Sensus Infidelium: The Gay Marriage Question goes from the Absurd to the Absurd

     It is amazing to me that everyday more and more of our countrymen, especially among the young, become convinced that we should have "marriage equality."  This has come to be code for a man being able to marry a man, and a woman, a woman.  The amazing thing is that all these people are making this determination without ever raising the essential question: "What is marriage for?" How can we have this debate at all (let alone make a determination one way or another without a discussion concerning the purpose of marriage.  It must be discussed.  It must be discussed NOW, and we need to get rid of the malicious influence of this current Administration, which is actually, actively trying to prevent the discussion. 
     Those who embrace the ethics of traditional societies (ALL traditional societies in the history of the world), have every reason to be confident concerning the outcome of a real discussion/debate, if such were ever really permitted.  The reason for this is that the forces, which are militating for societal acceptance of diandrogamy (the marriage of two men) and digynecogamy (the marriage of two women) really don't have an argument.  This is the case because in traditional societies marriage is not principally for the spouses.  It is for the procreation and education of children. Conversely, diandrogamy is closed in on itself.  It is essentially a selfish association.  It is for me and thee.
     Marriage is like all other noble and worthwhile human endeavours.  It is never, ever done from selfish motivation.  Noble human endeavours are never alliances made between individuals for the sake their own pleasure.  Quite the contrary, traditional societies (ALL traditional societies) look with disdain and contempt upon those, who would form such alliances, and who would profit by them.  No, noble things are done for others, often at considerable cost to ourselves.  So it is with marriage.  The purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children.  Neither procreation nor education can be considered activities that have pleasure as their end.  It is true that there are joys to the responsibilities of marriage, but the obligations outweigh them. It is the obligations of the state themselves, which are the opportunities for growth in virtue.  Afterall, those whose pursue pleasure, and circumstances that conduce to pleasure do not become virtuous.  They become vicious. Only sexual intercourse, which is separated from procreation is susceptible to this categorization of an act that is closed in on pleasure.  It has pleasure as its end.  It is, by nature, an act that is selfish.
     Society has a responsibility to encourage those things that conduce to virtue, and punish those things that conduce to vice.  If a society does the opposite, then each successive generation will become more and more vicious, while the foundations of the society itself will be rapidly eroded. Sound familiar? 

Participating in the Work of God

I spent the day in the same activity with which I spend at least two days a week: housecleaning. These days I have to be especially careful about these tasks, as I have some houseguests, who will be staying here in the parish house over the holiday. In the universe of housecleaning there is, of course a whole universe of tasks, all of which have their time and season. Today, I worked to tackle one after another of them, and by the end of the day, I found that I had met most of my goals to my satisfaction. First off, the entire house had to be dusted, then the floors had to be dry mopped to remove the cat hair that had accumulated over the past few days, then the floors had to be wet mopped to remove stains and dirt that had been tracked into the house. The bathrooms had to be cleaned, of course, and the kitchen cabinets had to be washed.

It was my mother, who taught me many years ago that cleaning is not be despised, because it is a share in what God does. It is making order out of chaos. It mirrors Creation in this respect, but it also mirrors the Redemption in Christ, because Christ has made a new harmonious order of our lives by His life-giving death and Resurrection. It is a great honour to participate in what God does, even though it may seem menial and burdensome sometimes. I have found that focusing on the honour that this kind of work is helps immeasurably to ennoble it in my own mind, and calm me during the work, so that I am not hurrying to finish it, or wishing that I could just finish so that I can do something else.

I think that it is one of the primary problems of us human beings that we have the false expectation that life should be easy (or, at least, easier), but I know now from experience that when I am wed to the idea that my life should be easy it robs me of something that is absolutely essential to my life and existence: JOY. Life is not easy, but it is in the very difficulties that we find joy. Clinging to the idea that life should be easy leads us only to resentment (because it is not what it ought to be), anger, envy (because we perceive that, perhaps, other people's lives are easy), and every other spiritual malady leading up to sadness, depression and bitterness. As a priest I have worked a lot in nursing homes over the years. There you meet a lot of bitterness, depression and sadness most often because life turned out to be different from what was expected.

