us, this self
denial and ascetic labor, which detach us from the hold of our passions
and desires, is only the preparation for the greater miracle of our
transformation. We must be changed, our very nature must be renewed and
transfigured so that we are no longer alienated from God but rather that
we become like Him. This transformation cannot be accomplished by the
simple cutting of worldly ties, rather it is something that is
accomplished by the grace of God, by the action of the Holy Spirit in
our lives.

It is this transformation that is revealed to us in the upcoming feast
of the Transfiguration of the Lord. By revealing the reality of His
divinity to Peter, James and John and through them to us we see the end
result of the effect of grace on us. This transformation is accomplished
in us by the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This grace is
given to us in many ways. St Seraphim speaks of many ways that we
acquire this grace – prayer, works of mercy and charity and attendance
at the divine services for example. The highest and most refined means
by which we take in this grace of God is through the reception of the
Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ and the other sacraments.
But just having this grace is not sufficient, we must cooperate with it,
we must use it and live according to the life that is communicated to us
through it. The grace of God must become the stuff of our life. We must
no longer live to ourselves, but live now instead according to the life
of Christ. We must be able to say with the Apostle that it is not I that
live, but Christ who lives in me. This is the goal of our salvation,
this is our transformation that allows us to pass through the “eye of
the needle” that is the cross and enter the Kingdom of God. It is this
transformation of which our Lord spoke when He told the disciples that
what is impossible for men is possible with God.

When we come to Christ, He calls us to follow Him. In order to do this
we must begin to act according to our nature as men and not as animals,
exercising our free will to separate ourselves from the passions,
desires and instincts of this world. The ascetic labors of fasting and
self denial are the means by which we accomplish this separation. But
that in and of itself is not enough, for to enter the kingdom of God
requires that our very nature is renewed and transformed. This is not an
act of our will, but it is rather it is a sacramental act, something
accomplished in us by the grace of God. To this end we are given the
Most Holy Body and Most Precious Blood of Christ in Holy Communion as
well as the grace of God through the other Sacraments. To this end we
acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit through prayer, acts of mercy and
charity, and so on. That grace is made active in us by living according
to the virtues and following Christ in all things. This is our
salvation, this is that which is impossible for men, this is that which
is possible for God. This is our entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 16:13-24

Our God is so merciful and loving to us. In this parable we see the care
that He has taken to prepare a place for those who love Him in this
world. God, is of course, that “certain man” and the vineyard He planted
is the Church. Just in the use of the word “planted” we see the care
that He has expended upon us. We have all at one time or another planted
something - a garden, a flowerbed, or even a potted plant. Think of the
care that goes into planting. To plant something implies that first the
ground is cleared and prepared. All the competing weeds are removed,
plowed under or pulled and the stones are removed as the soil is dug and
broken up. We add fertilizer to make sure the soil is rich and healthy.
Then we carefully plant the seeds or the seedlings into the soil, making
certain that they are the proper depth, not so deep that they will be
unable to sprout nor too shallow so that they will be eaten by the birds
or uprooted at the first gentle breeze. The new plants are watered
abundantly so that they don’t dry out but continue to be strong and to grow

All of these things God does for us as well. He has planted His vineyard
- that is the Church - and we are the young seedlings that He has
planted here. He clears the wild soil of our hearts, removing the weeds,
which are the cares of the world, and the stones, the temptations and
obstacles to our growth. He adds the fertilizer of His love and
compassion to us that we might be nourished by His grace and then plants
each of us in the perfect place - in a parish where we might grow
together, helping one another, encouraging one another, supporting one
another in our spiritual lives. And we are watered with His grace that
flows to us freely in the sacraments beginning with Baptism and
continuing on with all the others, especially the Holy Mystery of His
Body and Blood by which we are united with Him.

The parable then goes on to detail some of the additional care that God
has taken for us. He puts a hedge around the vineyard. This hedge
separates the vineyard from the rest of the countryside, making it a
separate place. It defines the limits and protects the vineyard from
those who would intrude into it. Likewise God sets us apart from the
world, calling us out of the world as a peculiar (or special) people. We
are set apart from the world by our way of life, that is the life in
Christ, whereby our outlook, our priorities (the things that are
important to us), our goals, our standards and our actions are
different. We look to those things which are of Christ, of heaven for
our hope and our reason for living rather than to the things of the
world. Because we live within the boundaries of the heavenly kingdom, we
are set apart from those who live only according to the world. Another
way by which we are hedged about is by the canons or rules that govern
the life of the Church. Now notice that the hedge is only around the
outside, it is not a maze that determines every move and path or a
skeleton that forces a certain structure. Because it is around the
outside it simply shows us what the outer boundaries are but allows
complete freedom to move within those boundaries. This is the nature of
the life of the Church which defines for us the boundaries of belief and
practice, but which also allows for a great deal of variety and freedom
within those boundaries as God provides for each of us different
opportunities and situations. Therefore, we will see differences in
culture, language and custom when we visit the other parishes here – but
we all confess the same faith, we are all on the same path. Just as the
hedge also protects the vineyard from the outside world, so also our way
of life protects us from the sinful and spiritually unhealthy influences
from outside the Church. That “hedge” of canons and rules show us
clearly what things we will turn away from and avoid, what things will
lead us astray, what things will foster greater temptation and
difficulty in our spiritual life. We are both separated from the world
and protected from the dangers that are found within it.

In this vineyard is also built a tower. This tower is for protection as
well, it is the place from which a watchman can see over the whole of
the vineyard, noting any disorder, anything that is out of place or that
threatens the well being of the vineyard. This tower for us in the
Church is the heavenly choir of the angels and the saints. We are
constantly protected by the cover of the angelic host who shield us from
every demonic attack and who come to our aid at every step of our life.
We are also protected by the prayers of the saints who stand now before
the throne of God interceding for us still in the world. As the
scripture tells us “the prayers of a righteous man availeth much” so the
prayers of the saints are powerful for our protection and to bring to us
God’s mercy.

Finally, the planter of the vineyard brought in caretakers, those who
would faithfully take care of the planting and nurture the vines by
every means (by weeding, watering, fertilizing, pruning and so on) so
that in due time they might bear good fruit. In the Church those
caretakers are our pastors and hierarchs. These are the ones that Jesus
Christ has placed in the vineyard of the Church to care for the Church
and nurture her that those within her loving arms might mature, grow
strong and bear the fruit of grace.

Now the parable goes on to describe a tragedy, whereby the caretakers of
the vineyard try to rebel against the master and seize the vineyard for
themselves. This part of the parable of course is told to the leaders of
the Jews (God’s chosen people) as a warning that they might repent of
their rebellious ways and return to serving God. But it also serves as a
warning to those who are called to be pastors and hierarchs in the
Church not to misuse or abuse the position that we have been given, but
rather to act as faithful servants of the Master. Our Lord has taken an
even greater measure in the Church in that the caretakers, like the
whole vineyard are constantly in the presence of the Master through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit for at Pentecost this great new treasure
and characteristic was given to the Church. Not only is she planted and
established by God, but He dwells within her constantly by the coming of
the Holy Spirit.

And so my brothers and sisters, we are here within the vineyard of
Christ, lovingly planted by His gentle hand to be showered with the
grace of the Holy Spirit and to grow and bring forth the spiritual
fruit. We are bounded and protected by the life of the Church and the
canons and rules which guide that life. We are watched over by the
angelic host and the choir of the saints. We are cared for by the loving
hand of our pastors and archpastors. Greatest of all we live and abide
in the presence of the Master Himself, through the outpouring and
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What a great mercy God has provided for
us, what an outpouring of His love and compassion for us. How great is
His provision, how great is His love for us that He has established this
vineyard, this Holy Church in which we are able to establish spiritual
roots, to grow, to draw strength from the grace of the Holy Spirit by
which we are watered and fed and to mature into spiritual persons,
bearing the fruit of grace in due time. God has given to us this great
treasure, this great opportunity - we have but to make use of it and
live in His Kingdom according to His provision for us in order that we
too may stand continually in His presence surrounded by the light of His
glory.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 22:1-14

There was a host who sought to provide a banquet for his friends. He
invited them all to come and promised that there would be an abundance
of good food and drink. On the appointed day, all the guests gathered
and each found his place at the table. As the banquet was about to
commence, one guest pulled out a lunch pail and began taking food out of
it and putting it on his plate. Then he poured himself a drink from a
bottle of water he had brought with him. The other guests were shocked,
wondering why this person would bring their own food to a banquet
instead of accepting the food provided by the host. When someone finally
grew bold enough to ask about this strange behavior, the odd guest
answered that he only wanted to eat pure food and drink pure water and
he really was concerned that the food the host was providing might have
a lot of extra stuff in it that wasn’t absolutely necessary. If such a
scene were to actually happen, it would be a great insult to the host
and the guest who brought his own food would appear to be foolish to
spurn the lavish feast.

Today we have been offered a great spiritual banquet. In two days we
have had two great feasts, yesterday the feast of the Dormition or death
of the Virgin Mary and today the feast of the Icon-not-made-by-hands.
Both of these feasts are of apostolic origin and yet neither one appears
in Scripture. We have been offered these spiritual delights by our Lord
on the “platter” if you will of Holy Tradition – that is the unwritten
part of the revelation of the Truth given to us by Christ and
incorporated into the life of the Church.

After the Resurrection, the Virgin Mary seems to disappear from the
accounts of Scripture. In fact, even before this, other than the
narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ and a few scattered references,
she is not mentioned in the Gospels. We do read, on this feast, one of
the times when she is mentioned in the teaching of Christ were a woman
called out “blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which
nursed you”. But Jesus replied “no, rather blessed is he who hears the
word of the Lord and keeps it”. This comment by Christ is often
misconstrued to suggest that He was telling us that His Mother was
unimportant. But that is not the case, rather, He is correcting the
reason for her importance. It is not simply that she gave birth to God
that makes her blessed and worthy of emulation (for no one could imitate
her as the birthgiver of the incarnate God) but rather the fact that she
is the ultimate example of one who “hears the word of God and keeps it”.
Rather than dismissing her importance, in this statement, Christ is
lifting her up as an example for us all.

But we must get back to the feast. As she approached the end of her
earthly life, the date of her death was revealed to the Virgin Mary by
God Who sent an angel to tell her to prepare herself. She asked that she
be granted one last opportunity to see all of the Apostles again, for
they were dear to her as if they were her own children. God granted this
request and miraculously gathered the Apostles from the far corners of
the earth where they had journeyed to preach the Gospel. They all
gathered in the room of the Virgin and were present at her death. They
placed her in the tomb of her parents, Sts Joakim and Anna. By God’s
providence, the Apostle Thomas was delayed and arriving after the
burial, begged to be permitted to see her body one last time. When the
tomb was opened a great miracle was revealed for they found only the
grave clothes. Her body had been resurrected by Christ in anticipation
of the general resurrection of all. Here is the surety that Christ’s
resurrection was not limited to Himself alone, but that we all will
indeed be raised by Him from the dead. It is this promise of our own
resurrection that we celebrate in this feast.