So, we are called to participate in God's work of bringing order out of chaos. It's not glorious. The heavens don't open; angels do not descend, accompanied by the music of heavenly choirs. There are no thunderclaps, hailstones or flashes of fire. There are just us—holding our toilet brushes. Yet, the significance of the things we do is much greater than this world. We participate in God's Creation and His work of Redemption.

Dealing with the Bad News—God has willed for us a Cold Persecution: Treading the Path Between Consolation and Desolation

One of my current interests is an in depth investigation of the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola, and harmonizing it with the various elements of the spirituality of our tradition. This task is more important than it may, at first, appear, since from the middle of the last century, the Society of Jesus has played an important role in mission work and evangelization in Eastern Europe and throughout the East. In fact, some of those who suffered for the Faith in the gulags and prisons of the Soviet Union were Jesuits, and still to this day the Russian Mission belongs to the Society of Jesus.

This task of mine has attained an even greater importance for me personally now in the aftermath of the election. Certainly, from a natural point of view there is great justification for disappointment and even depression as a result of the outcome. After all, whatever you feel or believe about the current American president and his fellows in the Senate, one thing is positively for certain: under their leadership, the rights of the Church will not be restored. The position of the Catholic Church in the United States is now one of cold persecution.

Nevertheless, looked at in another way, this outcome, just like everything else that exists, is a manifestation of God's compassion. Just as, in the past, the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church, so too, if we are faithful in this persecution, the Church will come out the stronger. According to St. Ignatius, we have a positive obligation to look at misfortune and sorrow in this way. In Ignatius' view there are really only two elements in human experience: consolation and desolation. Ignatius understands consolation as any movement in the soul that urges the soul closer to God, while desolation is the opposite. It is any movement in the soul that urges it away from God. Therefore, consolation is not to be understood in the sense in which the word is used by earlier authors. In these authors, consolation is an emotional feeling, especially a feeling of joy or peace during prayer. Many spiritual authors warn their readers not to seek consolations, and not to become attached to consolations. Ignatius is different in the sense that he is constantly seeking consolation in the spiritual life, because he understands consolation as the movement of the soul towards God. For him, it has nothing to do with emotional feelings, joy or the like.

Because of this emphasis and attention on the internal movements of the soul, there is a corresponding emphasis on frequent examination of conscience in order to build greater awareness of these movements. We especially, of course, want to be aware of the appearance of desolation in our souls, and immediately strive to correct it. We want to be aware of the fruits of various actions; did the actions give to us consolation or desolation in the end. In other words, temptations to discouragement, depression or the like, as a result of things like the outcome of this election have to be rejected as the attempts of the Enemy to inject desolation into our souls (that is, move our souls away from God). This approach is highly experiential, since we can actually feel all of our progress and regress by means of examination of what is going on within us.

Desolation cannot be allowed to enter us, no matter what. After all, what occurs in our lives occurs according to God's Will. There is a beautiful Baptist hymn, which makes this point very strongly. It is called "It is Well with my Soul."

When peace, like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

Chorus: It is well, it is well, with my soul, with my soul.

It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

 

Chorus:

 

My sin –oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—

My sin—not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

 

Chorus:

 

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,

The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,

"Even so"—it is well with my soul.

 

Chorus:

 

The essential point that the hymn makes plain is that we cannot allow any kind of desolation to enter our souls, because we have no reason for any such depression, doubt or discouragement. The enemies of the Church are the ones who have the problem (and a severe one at that), not us. No, as the hymn says, "It is well with our souls." Our mission and duty remains the same as yesterday and the day before. We have to help and pray for those who are not well, especially or enemies.