The other feast which we celebrate today is the Icon not-made-by-hands.
During the life of Christ, as He neared His crucifixion, a messenger
arrived from Prince Abgar of Edessa. Prince Abgar ruled the city of
Edessa on the banks of the Euphrates (in modern day Iraq). He was
severely stricken by leprosy which covered his whole body. The prince
had heard of the great healer in Judea, Jesus of Nazareth and so he sent
an envoy to ask that Jesus come to him and heal him. Recognizing the
great distance, the prince also sent an artist who was instructed to
paint a likeness of Christ so that if Jesus were unable to come Himself,
He could heal the prince through this image. Hearing the request of the
prince, Jesus knew that the time of His passion was near and that He
could not come to Edessa, therefore, anticipating the request for a
portrait, He took a napkin and wiped his face, miraculously leaving on
it His own likeness. He gave this napkin to the emissary with the
message that the prince would be healed by it, but not completely. Jesus
then promised that He would send His own messenger to complete the
healing. This is just what happened, for when the envoy returned and
presented Prince Abgar with the Holy Napkin imprinted with the image of
the face of Jesus, he kissed it and immediately the leprosy was gone,
except for a small sore that remained on his face. Later, the Apostle
Thaddeus journeyed to region of Edessa to preach the Gospel of the
Resurrection of Christ and he met Prince Abgar and completed his
healing. At the hand of the Apostle, the prince was baptized. Prince
Abgar smashed the idols in his city and set the miraculous image of
Christ above the gate of the city.

These two events, though they occurred in the time of the Apostles, are
not found in scripture, but are preserved in the life of the Church for
us. There are those who reject their veracity simply because they are
not written in Scripture. There are others who reject them because they
are “unbelievable”. Whatever the reason, those who reject these
traditions are like the guest who came to the banquet but who refused
the feast provided by the host. They deprive themselves of the richness
of the Gospel because of their own doubt and lack of faith. Rather than
accept what God gives them through the Church, they prefer their own
provision.

In the parable of the Gospel which we heard today there was such a
guest. He was invited to the feast and indeed he came to the feast. But
this guest was out of place for he did not enter into the festive nature
of the banquet. He did not properly prepare and instead of wearing the
festive clothing provided by the host, he wore only his own attire.
Because he was unprepared, because he rejected the provision of the host
and in so doing insulted the host, he was thrown out of the feast and
excluded from the company of those guests who accepted the hospitality
of the host and embraced all that he had provided them.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 22:35-46

These two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor encompass
all of the law and the prophets. They sum up the whole process and
purpose of our salvation. Every one of the “laws” and “rules” that we
find in God’s revelation to us, from the commandment to our first
parents in the Garden of Eden not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil to the Decalogue (ten commandments) to the beatitudes can
be summed up in these two great laws. And yet these two laws themselves
cannot be separated but the one is but an extension of the other and
they cannot be separated. This is the very root and basis of our
Christian life: to love God and to love our neighbor.

We see in the scripture itself how it is that these two commandments are
related for the Apostle and Evangelist St John says to us, “If a man
says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has
not seen” (1John 4:20) These two commandments cannot be separated, one
must love God in order to truly love his neighbor and yet if he does not
love his neighbor whom he has seen he cannot love God whom he has not
seen. These two commandments are all about love and how love works in
us. We were created in order to share in the love of God – to be loved
by Him and to love Him and as a result to love our neighbor as well.

How then do we love God and our neighbor? In order to understand love we
must look to the One Who is Love. God is love and those who love are
born of God and know God. God, Himself, is our example of love. The love
of God for man is the most easily observed example of love, for God
loved us and thus took on our life in the incarnation and gave Himself
for us men and for our salvation on the Cross that we might in turn
share in His life. Before we consider this, however, let us look at what
we know of God Himself. By this, I mean the great mystery of the
Trinity, God who is One and yet three persons. How this, the nature of
the unity and diversity of the persons of the Trinity, can be is beyond
our understanding. We can, however, understand some of the things about
this mystery. The three persons of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy
Spirit – are each one separately and all together corporately constantly
partaking of the same life which is communicated by their perfect love.
One of the characteristics of the love of the Holy Trinity is that the
separate persons of the Trinity are joined in One by love and they
participate in each other in their undivided nature. Love, as
exemplified by the Trinity, is that complete participation, that
intimate communion between Persons that unites them as One.

This then, is how we love God – we participate in His life, we live in
communion with Him. Just as He expresses His love for us by taking on
our life, by becoming incarnate and participating in our life from birth
to death and beyond, so also we will love Him by participating in His
life, inasmuch as we are able. If we love God we will become, to the
degree that it is possible, united with Him and will participate in His
divine energies. If we are united to God by grace in His energies then
we will not act in any manner that is inconsistent with His nature, nor
will we do anything that jeopardizes that unity. For this reason, God
can say to us, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments”. These
commandments are nothing less than the means by which we maintain our
communion with God and participate in His life.

In loving God and living in communion with Him, we cannot then avoid
sharing His love for all mankind. This is where the commandment for the
love of neighbor comes into play. It is the outgrowth and expression of
our love for God. And how do we love our neighbor? In the same way that
we love God, by participating in his life, bearing his burdens, pouring
out mercy and compassion upon him. If it is our task to conform to the
will of God by sharing in the very life of the Trinity, making its
central principle – love – our own desire, our mode of being, our model
for complete existence, then it behooves us to love one another to the
utmost – indeed, if it is possible – to love one another equally without
prejudice, favoritism, without any impure and imperfect element which
would permit even the slightest distance and gap to wedge itself between
ourselves and all others. In order to love others, we must not only
coexist with them, but we must become a significant part of their life
by giving of ourselves. God loves us and so gives Himself to us – and if
we then also love our neighbor, so we must also give ourselves to him
and for him.

Too often we think of love as an emotion, a warm and fuzzy feeling that
we have in the presence of the object of our love. But that is not love
– love is not an emotion, rather the emotion is the result of love. Love
is an action, it is a mode of being, a way of life. When we love
someone, it is not a feeling that we have towards them but rather it is
that we give ourselves to them. See how love becomes a self sacrifice, a
giving of ourselves to another person, a sharing of our life with them
and perhaps more importantly setting aside our own lives to share theirs.

In speaking of our communion with God, the Apostle reminds us that “it
is not I that live, but Christ who lives in me” When we love God it is
not enough to say merely that we “live for Christ”. It is necessary
instead that Christ lives in me, His life is my life, His actions are my
actions, His words are my words. In that Christ lives in us and that we
who love Him are also full participants in His life, we then become the
conduit of the love of God to the world. When, in Christ, we love our
neighbor, it is not our self serving, feel-good actions that are the
essence of that love – instead we become the expression of God’s love.
We set aside not only our life but our own love as well and just as we
live the life of Christ, so also we love with the love of God.

Our salvation, that is our union with God for which we were created,
cannot be individual and independent of all else, but just as the love
of God is the union and communion of the Persons of the Holy Trinity so
also our love for God and for our neighbor is a communal act. We cannot
love God in isolation, but only in community, by loving others and
giving our selves for them just as God gives Himself for us. In order to
fulfill these two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor, we
must first and foremost empty ourselves, and first be filled with the
life of Christ in which we participate so that it is no longer I but
Christ who lives in me. When we live in such close communion and
participation with the one who is love, then we of necessity will also
love our neighbors, giving ourselves for them and participating in their
lives, bearing their burdens, sharing with them our joys, relating to
them with compassion and mercy. This is how God loves us and in turn
this is how we love others.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 25:14-30

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, “We then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain. … in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, …
as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things.” (2Cor 6:1-10). Indeed the Apostles were poor, they had nothing
and yet the Apostle Paul spoke of making many others rich and possessing
all things. How can he say this, what is he talking about? The Apostle
is reminding us that God has left to us in this world a great treasure;
He has left us His Holy Church. The riches of the Church are her
confession of faith, her Tradition, her righteous life and her prayers
both public and private. These are riches that do not decay or vanish,
but increase in the hearts of the faithful from year to year and day to
day. We have been given this great wealth by God to use so that we might
work out our salvation in this life.

Keeping this great gift of God in mind, let us now recall the parable of
our Lord Jesus Christ that we heard just now. Three servants received a
great sum of money – a fortune – from their master who then left on a
long journey. Two of the servants took that which they had been given
and used the money to invest in trade and doubled their original
investment. The third servant buried the treasure in the ground so that
it might not be lost. When the master returned and took and accounting
of his servants he was pleased with the two who had profitably used the
money they had been given and rewarded them. The servant who had buried
the money then brought out what he had been given intact and without
loss, but because he did not use what he had been given in a profitable
manner, he incurred the wrath of his master and was punished.

The master, in this parable, of course represents Jesus Christ and we
are His servants. He has entrusted us each with the great treasures
contained in the Church and has ascended into heaven to prepare a place
for us alongside Himself. But He has also promised that He will return
to take us with Him. When He does return and asks for an accounting of
how we used this great treasure that He had given you how will you
respond? Have you used the treasure that God has put into your hands to
your profit? Have buried it in the ground or worse yet neglected it?
What have you done with these riches which have been entrusted to you?

We have all heard tales of how a great work of art or a historical
document or other valuable treasure is discovered at a yard sale or in
stuffed somewhere in the basement or under the mattress and long ago
forgotten. Sometimes we treat the treasure that God has given us in this
way. We know the Gospel, we know the prayers and that we should pray, we
come to Church when we can find the time – but we neglect all these
things. We let the gifts of God fall into disuse through our own
laziness or inattentiveness and soon that great treasure is buried under
a pile of worldly cares and interests and is long forgotten. This is
worse even than burying the treasure for we do not even take enough
interest in it to protect it and preserve it. How will we answer God
when He asks us what we have done with this fortune that He has given us
and we don’t have an answer and we can’t even remember where we put it.

There are other people who collect things. They know that what they have
is valuable and so they go to great pains to put it in a proper display
case and dust it off every so often. They admire it and look at it
constantly, but, they never use what they have. Such a person is like
the third servant who buried his treasure. He values what he has and so
preserves it the best way that he can, but he never actually uses it and
so it sits in useless safety. We sometimes treat God’s gift to us in the
same way. We realize the great value of our Orthodox faith, and we go to
great care to keep it safe – we put only the best and most tasteful
icons on display or we might collect a whole library of Orthodox books
and we might even build beautiful Churches. But we don’t pray before the
icons daily and we never have time to read those books, not even the
Scripture, and we are often absent from the Church that we have built.
Sometimes there are those who come a step closer to actually using what
God has given – they read the books and become quite knowledgeable about
the faith and they know how all the services are supposed to be and
insist that everything be done right and they know all the rules of
behavior and make sure that they are followed to the letter – but none
of this has any effect on the heart, the knowledge of belief and
practice remains external and becomes an end in itself but does not sink
into the heart and so produce repentance, humility, compassion, and love
for God and neighbor. We protect and preserve the faith and even put on
a show of following the external requirements of how to use it – but it
all remains only a show, only a pretense and our hearts are never
touched. How will we then answer our Lord when He asks us what we have
done with this fortune that He has given us? Will we say to Him like the
foolish servant – “Here is your treasure, see how I have preserved it
intact and unsullied and I even know all about it. But no, I did not
really use it because I wanted to keep it in pristine condition. Take
now what is Yours, untouched, unsullied and unused – just like new.” How
can God’s judgment fail to be different from that which He has already
told us and because we failed to use what was given to us, we will not
have a place with Him in eternity.