The Upcoming Election: There is no issue, except virtue

The

 

There is, of course, much talk about the upcoming national election here in the United States, but the only issue that is not being discussed is actually the only issue. Recently, I had the pleasure of reading the official message of the Roman Catholic bishop of Springfield, IL concerning the upcoming vote, and I was pleased to see that the Church authorities are taking this decision much more seriously than they did in the past. The bishop was very solid in his condemnation of the platform of the Democrat Party, while making it clear that the Republican Party platform does not advocate anything that is intrinsically evil. He reiterated again and again the central point: there can be differences in prudential judgments about how best to take care of the poor in society, for example, but concerning intrinsic evils there can be no disagreement. The Democrat Party's support of such intrinsic evils, such as the HHS mandate, the promotion of abortion to the point that it will be always available and always free, and so-called gay marriage make compromise impossible, since there can be no peace between what is virtuous and that which is vicious.

The support for "gay marriage" is, perhaps, the most disappointing element in this new mélange, because inherent in this support is the particularly vicious unwillingness to enter into real and substantive discussion concerning the purpose of marriage. In supporting "gay marriage," the Democrats are deliberately refusing to participate in what should be a national discussion around the question, "What is marriage for?" The Democrats have decided, evidently, that marriage is a vacuous relationship that has no end or goal, and that the "spouses" are wedded to one another for their own pleasure. This is very different from the understanding of marriage that is maintained in every traditional society and every traditional system of ethics [Buddhist, Taoist, Judaic, Christian, Hindu, etc.], and yet despite this very different understanding, somehow, by some magic, there is no need for our nation to have a prolonged discussion and discernment. No, you do not depart from 5,000 years of tradition without prolonged discussion, discernment and consideration.

On the abortion issue as well, there is no doubt that the party's behavior is particularly vicious [filled with vice]. The reason that I can say that with confidence is the continuous use of the law in order to squelch moral discourse. If, in any forum, moral questions are raised about abortion and those who support it, the Democrats consistently invoke the law, "Well, it's the law of the land," as if adherence to the law guarantees moral rectitude, and as if there is no possibility of the existence of such a thing as an unjust law. The Democrats use the law as a moral standard in order to kill any discussion of deeper moral questions, while, at the same time, they seem intentionally ignorant of the fact that unjust law does not obligate the virtuous. Just like the case of "gay marriage," if a moral and ethical discussion and reflection could begin and flourish, then the truth would soon appear, since virtue is rational, while vice has no basis in nature or in human reason.

This brings us to the point. There is no issue in this election, except virtue. We have to vote for the virtuous, and reject the vicious. Vice can only retain an upper hand through deception. Let us hope that all of this deception will end in November.

14th Sunday After Pentecost-- The Parable of the Wedding Feast

WE ARE WEDDED TO CHRIST

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

Today in the Gospel, the Lord tells the people the Parable of the Wedding.  The wedding is often used as an image of the Kingdom of God, and with good reason, because, in the death and resurrection of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we are wedded to our God, One in the Holy Trinity.  In Christ, we have a new intimate relationship with the Holy Trinity, who wants us to share His life with Him. 

     We are wedded to Christ first by our Baptism.  In the Mystery of Baptism, we put on Christ, we were baptized into His death.  We went down into the tomb with Him, and our souls rose from the dead with Him in the glory of the Resurrection.  For this reason, it is the Tradition in our Church that the one, who is baptized is immersed in the water three times, signifying not only the Persons of the All-Holy Trinity, but also the three days, which Christ lay in the tomb. We are longer two with the Lord Jesus (if we keep His commandments), no, instead, we have become one flesh with Him, through the Mystery of the Eucharist.  The Eucharist assures that Christ lives in us, just as we live in Him, and the Mystery of Chrismation assures that we have but one Spirit with Christ.  He becomes our inheritance both in Body and Spirit.

     In the Church’s sacramental life, we are wedded to Christ. He has become our Bridegroom, Who has won us at the cost of His own life.  It is that very life, which He freely communicates with us.  We see the way that He has loved us, and we understand why the great commandment demands that we love God in the same way. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, your God, is One, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind.”  We also understand the reason for the other commandment that is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” After all, He loved us enough to lay down His life for us. In order for us to be like Him, we must have the same sort of love.  If we look around us in the world, we will realize there are many ways that we can exercise this love.  This love is not an emotion.  No one will be able to say, “I never really understood Christianity, because I am not a very emotional person.”  This love is not an emotion.  Emotion is barely more than a passion in us, but the love that is spoken of in the Gospel, the love that is the nature of God Himself, is the love of benevolence (an intellectual decision to will the good for others).  More often than not, emotion is only an obstacle to true charity.  So many people over the years have said to me, “I just cannot forgive.  I am not ready yet.” They say these kinds of things, because they understand love as an emotion.  But love is an intellectual decision, and forgiveness is the intellectual decision to return to that original intention.  If you make the intellectual decision to forgive, your emotions will catch up with that decision.  The love of benevolence will win out. 

     We are wedded to a love that is not an emotion, but rather a love that unconditionally wills the good of everything in Creation.  For this reason, we can see that the name of “Father” is especially appropriate for our God, and we should allow our relationship with the Father to guide direct our conduct as fathers, leaders and members of the community.  The inner life of our God, Who is Love, teaches us every aspect of this love of benevolence.  He teaches us how to be fathers and leaders, but He also teaches us to be servants, and to be voluntarily self-sacrificing.  The Holy Spirit teaches us by example to be at the service of the rest of Creation, to be a support for those around us, even if they do not deserve it.  To be worthy of our communion with God in the sacraments, we must strive to be as self-emptying as He is.

     Marriage is a relationship of mutual sacrifice.  For this reason, at the wedding service in our Church the tropar to the Holy Martyrs is always sung: “O Martyrs, you have suffered courageously and received your reward; pray to the Lord, our God, to have mercy on our souls.”  It is good for us to keep in mind that in our marriage with the Lord we need to suffer courageously, even as He did, and as the Martyrs did.  All around us in the world there are many concrete ways that we can suffer courageously, being of service to God and to others.  The primary and most important way for us to serve is also the most important.  Pray.  Pray with real love for all and everything, and pray for yourselves only what is most important and precious: the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.  Let us decide to be like our Divine Spouse, our Bridegroom, and put aside all material wants and earthly cares and pray only for that, which really matters, our union with God in the Holy Spirit.  During the day as we go here and there, and accomplish this and that, let us look for opportunities to pray for others.  In this way, we will build the habit of this love of benevolence.  The sacrament of Baptism is our entry into the Kingdom of God, but this sincere charity is our wedding garment, which gives us a right to remain in that Kingdom.  Let us not be found without it.

 

St. Cosmas of Aetolia and the Message of the 13th Sunday After Pentecost

ALL DEEDS: A SACRIFICE TO GOD

On the twenty-fourth day of August, the Greek Church celebrated the memory of its saint, St. Cosmas of Aetolia. St. Cosmas was a simple monk, who left the safety of his monastic life in order to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the north of Greece, in the region that is called Aetolia.  In past ages, this particular region had been Christian, but due to universal ignorance of the truths of the Christian faith as a result of the power and influence of Greece’s Muslim government, the faith had all but died in this area.  St. Cosmas began to walk from village to village teaching and preaching to the people.  The life of St. Cosmas as an itinerant preacher was difficult. Each day, he rose before dawn, and after his prayers, he began to go from house to house speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ to all who were willing to listen to him.  Often he traveled more than thirty miles in a single day. Slowly, the people of the region began to return to the Christian faith. Old parishes were restored, and new ones were established, although secretly because of the oppressive laws of the Muslim government.  After many years of profitable labour, the Muslims found St. Cosmas and arrested him. He was not so much as given a trial, but on the 24^th of August, the agent of the local pasha entered his cell and strangled him to death with a garrote. 

     St. Cosmas was a faithful worker in the vineyard of the Lord.  Today, we noted that the vineyard is an image of God’s People, the Church.  The vineyard is also a symbol of the universe renewed and restored in Christ.