God has given us this great treasure to use. We might not always be
successful in the way that we use it. Sometimes we will fail, sometimes
we will get it all twisted up, we just won’t be perfect. But as long as
you strive to put this great treasure to use to change your own life, to
affect and transform your own heart, it will begin to bear fruit – maybe
a little, maybe a lot, it doesn’t matter as long as you are using the
gift of God for the transformation of your soul. It is good to keep the
icons and the books – but use them, pray and read daily. Put your whole
self: your heart, your mind, your body into your prayers. Whatever you
discover by reading the Scripture and spiritual books, find a way to put
it into practice in your own life. Attend the services of the Church as
often as possible, arriving on time and staying through the end, and do
not just stand here watching, but pray, participate, sing and join in
the prayer and worship of the whole Body of Christ which is the Church.
This is the prayer that we offer together. Let the life of the Church
become the foundation and order of your own life. Schedule your day
around the times of your prayer (rather than try to fit prayer somewhere
into your day). Let the Church’s calendar become your calendar so that
today isn’t just marked as September 12th, but rather mark today first
and foremost as the feast of St Alexander Nevsky. Keep the fasts and
feasts of the Church in order that they might become the rhythm of your
life – letting your heart beat to this new and divine cadence. Practice
the virtues and commandments of God, look for opportunities to be
charitable and hospitable and compassionate. Acknowledge your own sins
and shortcomings and ask forgiveness – of God and of others (this
requires that you learn to humble yourself). Be obedient, to God, to the
Church, to your parents, to your spouse, to one another and so develop
humility in every aspect of your life. Every day fulfill the great
commandment to love God with all your heart, with all your mind with all
your soul and with all your strength. Every day fulfill the second
commandment to love your neighbor. Use the riches God has given to you
in His Holy Church to transform yourself and make real in your life His
image and His likeness.

God is the master of the parable who has given to us, His servants, a
great treasure. He expects us to use it to produce the fruit of a
transformed life in ourselves. Let us then not neglect this great gift
which has been given to us, nor let us preserve it untouched and unused
for by this we will be excluded from God’s presence. Rather let us use
the treasure that we have been given to produce in our own selves the
profit and gain of a life that reflects and radiates the image and
likeness of God, that we might hear from Him the blessing, “Well done
thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Matthew 15:21-28

Throughout His earthly life, our Lord was approached by many people
coming to Him out of great need and seeking some help from Him as a last
resort. Often these were people who were among the poor and the ill who
had no other recourse left but to seek a miracle. Many of these
supplicants were not of the Hebrew people, but were Gentiles who still
recognized in Jesus the power of God. Of these people two stood out so
much that Jesus remarked on the greatness of their faith. First was the
centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant, even from afar. About
him, Jesus said that there was no greater faith even among the Jews. The
second was the woman of whom we read today in the Gospel who came to Him
seeking healing for her own daughter and who reminded Jesus that “even
the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the Master’s table”. Jesus said
of her as well, “great is your faith”. These two, who were not of the
chosen people had no place to expect help from the Jewish Messiah. But
the depth and quality of their faith brought them to Jesus Christ and He
lifted them up to us all even above the Jews as examples of great faith.

In the epistle today (2 Cor 6:16-7:1) we heard that the promise of God
to the forefathers, that they would be His people and He would be their
God applies to us as well. Just as God called the Hebrew people out from
among the whole world as His chosen people, so now He calls to us who
follow Christ to be separate from the world as well. To us He has said,
“I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters”. He
has called us out of the sinfulness of the fallen world and into union
and communion with Himself. He has promised to us His own life and calls
to us to begin to acquire that life. One of the chief ways in which we
acquire this life is by prayer, which is the first effort we make to
reach out to God and to enter into communion with Him. From the Gospel
today, we are given an example of prayer in the supplication of the
Canaanite woman.

When we look at this woman’s plea to Jesus to heal her daughter, we see
some qualities that stand as examples for as we approach Christ in
prayer. First is the quality of perseverance. This woman did not stop in
her prayer to Christ. Although there were many obstacles, she did not
let any of them stop her. She was a gentile and in the opinion of the
Jews no better than a dog and not even deserving of notice in the eyes
of God. But this did not stop her for she sought out Jesus anyway. She
received from Jesus and the disciples seemingly cold reception, but she
continued to follow Him and cry out to Him for help. She was rebuffed by
Jesus but did not go away. No matter what the obstacle, she did not
despair but persevered in her prayer, her faith in the compassion and
power of Jesus overcoming all difficulty.

This same perseverance should also mark our prayer. Too often we are
turned aside from our prayer by even the smallest distraction. We don’t
pray, or cut short our prayers because we are tired, because the demands
of the world pull at us, because there is something else that we want to
do, and so on. Or maybe we pray once or twice but not seeing the desired
result right away, we give up thinking that it does no good. There is
always some obstacle to our prayer and too often we just give in to it,
neglecting our prayer and communion with God. Like the Apostles who
accompanied Jesus to the Garden to pray before His crucifixion we don’t
seem to be able to pray with Him even for an hour (or in our case in
these times even for 5 minutes). We must imbue our prayer with
perseverance – forcing ourselves to begin to pray and to remain in
prayer despite the obstacles that arise before us. One of the desert
fathers speaking of prayer says that it is necessary to force ourselves
to pray even to the day of our death. Prayer is one of the greatest
sources of spiritual help and grace, thus our own fallen nature as well
as the enemy of mankind will always throw up barriers and obstacles to
prayer. In order to have any success at all, we must persevere in
prayer. Even when we do pray but it seems that God doesn’t hear us or
doesn’t respond to us, this Canaanite woman shows us the value and
necessity of perseverance. She had an overriding faith in the compassion
and mercy of God and so acted trusting that even if she did not at first
get an answer to her prayer that she needed only to persevere in that
prayer and He would grant her what she needed.

This perseverance is born of another quality of prayer and that is the
self awareness of our own powerlessness. For this woman, Jesus was her
only hope – she herself could do nothing, the world offered her nothing,
there was no other hope, no other source of help, no other person (not
even herself) to whom she could turn. She was “desperate” and only Jesus
could give her what she needed. For ourselves, because of the self love
at the core of the fall, we too often harbor some idea of our own
ability to take care of things. We think that we can somehow dig down
and find inside of ourselves the resources that we need. But when we
come to God we need to first confess our own helplessness, our own
powerlessness, our own emptiness and put all of our hope in God alone.

Even when she was reminded of her own unworthiness, this woman did not
defend herself, but rather confessed that indeed she was unworthy, but
still she placed her hope only and steadfastly in God’s help. This sense
of unworthiness is the foundation of humility. Humility is the mother of
all the virtues and so it is the basic state of our soul that is
necessary to receive and use the gift of grace that God gives us for our
salvation. Too often, we harbor a secret idea that we are somehow
worthy, that God owes us something because we are basically “good”
people. We suppress and ignore the awareness of our utter sinfulness and
instead try to “impress” God with a patina of “good deeds”. We compare
ourselves with others that we see as worse than ourselves and when our
own pretense of good is threatened we vigorously defend our own
“rightness”. Even when we do recognize that someone else might perceive
us as in error, we seek to explain why we do what we do and to make them
understand that we aren’t really bad, but that we had good intentions.
Our drive and need to justify ourselves, even at the expense of others,
works contrary to the humility that is necessary for us to allow God to
work in our lives. Note that this woman did not deny that she was a dog,
rather she confessed her unworthiness and her hope that despite her
unworthiness, she still hoped for help, even if that help was only in
the form of crumbs which fell from the Master’s table. This same self
emptying humility must be ours in order to truly receive and make use of
the gifts of God.

Finally we can learn from the form of her prayer. It was simple and not
complex. She told Christ of her need (“my daughter is severely
demon-possessed”) and then did not presume to tell Him what to do or how
to resolve it – she did not even ask Him to heal her, but said only
“Have mercy”. She put the whole matter in Christ’s hands trusting that
in His mercy, He would give to her what is needful. This is how we
should pray. When we come to God in humility and with hope only in Him,
we simply tell Him of our fear, of our suffering, of our grief, of our
need, of our desire and then we put it all in His hands, trusting Him
for the best resolution, trusting Him to give us what we need, trusting
Him to know what is best and we say, “Lord have mercy” and so release
the whole matter into His hands.

This woman, who came to Jesus seeking help for her daughter, is held up
for us by Christ as an example of great faith. Her faith is expressed in
her prayer and from her we can learn to pray ourselves. We learn first
of all from her perseverance – overcoming all obstacles to our prayer.
There will be many obstacles, many distractions, many chances to neglect
or turn away from our prayer. These we cannot allow to prevent our
prayer or cut it short, but we must persevere in our prayer Second we
learn from her helplessness and complete dependence upon the help of
God. She did not look to any other helper, she did not harbor any idea
of her own ability; her only hope, her only help, was Jesus Christ.
Third we learn of her the importance of humility – emptying ourselves of
all self pride, of all self reliance, of all defense and self righteous.
God does not owe us anything, but out of His love and compassion He
freely gives us His grace. Only when we have abandoned our own pride can
his grace work in us to its greatest effect for our salvation. Finally
we learn from her how to pray, telling God of our need and then simply
releasing it into His all wise and all knowing care saying only “Lord
have mercy”.

This woman, a gentile, a dog at the table of the Master, has become our
teacher, our instructor prayer and the example of “great faith” for us.
Let us heed and accept the lesson that God gives to us at her hand.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

John 3:13-17

Tomorrow we honor the Cross of our Lord on the day of its discovery by
the Empress Helen. The Cross, in and of itself, is nothing, it is just
two pieces of wood which have been put together: and instrument of
torture used by the Romans to execute criminals. But the One Who was
voluntarily crucified on that Cross, Who willingly gave His life so that
He might accomplish our deliverance from death, by ascending the Cross,
transformed it from an instrument of torture and death into standard of
victory over sin death and the devil and the instrument of blessing and
eternal life. Thus tomorrow we honor the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
and all that it encompasses – His suffering and death, His victory over
sin, death and the devil, His resurrection, and our salvation and the
gift of eternal life.

Today is the Sunday before the feast, however, and today, we prepare for
this great celebration. As we prepare, in the Gospel today we are told
three things about the feast – Who, what and why.

“No man has ascended up into heaven but He who came down from heaven,
even the Son of man who is in heaven” This Gospel is a excerpt of the
conversation Jesus had with Nicodemos a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews,
who had come to Jesus by night seeking to understand who He really was.
In this statement, Jesus tells Nicodemos that he is not simply a prophet
and a teacher as Nicodemos had supposed, but rather that He was God
incarnate. It is only God Who could have “come down from heaven” that He
might again “ascend up into heaven”. Let there be no mistake here, Jesus
is very clearly explaining to Nicodemos Who He is in Truth. This is
unlike most of Jesus’ dealings with the Pharisees for often they would
come not to learn the truth but to trap Him by the cleverness of words
and therefore judge Him and condemn Him. To these disingenuous
approaches, Jesus would speak in parables and in equally clever
“riddles” matching the Pharisees with the same cleverness with which
they approached Him. But Nicodemos came not seeking to trap Jesus or to
judge Him, but rather to learn from Him the truth. When he thus came
with an open heart and with true faith, Jesus responded with the same
simple and clear teaching.

Jesus did not stop here with just saying that He was the one who
descended from heaven, but added “even the Son of man who is in heaven”.
Here is the full teaching of the incarnation laid out – that God the Son
descended from heaven and taking on flesh became the son of man. He did
not bring his body from heaven but rather came as the son of man, taking
his body from the Virgin and being born of her as a man. And having
descended from heaven He is not separated from God but remains at the
same time in heaven and is eternally united with the Father. This is the
core of the Gospel, that God has become man, and it is revealed to those
like Nicodemos who sincerely seek the truth. This is the “Who” of the
feast – it is about the God/man Jesus Christ for indeed without Christ,
the Cross is only two pieces of wood and an instrument of torture.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life.” Now that we know Whom the feast is
about, we learn what the feast is about. Here Jesus refers to the Old
Testament event when the Hebrew people, having fled Egypt, were
wandering in the desert. They began to complain against God and the
serpent of discontent in their hearts became an infestation of venomous
snakes. The people then repented of their discontent and called out to
God for relief. God, in His mercy and compassion, instructed Moses to
put up a brass serpent upon a pole and everyone who was bitten would be
healed if only he were to gaze upon that serpent. This event is a
foretelling of the crucifixion for just as this image of a serpent was
placed on a pole for the healing and preservation of the people who were
afflicted with the venom of their own sin, so also the Son of man (God
incarnate) was lifted up upon the Cross so that all who through their
belief, gaze upon Him with the eyes of the heart will be healed from the
wounds of their own sins and become a partaker in the eternal life.