     Christ’s presence through His Church has sanctified the entire Creation.  Through the works of Christ, the Creation has become the instrument of our salvation. Now, each human act (that is not contrary to the moral law) has value, if we offer this acts to God as sacrifices.  The Paschal Mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection created a new spiritual environment, for the universe became the vineyard in which we can work in order to accomplish our salvation.  The vineyard is a place in which it is necessary for us to labour, just as the Lord Jesus Christ tells us: “The Kingdom of Heaven can be likened to a man, a householder, who rose early in the morning to find workers to labour in his vineyard.” And again, the Lord gives to us this illustration: “One man had two sons. Going to the first, he said: ‘Go, child, and work in the vineyard.” The entire universe is for us like a vineyard in which we must work, just as the Lord God made the first man “to work in the Garden of Eden and to care for it.”

     We need to offer to God all of our simple works with a constant intention, which we can express in prayer: “Lord God, I offer to You this, my work.”

     In our contemporary circumstances, we hear again and again about the environmental movement. Daily there are concerns about CO2 and other greenhouse gases, as well as toxins which pervade our water supplies.  But there is no concern about the real poisons which destroy our very life: anger, envy, greed, lust, pride and vanity. If we were to purify our hearts of these poisons, then indeed we would find that our natural environment was very, very pure.

     Actually, it is the sacrifice to God of simple human works, which purifies our environment.  In the office to the martyrs at Vespers, we sing: “O most blessed martyrs Christ, you gave yourselves up freely to be sacrificed. With your blood you sanctified the earth. You brightened the air by your departure from this life. Now, you live in Heaven in a never-setting light. O martyrs, who see God, always pray for us.” How is this possible? Well, when we offer our works to God, we receive grace in return, and Divine Grace ameliorates our world both materially and spiritually.  The Canadian spiritual author Catherine Doherty wrote that all human labours are able to be apostolic.  For example, she believed that her sweeping was capable of gaining numerous souls for Christ.  Her faith in God’s grace was so great that her time spent with a broom was as if she was preaching in far off lands to unbelievers.

    It is indeed possible to offer all our works to God, but to accomplish this we must have courage. Courage is necessary to eject passion from our lives, and, instead to welcome peace and prayer into our hearts.  We can accomplish great things for Christ, and all in the course of our everyday activities, but only if we have the same sort of courage as we see in St. Cosmas.

Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God

This feast that commemorates the bodily death and resurrection of the Most Holy Mother of God, along with the feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration, coincide with the yearly fruit harvests in the eastern Mediterranean. Under the Old Law, these harvests were marked by the ancient biblical feast of Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates the passage of the people of Israel through the desert during the Exodus.  The event of the Lord’s Transfiguration actually occurred at the start of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Lord’s last year of His earthly life.  It is in this context that St. Peter’s suggestion to build booths for the Lord, Moses and Elijah makes sense.

     According to the Tradition, the Most Holy Mother of God died in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles.  It was during that feast, which commemorates the wandering of the people of Israel in the desert and their final entry into the Promised Land that the Lord chose as the end of His Most Holy Mother’s earthly sojourn and her entry into the everlasting Promised Land of Paradise.

     The fruit harvest in the eastern Mediterranean is the second harvest.  Earlier in the year, in May and June, the wheat harvest was brought in.  This first harvest was marked by the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, which commemorated the fact that the Lord gave the Law to Israel on Mount Sinai.  Now, of course, the feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.  The first harvest represents the Lord’s Resurrection from the dead, which is the source and beginning of our salvation, but the second harvest is a promise to us all.  We are promised a share in the life of God, which comes to us through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

    Sharing the life of God is not something that we wait for death to do.  The beginning of the life of God is not our bodily death.  The life of God begins for us with out baptism, and continues with our personal commitment to the work of our salvation.  It is a personal commitment to purifying our hearts by ascetical effort.  We need to purify our hearts for a serious life of prayer, and it is prayer that brings us our share in the Life of God.