This is the “what” of the feast for the Cross is nothing without the One
Who is crucified on it. The Cross, with Jesus Christ, has become no
longer the instrument of death, but the fountain of life. Through the
Cross, joy has come into the world; through the Cross we who were
condemned to die now receive life; through the Cross sin and death are
overcome and destroyed. When, on the feast of the Exaltation of the
Cross, we will see the Cross lifted up – this is what we celebrate, that
through the Cross, the victory over sin death and the devil has been
accomplished and what was once an instrument of death is now become the
fountain of Life everlasting.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved.” This is the reason that all this
has been done, this is the “why” of the feast – God loves us. God loves
us so greatly that He Himself, descended from heaven, took our flesh and
became man. He then voluntarily ascended the Cross so that by death He
might defeat death in which we were caught, free us from the tyranny of
sin and give to us eternal life. All his He did because of His great
love for us. How simple and yet how great and infinite and beyond our
ability to comprehend. God loves us. And as a token of that love as a
reminder of the depth of that love and what it has accomplished for us,
we have the Cross. This is why we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross
– it is a celebration of God’s love for us.

When two people are betrothed, they exchange rings as a symbol of the
promise and love that they give to one another. That ring becomes a
reminder and talisman of the all the love that they share together. In
times of distress and in times of joy it is not uncommon to see a person
touch that ring and twist it and grasp it as if to remind themselves
that they are not alone and of the love of their spouse. So also do we
as Christians have a token of the love of God for us – the Cross. We
wear the Cross about our neck, next to our skin at all time as a
reminder that we are not alone and that God loves us. In difficulty and
in joy we may well reach up and touch the cross as reminder that God is
with us. At this feast we bring out the image of the Cross and we lift
it up and venerate it for it is the reminder, the token of God’s love
for us.

God did not become man and descend from heaven in order to judge us and
condemn us. He did not come to us out of anger or wrath. He came to us
out of love in order to accomplish our salvation, in order to give us
life. He came not to condemn us, for we had already condemned ourselves
through our own sins. He came to free us from that condemnation, to
deliver us from the trap of death in which we had become entangled and
to open the door of salvation to us that we might pass through it and
enter into union and communion with Him. That door of salvation that has
been opened to us and through we must now pass is the Cross. The Cross
is the fountain of life, the token of God’s love and the instrument of
our salvation. For this reason we rejoice in it and lift it up with
honor and rejoicing. Through the Cross, joy has come into the world.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Mark 8:34-9:1

How confusing this must have been for the people who heard Jesus that
day. He spoke to them about “taking up their cross”. In hindsight we who
have come after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ see in
His words the call to enter into his own death and resurrection,
however, at this time none of that had even taken place. Death on the
cross was for many an unthinkable fate for it was a shameful execution,
reserved for the worst criminals. To hear that they must “take up the
cross” was a very strange thing to His disciples and those who came to
hear Him teach. Jesus did not clear up the confusion at all for He
immediately followed this strange notion with the saying that “he who
saves his life will lose it and he who loses his life will save it”.
Again for those of us who have come after the resurrection, who have
known of the lives and struggles of the martyrs, who see the ascetic
life of the saints – this is not a strange idea for we have seen it in
the lives of countless saints. But for those who heard Jesus speak this
was all new and most likely confusing.

How could one lose his life by preserving it and how could one preserve
his life by sacrificing it? This was the quandary (the conflict, …) for
these people. It is also, though the challenge for us. How do we
sacrifice our life and yet live it at the same time? Are we all supposed
to be martyrs and die a torturous death at the hands of those who hate
Christ? Are we all supposed to become monastics and hermits, leaving the
world behind and fleeing to the desert? Are we all supposed to
impoverish ourselves and neglect any worldly responsibilities? How do we
follow Christ’s command?

The Holy Apostle Paul gives us some direction concerning this when he
writes: “ I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
In this quotation we find the key to sacrificing our own life and
gaining life at the same time. He says “I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me”. In order to follow Christ and to lose our lives that we
might gain life, we give up living our own self centered lives and
choose instead to live the life that Christ gives us. This is the core
and if we can understand this, then we can understand the path of salvation.

“I live, yet not I …” this is the first step, the step of self denial.
Our lives are centered on fulfilling our needs and desires. Everything
we do goes back to this. Generations of psychologists have become famous
telling us this basic truth. From one we hear about id the ego and the
superego – that is the desire of the self, the rational self and the
moral self – all about the self. Another gives us a hierarchy of needs
which ranks the needs from basic for the preservation of life to the
search for personal meaning and tells us that our whole lives are
determined by the drive to fulfill the needs in this hierarchy. Our
whole life is about fulfilling the needs and wants of the self. Jesus
tells us instead that in this is not the essence of life – seeking to
gratify the self – but rather that if we step outside this self centered
need based way of life, that we can gain instead eternal life.

But this way of life is “natural” to us – that is it is natural to our
fallen nature. In order to give up our self centered way of life, we
have to first trust someone else to provide for those things which are
necessary. That “someone else” is none other than Jesus Christ Himself.
We need to step back to the time before our first parents sinned and put
ourselves in complete dependence upon the provision of God – content to
receive what He gives us in the full confidence that He will not abandon
us, nor will He give us anything that is harmful or beyond our strength.
This trust of God and His provision is the only way that we can leave
behind the self centered need based way of life. If we trust God to
provide for us, then we are no longer driven to pursue our own needs for
God gives us all that we need. And we can be content with what we have
for we know that all good things are given us by God. This is how we
abandon our own life – by giving ourselves wholly into the hand of God.

Then the Apostles says “not I, but Christ lives in me.” This is the
second step, the way in which having given up our life, we receive a new
life. This is what it means to “follow Christ.” We no longer live for
ourselves alone but we live the life of Christ. We conform our will, our
desire, our hopes, our whole self to Jesus Christ. His will becomes our
will, His desire becomes our desire, His life becomes our life. We
become His instrument in this world; we are the ones who are the
expression of His love for the world; we are the ones who feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, comfort the sorrowing, encourage the
faint hearted, heal the sick, and so on. Becoming in our lives the
expression of God’s love to the world is the way that we fulfill these
words – “not I but Christ lives in me.”

Jesus gave us this great quandary – to save your life is to lose it, and
to lose your life for the sake of Christ is to save it. Although it
sounds impossible, it is the key to our life in Christ. We must indeed
give up the self centered need driven life that we all pursue from
birth. We must entrust ourselves to God alone and be content with His
provision. Then when we no longer pursue our self interest, we pursue
instead living out the love of God for the world. All that we do and
indeed all that we are no longer is done for our own sake, for our own
praise, for our own glory – but instead we do all things for the glory
of God. By giving up our life and living instead the life that God gives
us, we become filled with His divine love and that divine love becomes
our life and transforms us so that we no longer belong to this world, no
longer do we belong to ourselves, but we have become like Christ and we
do all things to His glory. In this way we join the Apostle and declare,
“I live and yet not I, but Christ lives in me!”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Luke 6:31-36

“Just as you would have men do to you - do to them the same.” This is
the so called Golden Rule, the universal standard of good behavior. We
usually hear this rule quoted from the Gospel of St Matthew, “Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you.”

The goal of all societies is that men might live together in peace and
to that end they enact laws that somehow try to regulate our
interactions with one another to bring about this peace. But laws are
really of limited effectiveness. It is certainly possible to follow the
letter of the law, to embrace the exactness of the law and yet not live
in peace with others. Imagine for a moment such a person - a person who
is loyal to his nation and people and who strives with all his might to
fulfill the civil law exactly. He is a very dependable person, a person
who will fulfill all of his obligations and promises exactly and in a
timely manner. He conforms to the ideal created by the laws of a society
and no legal fault may be found in him. And yet he will also be cold and
unsympathetic and pitiless. Because his devotion is to the law, he
expects not only that he will fulfill the law exactly, but that everyone
else must be held to that same inflexible standard. Therefore if you
break the law, this person will be the first to insist that you suffer
the full penalty of the law regardless of circumstance or any mitigating
factors. This person will also insist on getting what is rightfully his
under the law, even if doing so causes hardship and suffering for others
- because it is the law and under the law, he is entitled.

By defining the limits of one’s actions and rights, the law then
prevents certain conflicts that might otherwise arise and mediates the
interactions of men in such a way that there is some standard by which
they might be resolved. But even a robot or a computer is capable of
this kind of “society” and our life encompasses more than simply rules
and conditions. And so we come to the next level of human interaction -
one that does not violate the law, but rather enhances the law with
compassion and conscience. This person not only respects and follows the
law, but he also takes into account the joys and sorrows of others in
the process. His interactions are marked by a concern for others and he
wishes to avoid causing suffering in others. In fact, he may even go as
far as to act in such a manner as to alleviate suffering. This person
will try to treat everyone equally and with courtesy and respect.
However, his actions will still be motivated by what is possible or
profitable for himself. His acts of goodwill are motivated by some inner
need or personal goal that he might have. He will give what he is able
to afford and will do good works when he sees a benefit for himself -
for example will limit his giving to those causes wherein he will
receive a tax advantage. He will use the law as a vehicle for his
compassionate and concern for others. This person is certainly easy and
pleasant to live around and to work with. However, even this person is
limited in his compassion to that which meets some personal need or to
that which brings some personal profit but beyond that it dries up. He
certainly desires to ease the suffering and unhappiness of others, but
not at the expense of his own comfort and happiness.

The Christian on the other hand is called not only to live according to
the law, and not only to go beyond the law to show human compassion and
concern for the welfare of others, but to go even further than this and
to give of himself. The difference between the Christian life and the
life of the worldly man described above is expressed in the words of the
Gospel: “if you love those who love you, … if you do good to those who
do good to you, … if you lend to those who will repay, what credit is
that to you? For even sinners do the same.” And then our Lord tells us
how we should act as His children, “Love your enemies, do good and lend
expecting nothing in return … be merciful even as your Father in Heaven
is merciful.” This is the Christian way of life - to act towards others
in the way the we ourselves hope to be treated. And the One Whose
actions are our standard for this is God Himself. We are called not to
violate the law but to go beyond its minimal and cold requirements. We
are called not to show the love of this world, but to go beyond that
love and express the Divine love of God Who loves all men. We are called
even to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us. We are
called not only to return good for good, but even to return good for
evil. This love and compassion for others is not based on any law, nor
is it based on any personal need or profit or gain, rather it is simply
an expression of self sacrifice and unconditional love towards all and
thus knows no bounds. This kind of love is possible only for one who is
united with God for it is only God who is the source of such love. God
has loved us and has had mercy on us and having experienced this love of
God first hand, we then turn around and give that same love and mercy to
others.

This divine love calls us to see in every person our own brother, a
brother in Christ, a beloved creation and image of almighty God. And no
matter how a man might fall, no matter how he darkens the image of God
in himself by sins and vices, we must still look for and see the spark
of God in his soul… “Sins are sin, but the basis in man is God’s
image….Hate the sin but love the sinner,” as St John of Kronstadt once
said. Not only do we love and respect others, but we must also forgive
others freely, even as God has forgiven us. And so when a person falls
into error and comes to us asking forgiveness with the words of the
Gospel, “I repent” on his lips and promising correction, then we must
trust him and joyfully accept his repentance as genuine and rather than
wait to see if he will meet our standards, we must embrace him and
support him in his desire to set his life aright. The Elder Moses of
Optina said, “Now when someone says, ‘Forgive me, for God’s sake,’ then
let that be the end of it!” And that is exactly how he himself acted.
When someone had asked and received forgiveness, the Elder never brought
the matter up again. If by some mischance, however, the person who has
asked forgiveness of us should fall again, we do not condemn him, but we
forgive him again, not just once or twice or even seven times but
seventy times seven - as many as it takes for him to truly enact his
repentance in his life.

This Godly love of others, this free and unlimited embrace of our
brother - this is the Christian society - this is the life of the
Kingdom of Heaven that we begin to live out here in this world.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Luke 7:11-16

We encounter God in many ways in our lives. Sometimes it is because we
have earnestly sought Him through crying out to Him in prayer or in the
Sacraments. The memory of the sweetness of God’s presence at these times
is a great help and strength in our future struggles to follow our Lord
Jesus Christ. At other times, though, we encounter God quite
unexpectedly. Such was the case today of the widow in the city of Nain.
She had lost first her husband and then her only child, a son, and was
left with no one. Her only hope for any kind of comfort or solace in her
life was taken from her, as well as her place in society. She was left
with nothing but her sorrow and grief at her loss and fell into despair
(hopelessness). As the people were carrying the body of her son out of
the village to be buried, she followed weeping bitterly, consumed by her
grief. And then, unexpectedly, there was Jesus. He stopped the
procession, and said to the woman, “Weep not.” He then reached out,
touched the bier upon which the dead child lay and commanded the young
man to arise. The young man sat up and began speaking and Jesus returned
him to his mother transforming her sorrow into joy and returning hope to
her.

Certainly at face value this miracle, one of three in the Gospels in
which Jesus raised the dead, is a testament to the Resurrection and a
demonstration that Jesus has authority even over life and death. It is
good to contemplate the divinity of Christ revealed in this miracle and
to eagerly look forward to our own participation in the Resurrection of
Christ. But we can also look at the widow in this account and recognize
that in her we can see ourselves. Just as she was wrapped up in her
grief and sorrow and followed her dead son even to the last moment,
oblivious of all else, so also we too find that at times we become so
absorbed in the circumstances of our lives and the world around us,
especially those that are filled with great emotions, whether joy or
sorrow, that we are carried away by the situation and lose sight of
everything else around us – including the presence of Christ in us. At
these moments Christ comes to us unexpectedly to interrupt our progress
away from His Kingdom as we spiral towards death and return us to life.

The widow in this account is wrapped up in grief and blinded by her
sorrow. Jesus comes to her and says, “Weep not”. When the disciples were
gathered in the upper room after the crucifixion with the doors locked
“for fear of the Jews”, Jesus came to them and said first of all to
them, “Fear not”. In the sermon on the mount Jesus instructs his
followers to refrain from seeking many other worldly things – “do not
seek worldly treasure” and “take no thought for what you will eat or
drink or with what you will be clothed.” Certainly we can cite many
other times in the Gospel where Jesus turned various people away from
being absorbed in the passions of this life, which are temporal and lead
only to death, and turned them instead towards the Kingdom of Heaven and
to that which leads to life. The widow was consumed by her grief; the
disciples were ruled by their fear; the hearers of the sermon on the
mount were overwhelmed with the pursuit of worldly riches and other
things which pertain only to this world. In each case Jesus came to them
and interrupted their spiral into their passions which leads to death
and opened the way for them to return to the path of salvation which
leads to eternal life.

How often do we, as well, become consumed by grief, ruled by fear,
overwhelmed by the acquisition of wealth (even under the guise of just
making sure we have food and drink and clothing), or enslaved to some
other passion. We get attached to those passions and turning away from
Christ we follow instead the dictates of the passions. As we progress
along that path of death, we find that we are led out of the city of the
Kingdom of God filled with life and light, and are ourselves drawn to
the tombs, to live in the midst of death, separating ourselves from
life. We get so wrapped up in our passions that at first we neglect our
prayer and calling out to God for help. Later as the passion begins to
rule us as a slavemaster, we find that we have forgotten about prayer
and about calling out to God altogether. In these moments as we are
being led inexorably to the tombs, to the living death of enslavement to
sin, our beloved Lord Jesus Christ out of His own great compassion and
love for us, steps in, interrupts the progress of our funeral procession
and rips us away from the grip of the passions, offering to restore us
to life.

In the Gospel there are many different accounts of miracles whereby the
sick called out to Christ and were healed. Not only do the sick call out
to Christ, but even those who are not themselves sick will call out to
Christ on behalf of those who are and again He is faithful to heal them.
But this was different. The widow did not call out to Jesus Christ when
her son was alive and near death; she did not even call to him after her
son died as did Jairus the ruler of the synagogue when he heard that his
daughter had died. But Jesus came to her unsought, unasked and raised
her son from the dead out his His great compassion and love for all who
are suffering. In every situation Jesus stopped the progression of sin
and its effects even when those effects seemed permanent (death) and
restored health and life to the sick and restored them to the path of
salvation.

We are subject to a multitude of passions, pulled this way and that by
the cares of the world. When we see that we have become ill in our soul,
that is we have fallen under the influence and power of one of the many
passions which lead us away from Christ, we first call out to Him in
prayer as did those who were ill in body. We know that He will come to
us as He did to them and heal us. If we are so ill in soul that we can
no longer flee to Christ on our own, when we feel powerless to resist in
the face of temptations and when the passions seem to afflict us at
will, then those around us will pray for us and call out to Christ on
our behalf. Again He will come to us who are afflicted in the soul even
as He did to those who were ill in the body. But we know that even when
we have fallen so far under the control of sin that we have lost sight
of any spiritual help, He will not give up on us, but will unexpectedly
intervene and stop us in our progress toward the grave and give us the
opportunity to abandon our passion, to abandon our sin and He will even
raise us up as if from the dead. He will offer us the way out of sin; He
will offer us freedom from our enslavement; He will give us life. We
have only to embrace that which He offers to us and turn ourselves again
away from the path to death and begin to follow instead the path of
salvation which He has opened to us. We can abandon our walk to the
tombs to live among the dead and return to the city of the living, to
the Church, to the Kingdom of God.

The widow was consumed by the passions of despair and hopelessness and
so was being led grieving away from the city of the living toward the
tombs. But her progress toward death was interrupted by Jesus Christ Who
restored life and hope to her and Who turned her sorrow into joy. As the
widow was consumed by her passions, so are we held captive by our own
sins. But no matter how great that enslavement, no matter how powerful
the passion may seem, our Lord Jesus Christ will not abandon us, but
will come to us, even when all seems hopeless and He will bring to us
life and hope. We have only to embrace the life that He offers, turn
away from the path to the living death of sin and return to the city of
life, the Church, the Kingdom of God. Glory be to God for His great
lovingkindness and His boundless compassion towards us. He saves us from
that path that leads to death and puts us instead on the path of
salvation which leads to eternal life.


--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Luke 8:5-15

The season of the harvest is upon us.  All around us the crops nurtured
during the growing season are gathered from the fields and brought in.
Harvest festivals, even our own that we celebrated here, abound.  In the
midst of all this, we hear the Gospel parable of the sower and the seed.
Jesus describes for us the process of the planting of seeds which fall in
various places and then speaks of that seed which fell in good soil and
grew and matured and brought about a good yield a hundred times over.

When the disciples asked about the meaning of this parable, He told them
that the seed is the word of God and the various soils into which the seed
fell represent the hearts of men.  Some hearts are prepared to receive the
word of God and that is the seed which has fallen upon good soil and which
grows and produces a good harvest.  But not all the soil upon which the
seed fell was good and the word of God is received differently in
different places depending on the soil. St Gregory Palamas notes that the
preparation of our hearts is our own responsibility: “Before all else,
brethren, I beseech you, let us hear with under¬standing that the Lord did
not say that He went out to plough the human fields, or to break up the
ground two or three times, dig up the roots of the weeds and smooth out
the clods of earth, that is to say, to prepare our hearts for cultivation,
but that He went out immediately to sow. Why? Because this preliminary
work on our souls prior to sowing ought to be done by us. That is why the
Forerunner of the gospel of grace, anticipating this fact, says with a
loud voice, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight"
(Matt. 3:3), and "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt.
3:2).”

The “sower” in this parable, that is God, scatters His word upon the whole
world, giving equally to all men the opportunity to embrace it and to
cultivate it in one’s own heart.  How we receive this seed and whether it
grows and yields the fruit of the Spirit in us depends on how we have
prepared our hearts.  Although it is necessary for us to prepare our own
heart to receive the word of God, in this work, we are not alone, but God
helps us.  He gives to us the law, the prophets (and especially the
Forerunner and Baptist John) to call us to this labor of preparation.  He
guides us and protects us through the prompting and work of the Holy
Spirit.  We have the instruction of the Holy Fathers and saints of the
Church concerning the spiritual life.  In every generation we have the
examples of the saints and martyrs to show us how to prepare.  The life of
the Church, through which our Holy Tradition is communicated gives
structure to our preparation and nurture of the seed.  In the end, however
that preparation is our task, it requires us to act by our own will and
make our hearts receptive to the grace of God which is poured out so
generously upon us.

In this parable, by giving us examples of hearts which are not prepared,
we see those things which are necessary to begin.  First we hear of the
seed which fell on the wayside, that is the road alongside the field.  The
seed here did not even begin to sprout for the soil was packed so tightly
from being trampled on that the seeds simply lay on the top of the ground
and the birds of the air quickly swooped in and carried it away.  So first
we have to soften our hearts, breaking them up, opening them to receive
this seed.  The Psalmist reminds us that God desires “a broken heart and a
heart that is broken and humble, God will not despise”.  Repentance, that
is a recognition of our sins and turning away from them, is the first step
in preparing our hearts.  Our repentance breaks up the surface of the soil
and then turning away from sin prevents it from being trampled underfoot
and re-hardened.  The tears of our repentance moisten the soil so that it
is further softened.

Then we hear of the stony soil.  When we begin to break up the soil of the
heart, invariably we find that there are many stones scattered throughout.
  These are the stones of sin which have become so hardened in us that it
has become habit and remains unbroken, even by our repentance.  These
stones must be removed and tossed off to the side by our continued
vigilance against the temptations.  Sin that has become a habit has a way
of “sneaking up” on us and seeming almost natural.  Consistent and
increased vigilance on our part to notice when those temptations begin to
manifest themselves and almost without a break slide into action is
necessary.  When struggling against these sins we must put forth the extra
effort of self denial and ascetic labor, just as stones do not break up
with the normal cultivation and plowing of the soil but require extra
effort to either crush them or to pick them up and throw them to the side.
  This self denial means that we avoid not only the sin, but even the
opportunity which leads to sin.  In this we have the help of our spiritual
father, the priest, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, our dear
friends in the Church.  Even though we may be blind to our own sinfulness
(which is often the case) we can be guided by the warnings and direction
of those around us who see the pitfalls more clearly (we are blind to them
because as a habit they seem “normal” to us).  Our spiritual family will
also come to our aid in our weakness defending us from the attacks of
temptation and sin even when we are too weak to resist.  But all this
requires humility - the willingness to admit our weakness to our brother
and to accept the help that is offered.

The third type of soil of which we are told in the parable is that which
is filled with weeds.  Our Lord tells us that these weeds are the cares of
the world, the attractions and distractions of the worldly life which pull
us away from our desire to follow Christ.  Here again our chief tool is
ascetic labor and self denial.  By consistently turning away from our own
self-will and instead following the will of Jesus Christ, we weaken the
strength of those desires.  This refusal to follow our own passions and
desires is what uproots the weeds which would otherwise compete with and
choke out the word of God as it begins to grow in us.  The ascetic labor
which we practice in fasting and in resisting the pull of the passions on
us prevents those weeds from returning and allows us to keep our focus on
following Christ rather than allowing our attention to be distracted and
scattered throughout the world.

Even after we have broken up our hearts to be receptive to the word of
God, and tossed out the stones and pulled up the weeds, we require more.
All of our own efforts are only the preparation to receive the seed that
God provides and that He plants in our hearts.  And then that seed is
nurtured by the warmth of the sun and watered by the gentle rain which
falls.  This is the grace of God which He sends down upon us.  We cannot
produce the seed on our own, we must receive it from God.  We cannot shine
down upon ourselves with the warmth the sun of God’s love  - we must
receive it from God.  We cannot provide the water of grace that moistens
the field - but we must receive it from God.  The life of Christ growing
in us is a joint effort.  God provides the seed, that is the germ of
spiritual life; He provides for us the warmth of His love and the moisture
of His grace.  We must make ourselves ready to receive these great gifts
and having embraced the seed with our whole heart, allow it to penetrate
and grow and protect it from being crowded out by the many and various
stones of sin and weeds of the world.  We must cooperate with God in the
growth and development of the life of Christ in us.

Archbishop Andrei of Novo Diveevo sums it up for us: “we must accept the
Word of God with all our being, with all our mind, with a good and pure
heart. ... Then too the seed, the Word of God, will fall on good ground,
and we will be able to keep it in a pure heart and bring forth fruit in
patience.  And in this ‘keeping’ we will find a new life and a new joy.”

Luke 16:19-31

We all like to spend money, somehow there seems to be some intrinsic joy
in just going on a buying spree. For many there is the additional
pleasure comes from acquiring things that goes with spending money. We
love to get all kinds of things and hang onto them. For some it is
beautiful things, for others it is useful things, or maybe quirky
things, personal things, funny things, and so on. Most everyone likes
getting things. As we enter the Christmas holiday pre-season, that love
of acquiring things comes into its own as we begin to contemplate
acquiring more things – either as gifts to give to someone else (and
thus sharing our joy) or as gifts we receive. Acquisitiveness is a
passion that is natural to our soul, however, like all passions, if we
overdo it or misuse it, that natural passion becomes sinful.

The rich man in the Gospel parable today was someone who had acquired
many things. He was not generally mean spirited for while he enjoyed the
things that he acquired, he also shared those things with his friends
and other like minded people. However, he did enjoy acquiring and
surrounding himself with “the finer things” in life – fine food and
drink, beautiful clothes, cultured friends and acquaintances and so on.
He did not, it seems, even notice those things which did not fit into
his likes and desires. One of those who remained unnoticed by him was
the poor beggar Lazarus. There is no indication in this parable that the
rich man was cruel or purposefully tormented Lazarus, rather it seems
that he was completely unaware of Lazarus’ existence and thus overlooked
his presence, not noticing his poverty, his illness and his great need.
This rich man was not particularly evil, however, he was overwhelmed by
the passion of acquisitiveness.

Acquisitiveness, when properly used instills in us the desire to get the
good things that God offers to us. We are drawn towards God’s provision
for we want to acquire the blessings, virtues and salvation that God
gives. This zeal to get the spiritual gifts is the proper use and venue
of acquisitiveness. The desire to acquire worldly things is a secondary
effect which relates to our dual nature as physical/spiritual beings.
However, the corrupted nature which we inherited from our first parents
Adam and Eve has already confused our acquisitiveness so that it is no
longer directed mainly towards acquiring the spiritual good things that
lead to our salvation, but instead is directed towards the acquisition
of worldly things which bring worldly joy and comfort but no spiritual
benefit.

To be rich or to have many worldly things is not in and of itself
sinful, however, when the possession or acquisition of those things
becomes an end in and of itself, then sin enters in. When we acquire or
possess things but do not use them for their intended purpose, then sin
enters in. When our acquisitiveness becomes self centered and causes us
to lose sight of God and of our neighbor, then sin enters in. It seems
good then, to consider what is the proper direction of our natural
acquisitiveness and the proper use of those things which we do acquire.

All things, the scripture tells us, work together for good for those who
love the Lord. St Seraphim likens the Christian life to the life of a
merchant who has assets which can be spent to acquire goods however
those assets must be spent wisely always seeking to purchase those goods
which will bring the best profit and maximize the return on investment.
We must remember that the proper purpose of all that God gives to us is
for the working out of our salvation. We should use everything that we
have to that goal. Thus the worldly things that we have are not ends in
and of themselves, but are given to us so that we might use them in such
a way that we draw nearer to God and acquire His grace. Wealth, the
abundance of worldly goods, is given to us by God not for our own ease
and enjoyment. This is given to us so that we might use all these
worldly goods to do the will of God in the world. One of the problems
that the rich man of the parable had was his self centeredness. He
simply closed his eyes to anything that did not meet with his approval
or prejudices. Thus he did not even notice the poor Lazarus at his gate
who suffered from hunger and disease – he did not even see this need.
The rich man of the parable exemplifies the plight of those who at the
great judgment are told by the Lord, “When I was hungry you did not feed
me; when I was thirsty you gave me no drink; when I was naked you did
not clothe me; when I was sick or in prison you did not visit me.” And
when they heard this they said, “When did we see you hungry or thirsty
or naked or sick or in prison?” Because of their self absorption, these
condemned ones were completely unaware of the many opportunities to
serve Christ around them. So was the rich man who was completely unaware
of the poor, hungry, thirsty, naked and sick Lazarus who lay at his
gate. Thus one of the first things that we must do in order to use what
God has given to us in this world is to open our eyes, to see not only
those things which please our senses and sensibilities, but also to see
those who are in need. Then we must use all that God has given to us to
express His love and His compassion to the world simply by using what we
have to care for those around us that we see with our opened eyes. St
Gregory Palamas points out to us the great love of God for mankind which
gives us the opportunity to acquire that which is beyond value (the
grace of God) by spending that which is worthless (worldly possessions).
“Our lowly, earthly bodily needs, namely, food and drink, clothing, the
gold and silver each one possesses: all such things are earth and dust,
and nothing is less valuable than that. Yet these worthless things can
be the means by which, if, in accordance with the Lord’s promise and
exhortation someone offers what he has in excess to those possessed of
virtues, (because they are completely destitute of physical necessities)
he can make up for his deficiency in virtues and escape punishment for
being without them through this act of giving. To demonstrate this
point, the great Paul, writing to the Corinthians, calls such sharing
‘fellowship with the saints’ and goes on to say ‘that your abundance may
be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply
for your want.’(2 Cor. 8:4&14)”

Not only wealth, but poverty too is given to us by God and must be used
in the proper manner. When we find ourselves in need or want; when we
suffer, are ill or encounter some other misfortune, it is necessary to
bear this poverty with patience and without complaint, remembering that
suffering in this world brings us wealth and riches in the kingdom of
God. If, however, we loudly complain and call attention to ourselves and
demand this or that “right” from others or seek pity and sympathy from
society, then we have not used well the poverty that God has given and
we have already received our reward (that is the attention and sympathy
of the world) and so will therefore receive no spiritual benefit. But if
we bear our burden with humility and patience, trusting in God to
provide all that we need, then He will provide us not only with our
worldly needs, but also with the riches of grace of the Kingdom of heaven.

We are all by nature “acquisitive” however that acquisitiveness is often
misused and misplaced for rather than desiring to acquire the grace of
God and the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven which are for our
salvation, we hunger after the things of the world that are worthless
and which will pass way. As we approach this season of giving and
receiving, let us set our hearts and desires not on the things of this
world which are earth and dust and less than worthless and seek after
the virtues and grace of God which is priceless beyond value through
which we will work out our salvation and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Ephesians 4:1-6

We live in many different communities. We live in the community of our
neighborhood, or in our city or region. We live in the community of our
friends, that is those with similar interests. We live in the community
of our school or work, along with our classmates or coworkers. There are
a multitude of “communities” to which we belong. This is not at all
surprising since we as human beings are social creatures, we were meant
live not as solitary individuals but in union with others. This need to
live in a society or community reflects the nature of our soul – we were
created to live in union with others. When we read the account of the
creation of the world in the scripture, we are told that after God had
created Adam, He saw that it was not good for man to be alone and so
created Eve, the woman, from Adam’s own body and substance to be his
partner and she shared his need and desire to live in a community for it
was part of Adam’s very being. From the very first we were meant to live
in community with others. However, even this moment of creation reflects
for us the more important fact that our communal nature is given to us
by God in our creation as a part of His image. God lives in an eternal
community, the unity of the communion of the Trinity, the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. Certainly it would be foolish to speak of God’s “need”
to live in community, rather it is His very nature to be in communion.
The unity of the Holy Trinity is so perfect that it is impossible to
distinguish between the three Persons and at the same time it is
impossible to confuse them with one another. Because God is in His
nature a perfect union and communion of persons, He created us with the
same nature, the same drive, to live in union and communion with others
– first of all with Himself. (We cannot share the same divine nature and
essence as God for He is the Creator and we are the created, but we can
share in His divine energies and in this way live in union and communion
with Him.) God created us as a community of creatures and has called us
to live together as a communion of persons, joined not only by location
or interest or nationality or circumstance, but joined together at an
essential level as one entity. This entity is the Church, the Body of
Christ.

Therefore we hear in the epistle today that we, as Christians, are
called to live “according to the calling to which [we] are called” and
thus to “keep the unity of the Spirit”. The Apostle goes on to reinforce
that there is only one true union saying that there is “one body and one
Spirit, … one hope … one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; one God and
Father of all…” By the work of the “one Spirit” that is the Holy Spirit,
we are knit together into one Body, that is the Body of Christ, the
Church. As members of this one Body we are united under one Lord, Jesus
Christ, Who is not only our Master but Who through the incarnation also
shares our earthly nature which He took as His own and perfected,
opening for us the path to that same perfection that we might live in
union and communion with Him as He lives in union and communion with the
Father and the Holy Spirit and so through Him we can taste of the life
of the Trinity. We are united also in one faith – that is the Orthodox
Faith which is not a religion or philosophy or system of living or club
to which we are members, but rather it is the self-revelation of God
which is communicated to man first through the Incarnation and passed on
by the witness of the Apostles. This is the “one faith” that is without
change or error not because it is a well crafted system of thought, but
because it is the embodiment and life of the One Who is, in His own
essence, Truth. Through our “one faith” we learn how to order our own
lives that we might share in the life of the One Who is Himself Life.

We are initiated into this one Body by being born into it. You cannot
just follow a certain set of rules, or send in an application and
entrance fee to become part of the Body of Christ. You can’t just pay
your dues and abide by a certain charter to be part of the Church. You
can’t simply act the part and hope to share in the life of Christ. In
order to obtain the Life of Christ, in order to become part of the Body
of Christ, you must be born into it. This birth – or rather rebirth for
the Gospel says we must be “born again” – is given to us through the
sacrament of Baptism and is maintained in us through the other
sacraments of the Church. For this reason we not only confess One Lord
and one faith, but also one baptism. Through the sacrament of Baptism we
are born anew, this time not into the world but instead into the life of
Christ. We are joined not to a worldly body, but to the eternal Body of
Christ. We are filled not with mortal life which ends and passes away,
but with the eternal Life of God. There are many “baptisms” in this
world, but there is only one true Baptism which gives us life – and that
is the sacrament of Baptism which we find within the Church. Having
given us His life in Baptism, our Lord Jesus Christ then unites us with
Himself on a spiritual level by sending to us the Holy Spirit. We are
filled with the Holy Spirit and sealed by Him into the life of Christ in
the sacrament of Chrismation which follows immediately on Baptism. In
Baptism we are given the life of Christ and so are given the ability to
live in union with Him. In Chrismation we are joined to Jesus Christ and
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we now commune with Him.
Through the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation we now are brought
into union and communion with Jesus Christ and through Him we share in
the communion of the Trinity.

However, we know that when a child is born and united with his family,
that life that he has must be maintained. Indeed the same is true of the
one who is born into the life of Christ. To maintain our life we are
given other sacraments, especially the sacrament of the Most Holy Body
and Most Precious Blood of Christ. It is through this sacrament that the
life of Christ in us is fed and nourished and renewed. Just as it is
necessary to maintain the life of our physical body by eating food, so
also it is necessary to maintain the Life of Christ in us by receiving
the nourishment of the Holy Communion on a regular basis.

When we are ill, we go to a physician who can diagnose our ailment and
give us medicine and course of therapy by which we can recover our
health. The same thing happens spiritually for we are afflicted, through
our fallen nature, with the illness of sin. When this illness manifests
itself in us our spiritual life is compromised and threatened. Therefore
it is necessary to go regularly to the spiritual physician seeking help.
This remedy from the sickness of sin and death is given to us in the
sacrament of Confession or Repentance. The spiritual physician to whom
we can go is the priest, our confessor, who by the grace of God given
him in his ordination, hears the sins we confess and gives us
instruction in how to amend our lives to counteract the effects of those
sins. He then also prays for us asking for the grace of God to descend
upon us and through forgiveness and absolution of sin heals the wounds
that those sins have inflicted upon the soul.

In the same way we are given the other sacraments, blessings and helps
within the Church so that the Life of Christ in us might be strengthened
and maintained and shaped that we might grow and mature in that divine Life.

All of this is given to us – one Lord, one faith, one baptism – in order
that we might live in the union and communion with the One God and
Father of us all. This is the purpose for which we were created, this is
“our calling with which we are called”. God created us to live not in
worldly communities but in the divine community with Himself. We are
made to live in union and communion with our One God and Father which is
accomplished by being joined to the Body of Christ, living under the
rule and direction of one Lord, according to the one faith, born into
that life in the one baptism and nourished in it by all the sacraments.
This is our life, this is our calling, this is our destiny to live in
union and communion with our Lord Jesus Christ and through Him to taste
of the Life of the Holy Trinity.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

In the Church we celebrate many different kinds of feasts. Most
important, of course, are the feasts of the Lord, the greatest of which
is Pascha, the feast of the Resurrection. Second to these are the feasts
of the Mother of God, the Ever-Virgin Mary. We have in addition to these
great feasts, the feasts of the various saints which fill every day of
the year. Sometimes there are feasts to commemorate great events which
serve to preserve for us an important dogmatic truth, such as the first
Sunday of Great Lent when we celebrate the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” and
the final defeat of the iconoclasts. On that day we also remember the
proper place of icons in our Orthodox worship. Today is also such a
feast – a feast in which we celebrate the establishment of a doctrinal
truth and the condemnation of various distortions and errors which had
crept in around this truth. Today is the feast of the Archangel Michael
and all the bodiless host and today we call to mind the proper place and
role of the angelic host in our Orthodox faith.

Throughout the centuries there have been many distortions concerning the
angels. Angels were incorrectly worshipped as gods – even at times by
the Hebrews and some who followed Christ. For them angels were some kind
of lesser god, but still a god worthy of worship. Some even went so far
as to say that Jesus Christ was an angel or that as incarnate God,
having a body, he was somehow inferior to the bodiless angels. This
foolishness finally came to a crisis in the city of Colossae in Greece.
A council, that of Laodicea, was convened by the local bishop in order
to combat this distortion of the place of angels. This council condemned
the heretical worship of angels and further it defined the proper and
pious veneration of the holy angels as God’s servants and the guardians
of the race of mankind. This feast of the Synaxis of the Archangel
Michael and the bodiless hosts was established on this day to fix for us
a constant reminder of the proper belief concerning the bodiless host.

This distortion and complete fallacy regarding the angelic host did not
end with the council; throughout the centuries new heresies continue to
arise and old ones appear in “new clothes”. Today there are those who
still worship angels as part of a pantheon of gods and spirits. Others
seek to invoke the angels and demand their assistance through spells and
the incantations of “white magic”. Conversely, there are those who
attempt to humanize angels, making them out to be some kind of
“superhuman” or superhero, endowed with extraordinary powers, but
afflicted by the same passions and desires as men. There is also the
popular but foolish belief that angels are the souls of righteous men
and women who have departed this life and who abide in heaven (just as
demons are thought to be the souls of evil people). The errors are
endless. Many of the people who embrace these false beliefs do not do so
out of malice or as enemies of God, but rather they do so out of
ignorance, for the truth of the angelic host is often not taught despite
the feast which is established for just that purpose.

In order to reject the heresies of what angels are not, it is important
to learn what angels are and their proper place in the kingdom of God.
Angels are creatures – that is, they were created by God. They are part
of the “invisible creation” that we confess in the Creed (“I believe in
one God… maker of heaven and earth and all things visible and
invisible…”) The Holy Apostle Paul, was taken up in prayer to the third
heaven where he experienced the heavenly world directly. Although, by
his own report, much of what he saw is so far beyond our ability that it
cannot be described or even repeated, he did pass on some of his
experience to his close disciple, St Dionysius the Aeropagite. From this
testimony we do know that the holy angels are divided into ranks, each
with its own proper ministry and place in the heavenly hierarchy. Of the
various ranks of angels, we know about nine. These nine are subdivided
again according to their closeness to God. The highest ranks of angels
are the seraphim, cherubim and thrones. Next come the dominions, powers
and virtues. Finally, closest to us are the principalities, archangels
and angels.

Closest of all to God are the Seraphim. The Prophet Isaiah tells of his
vision of the throne of God, “Above it (the throne of God) stood the
seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with
two he covered his feet and with two, he did fly.” From this description
we draw the iconographic tradition of depicting the Seraphim just this
manner, as having six wings. The prophet also relates the song of praise
which the seraphim sang continually, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts, heaven and earth are full of His glory”. This same hymn we
ourselves echo in the liturgy as we begin the prayers of the
consecration. It is also similar in form to the divine hymn miraculously
revealed to the Church which we call the “Thrice holy” or the
“Trisagion” (Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us).
The seraphim burn with the fiery love of God and so kindle the love of
God in others.

The Cherubim are not cute chubby little babies with wings (as they are
sometimes depicted in western art rooted in the renaissance), but are
spiritual creatures which dwell near the throne of God. Just as the
seraphim burn with the fire of God’s love, so also the cherubim,
dwelling the light of God’s wisdom are radiant and illumine others. They
are filled with the knowledge and wisdom of God and so enlighten others.
It is with their help that we perceive the wisdom of God and the
spiritual senses of men are awakened that we might know God.

The Thrones bear God in themselves and thus God rests upon them. Just as
a physical throne is the resting place of the king – so these angels
serve as the spiritual throne of God and thus their name. They are not
God bearing by nature, but by grace (and so are not the same as the
Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God who is God-bearing by nature.) As
the scripture tells us that God sits upon His throne and imparts
judgment, we can see that it is through these angelic beings, the
thrones, that God’s justice is imparted to all of creation. These mighty
angels also assist all those who are given the task of passing judgment
upon the earth – rulers, magistrates and judges of all kinds – that they
might judge according to the righteousness of God.

In the middle hierarchy we see next the Dominions. These are the angels
who because they serve the Lord freely and out of love, rule over the
angels below them. They also help those in authority on earth to rule
the lands and peoples subject to them to govern well. These angels also
teach us to rule over our senses and our passions and to subject the
flesh to the spirit. With their help we are able to exercise authority
over the will and to resist the temptation that arise from within the soul.

The Powers are those angels who embody the divine might. They are the
helpers of those who work mighty miracles by bestowing upon them the
powerful grace of God. The powers also strengthen us to bear the yoke of
our various burdens in this life and thus to fulfill our callings and
obligations in a God pleasing manner.

The Virtues wield the authority of God over the devil. They subdue the
power of demons and ward off the temptations which come from them. These
angels hold back the demons when they seek to harm us and afflict us
beyond our strength. Just as the dominions help us as we struggle
against the temptations that originate within our fallen nature, so also
the virtues help us as we struggle against the warfare of the demons and
the temptations that come from the outside.

Those angels closest to us complete the hierarchy of the angelic ranks.
First among these are the Principalities. These angels watch over the
world, protecting and guarding every kingdom and people. Through their
help, worthy men are raised up to rule over the nations and to govern
the people.

Archangels are the great messengers of God, revealing to men the
greatest mysteries of God. They learn of God’s will from the higher
ranks and in turn declare the will of God to men. The Archangel Gabriel
revealed the greatest mystery of all to the world for he brought the
great tidings of the incarnation to the Virgin Mary that she would bear
the God/man and through her He would come into the world.

Closest of all the bodiless host to us are the Angels. They are joined
to each of us as a spiritual companion and protector (our guardian
angel) and support us when we stand firm and raise us up when we fall
and repent. Even though sin is repugnant to all the angelic host, they
do not abandon us when we fall into sin, but stand ready to help us if
we but reach out to them.

This is only a brief summary of the nature and work of the heavenly
host. St Dionysius and St Dimitri of Rostov have preserved this teaching
and much more about the heavenly hosts. The angels are our heavenly
helpers, and even those most distant from us and nearest to the presence
of God still touch us and impart to us the gifts according to their rank
and station. We ought not to exalt angels beyond their proper glory, nor
should we degrade them and make them less than they are. The angels are
the servants of God who, each according to his own place, assists us and
helps us that we might share in their joy crying out before the throne
of God: “Holy Holy Holy, Lord of Hosts, Heaven and earth are full of Thy
glory!”

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan is a classic tale that teaches us how
we may each put the Great Commandments to love God and to love our
neighbor into practice. However, as with almost everything in the
Gospel, this parable is rich with layers of meaning, revealing to us the
fullness of the God/man Jesus Christ. In this parable, not only do we
see a lesson about how we should act towards others but also we see how
God has acted towards us. This parable expresses the whole plan of our
salvation from beginning to end.

Blessed Theophylact, in his commentary upon the Gospel, statesthat “it
was our human nature that was going down from Jerusalem, that is, was
descending from tranquility and peace, for Jerusalem means ‘vision of
peace’. Where was man descending? To Jericho, a place sunk down low and
suffocating with heat, that is to a life of passions. See that He did
not say, ‘went down’, but, ‘was going down,’ For fallen human nature is
always inclined downwards, not just once of old, but continuously going
down towards passionate life. And man ‘fell among thieves,’ that is,
among demons…who strip the man, depriving him of his raiment of virtue,
and then inflict the wounds of sin. They strip us of every good thought
and of God’s protection and when we are thus naked, they lay on the
stripes of sin. They leave human nature ‘half dead.’” Here we see the
whole problem, the reason that we require God to save us for we are
“half dead” – we are an immortal soul joined to a mortal body. We are
“stuck” as it were, unable to ascend to the Kingdom of God, and yet not
quite lost completely. How then can we be saved, how then can this
situation be resolved?

This question is the whole reason we are here; the whole point of our
faith is that it provides a means of healing, a way back to the Kingdom
of God. Men do, in fact, seek spiritual healing in many ways, but it is
Jesus Christ, in the person of the Samaritan, who comes to us and is
able to help us. The priest and the Levite who came by and saw the
injured man represent the law and the prophets who desired to make human
nature righteous, but were unable to do so. They were defeated by the
severity of the wounds of sin and they were compelled to “pass by”. The
law was given to man by God not as a means to heal sin, but rather as a
safety measure to prevent man from falling into further injury from sin.
God knew that He would Himself come to heal men, but as the time had not
yet come, He gave the law to His people to help them avoid further
injury from sin – but it did not heal them, it only stabilized the
situation so that things might not deteriorate further.

Finally though, the Samaritan comes to the fallen man – that is Jesus
Christ comes to heal our soul. Note that it is said that the Samaritan
did not come upon this man by chance, but as the parable says, he
“journeyed and came to him”. Jesus Christ came into this world to find
us and to bring us healing. Out of His great love for us, He “came to us
and had compassion upon us”. It is only Jesus Christ who has the power
to treat the wounds of sin and to begin to heal them. He first binds our
wounds with oil and wine. In binding our wounds, He restrained the power
of sin no longer permitting it to operate in us freely. In binding our
wounds, He “poured on oil and wine”. Oil, when applied to a wound serves
to soothe it and wine is an astringent which destroys the infection
which might otherwise set in. We can understand the oil as the grace of
God, which He pours out upon our soul. It soothes the irritation of sin
by the promise of healing and blessings. Not only this, but it is also
by the power and action of the grace of God in us that the healing is
effected and we begin to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. The
wine is the forgiveness of sin which comes through repentance. It
cleanses the soul from the corruption which sin introduces. The wine,
when poured on a wound is at first sharp, stinging and unpleasant. So
with repentance which at first stings the soul and is unpleasant as we
humble ourselves, confessing our sins. But this stinging is only
temporary for once the wound is cleansed by forgiveness, it subsides and
the healing can continue unimpeded by the infection of corruption.

We can also see in the oil and wine the images of the sacraments. The
wounds of sin are washed first by baptism and then the oil of chrism is
applied, sealing the soul with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then we
receive in the sacrament of Holy Communion, the most holy Body and most
precious Blood of Christ. In these sacraments we see the binding of the
wound by baptism and pouring on the oil and wine by the application of
Chrism and the reception of the Eucharist. We receive these gifts of the
sacraments from the font of the Church which leads us to the next part
of the parable.

Jesus Christ does not stop with this simple “first aid”, bandaging the
wound and pouring on oil and wine. He knows that the wounds of sin are
deep and require ongoing care. Thus the parable tells us that the
Samaritan picked up the wounded man and placed him on his own beast of
burden and took him to an inn where he cared for him further. Then, even
though it was necessary that he himself move on, he gave the wounded man
into the care of the innkeeper providing all that was necessary for his
care and promising to return again to complete the care of the wounded
man. The “beast of burden” is the body of the Lord. In receiving us, He
places us on His own “beast of burden, that is, His own Body. We are
made members of the Body of Christ. And then He brings us to an inn
where He cares for us and gives us into the care of others while He is
away. This inn is the Church and the innkeeper represents those who are
given the responsibility in the Church for the care of the souls therein
– that is the bishops and priests and deacons.

When He comes to us and begins to heal us and treat our wounds, our Lord
does not leave us alone but brings us into the Church that we might not
be left alone. The Church in its essence is not a religious
organization, but rather it is a spiritual hospital whose purpose is the
care and healing of the souls wounded by sin. For this, Jesus Christ has
supplied the Church with all that is necessary to the task. He has given
to the Church the sacraments by which His transforming grace is poured
out upon us. He has also given to the Church the Scripture, the written
Word of God by which she is continually guided in her task. In the
Church there is also the Holy Tradition which is the means of treatment
and therapy by which the wounds of sin continue to heal, further injury
is prevented and by which we become strong in the faith so that we might
not again fall under the power of the “robbers”: sin and the demons.

Having placed us in the hospital of the Church, Jesus has not left us
alone, but has placed us in the company of our fellow strugglers, of
those other souls wounded by sins who are seeking, as are we, to be
healed and to return to the Kingdom of God. Nor has He abandoned us, but
has ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us and has promised that
He will return to us and will take us with Himself into His heavenly
kingdom.

In this parable of the Good Samaritan, we can see how it is that we must
work out in our own lives the love of God and neighbor. But we also see
the love of God for us expressed in His incarnation and in bringing us
to salvation. We see that He cleanses and binds the wounds of sin that
leave us “half dead” and He gives us His grace and forgiveness to begin
the healing of our wounds. He then adopts us into His own Body and
places us into the Church where we receive all that is necessary for our
recovery and spiritual health. He has promised, as well, to return to
receive us into His heavenly Kingdom that we might live with Him
throughout eternity.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org

Luke 12:16-21

  From the moment of our birth, we begin a journey through this life
which inevitably leads to our death. There is no escaping that fact that
it is appointed to all men once to die. It is also true that no man
truly knows the day and hour of his own death for it can come at any
moment. Oh yes, we all believe that we will live to see tomorrow, or
next year, or even the next 50 years, but it is not certain. Our lives
will end, but we do not know when or where this will occur. Most people
respond to this uncertainty with simple denial – it just won’t happen to
me. Most people never think of their own death, and in fact, it is a
breach of polite manners to even bring up the subject of death. Death,
especially our own death, is something that we prefer to tuck away out
of sight in a place where we won’t have to think about it.

The rich man of the parable was just this sort of person. It never
occurred to him that his life would end. He was oblivious to the
possibility that he might die and so gathered his harvest which he
planned to enjoy for “many years”. Because he did not consider the
possibility of his own death, he was a fool, for indeed in that moment,
his life suddenly ended and it was no longer his earthly wealth that
mattered, but his spiritual wealth (or lack thereof). He had wasted his
life in the acquisition of worldly possessions to address the many
possibilities of his life without making provision for the one certainty
– that he would one day die.

The Fathers of the Church all speak of the benefits of being mindful of
one’s own mortality and death. This does not mean that we should all go
around somber and humorless, always afraid that we will drop dead in the
next moment, but it does mean that the possibility of our own death is
always a factor in our choices about how to live. When we are aware of
our own mortality, the context of our lives changes. It is easy to think
that we are immortal, that we will not die or that if we do die, it will
be in the distant future. This lack of awareness of our death encourages
three tendencies in our lives which are detrimental not only to our
spiritual lives, but also to many aspects of our earthly lives. These
three tendencies are procrastination, vulnerability to temptation and
living in the future. These are all the result of thinking that we have
“plenty of time” and when we think that we are “immortal”, then we
consider that there is always “plenty of time”.

Procrastination comes about when we think there is “plenty of time” to
accomplish a task and so choose to do something frivolous over that
which is necessary. In the context of the spiritual life, this often
means that we put off doing those things which will help us to draw
nearer to Jesus Christ and instead do those things which are pleasurable
to our fallen nature. Therefore, we might watch TV or surf the internet
rather than take time out for our prayer rule – because we can always
pray later. We don’t read the scripture or other spiritual things
because there is always something else to read or some other activity to
take up our time. Or perhaps we will pass by a beggar without a thought,
thinking that we can catch them “next time”. We can skip the divine
services on Saturday night because there’s always Sunday morning – or
there’s always next week, or maybe there are too many other things that
“need” to get done. There is always “more time” to catch up on those
things that we need to do for our spiritual benefit because, well, it
doesn’t really affect me right now – it won’t be important until after I
die, and I’m not going to die for a long long time. All this comes about
because we forget our mortality and lose sight of our own death. To
recall one’s own death adds urgency to the thought of acquiring the
grace of God and developing one’s own spiritual life.

When we are not mindful of our own death, sin becomes more palatable
because there is always the possibility of repentance. “Why not sin now,
I can always repent later” we think, and that suggestion weakens our
resolve to resist temptation. The idea that repentance is always
possible later is born directly from a lack of awareness that “later”
might not always come. When we are mindful of our own death, it brings a
certain urgency to living a righteous life now (not later) and that if
we sin we might not always have the opportunity to repent. Compounding
this is the erroneous idea that repentance is somehow “magic” and takes
effect instantaneously. Repentance is more than this, for while it
begins at a moment in time, it goes on continually after that moment.
Sin is not just “breaking a rule”, it has consequences which cause
injury to the soul. Just as “breaking” the “law of gravity” will result
in injuries to the body (bumps, bruises, even broken bones) so also sin
results in injuries to the soul. Just as bodily injuries take time to
heal, so also the soul requires time and care to heal from the injuries
of sin. Regretting our sin and being sorry are only the beginning of
repentance which is a continual turning away from that sinful behavior
and thought. Even if we begin the process of repentance instantly, there
may not be sufficient time to heal completely from the injury we have
inflicted upon our own selves. Without the awareness of our own death
and the resulting limitation on our time, there always seems to be
“plenty of time” and “later” and so the urgency of resisting temptation
is lessened and we fall into sin more easily.

One final effect of a lack of awareness of our own death is that of
living in the future. By constantly living for tomorrow, we forget
today. By constantly worrying about what might happen “later” we lose
sight of what is happening “now”. When we live in the future, we are not
living our lives, but rather we live in a fantasy of our own creation.
And the future we create never quite matches up to reality that we live
and so to live in the future is fraught with frustration and
disappointment in the present. Our Lord Jesus Christ told us not to be
concerned for tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself. Our concern is
to live the life that God gives us today. If we are always waiting for
tomorrow, we miss the challenges, the opportunities, the blessings of
today. When we bring in the awareness of death to the context of our
lives, then today becomes important and tomorrow fades into nothing more
than possibilities that may or may not even come to pass. To live each
day as though it were our last brings out the urgency and imminence of
the events of each day and the necessity to use each of those events for
our own spiritual benefit. Living in this way makes it easier to live
each day for the glory of God and brings us step by step and moment by
moment nearer to Christ.

The rich man of this parable was called a fool because he had forgotten
to consider his own death and wasted his time on gathering things that
were only of worldly value. While he might have been rich in this life,
he was impoverished in eternity. He had wasted all that God had given to
him gathering that which was inconsequential, that which was without
value and that which lacked any eternal importance. If we forget our own
death and trust in having “plenty of time” to accomplish those things
which are of eternal benefit and value or if we think that there is
always time to sin now and repent “later” we are fools. If we live in
the fantasy of the future and ignore the reality of today disregarding
the life that God provides for us here and now, then we are fools and
will only end up frustrated and depressed because our fantasy does not
match up with reality.

Let us therefore keep an awareness of our own mortality and death, not
so that we might be always somber and sad, but rather that we might
experience the joy that God gives to us here and now and not miss the
opportunities that He puts before us every moment of every day. The
remembrance of death is a tool recommended to us by the saints to help
us in our spiritual lives. The remembrance of death is the remembrance
that one day we will stand before God and that we are destined to either
live in the joy union and communion with Him or to be forever deprived
of that joy. Let us not be fools, but be wise and prepare for the moment
when we shall see God face to face.

--
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website: http://stseraphimboise.org