     In the life and death and resurrection of the Most Holy Mother of God, we see that there is no division between the life of prayer and good works.  The principle good work is prayer, and no good work exists without prayer.  Any work that is performed without prayer is performed for selfish motives.  The work that is done with sincere prayer is life-giving both to ourselves and to our neighbours.  Through cooperation with Divine Grace, by our strenuous effort to please God, we begin the path from glory to glory—to becoming uncreated in the perfection of the image and likeness of God.  This path begins with humility, and with the admission that we are sinners.  It is in the proportion that we humble ourselves that we will be exalted. 

     The example of the Most Holy Mother of God should bring us by means of encouragement to humble ourselves everyday in prayer.  Let us put ourselves in hell, without despair, and call out to God assiduously and faithfully for mercy.  We only have this opportunity to cooperate with Divine Grace, and willingly receive the Life that God is trying to give us.  We have only this one chance to become people of prayer. 

12 Sunday After Pentecost-- Postfeast of Transfiguration

AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: BREAD ON THE TABLE

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     Today, we continue to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.  This is a very important feast in our Church, because this mystery so clearly reveals the true essence and meaning of the Christian life.  The Gospel accounts concerning the Transfiguration are very brief, but we know that this event was a very important, a very powerful experience for the apostles, who were present with Christ on the Holy Mountain.  The Holy Apostle Peter, the Prince of the Twelve Apostles, tells us about it in his first epistle: “As all things of his divine power which appertain to life and godliness, are given us, through the knowledge of him who hath called us by his own proper glory and virtue. By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature… For he received from God the Father honour and glory: this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.”

     The great desire and goal of the Christian life is salvation, which means everlasting life in the Kingdom of God, but we receive everlasting life when we become partakers of the divine nature, just as St. Peter said.  The only everlasting life is God’s life, for only God lives eternally. If we hope to take part in everlasting life, we have to be in God.  St. Athanasius of Alexandria spoke about this fact in very simple terms. He said: “God became man, that man might become god.”  In Christ, we take part in the very life of God, so that we have the same life with Him, and, as we know, that which has the same life we call by the same name.  Christ accomplishes our union with God in His own Person, for Jesus Christ is One single Divine Person, who subsists in two natures: His own proper Divine Nature and also the human nature, which He accepted from the Most Holy Mother of God.  In this way, Christ God became “Emmanuel,” for He was God, Who created the universe, from the beginning, but He became “with us,” becoming our brother according to the human nature.  In His Person, He has already accomplished our union with God, but in order to take part, personally, in this everlasting life, we have to have fellowship with Him.  How can we become united with Christ? Our effort begins with the destruction of our will.  The human will is not evil in itself, but God made it to infallibly choose the good.  Sin introduced into it the sense of deliberation, just as the Prophet Moses described in the Book of Genesis: “The serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die! But God knows, that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”  Our ancestors already knew good.  Afterall, they knew God.  What they learned was evil.  In other words, they learned nothing from the transaction, for evil is only a shadow and a deprivation. 

     We can restore our wills, if we destroy the sense of deliberation, which is in them.  In order to do this, we have to accept that which God sends us.  It is necessary for us to practice “kenosis” just as the Holy Apostle Paul says of Christ: “He, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.”  Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us a very simple, yet powerful, illustration of His humility, which is our example: He became bread for us.  The Early Christian Church had the intuition that individual Christians need to become like bread for others.  St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote about his approaching martyrdom: “I am the wheat of God, and I will be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I might become the pure bread of Christ.” In the account of the martyrdom of Ignatius’ friend the Bishop of Smyrna, St. Polycarp, it is related that, after the saint’s terrible torments at the hands of the government officials, when they finally burned him to death, his holy body took on the appearance and aroma of baked bread.  Closer to our own time, St. Albert Chmielowski, the Polish saint of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and a friend of our Metropolitan the Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, said that “the Christian needs to become like bread on the table. Anyone who desires some can cut off a portion.  Bread has no self-interest. It is for the hungry.”

     All we need to do is to imitate Christ—Our Heavenly Bread. If we become like that Heavenly Bread, then we will have the peace and joy of the Heavenly Kingdom, in the same way that Christ offered Himself in sacrifice for us (He became our Bread) I was also glorified to the right hand of the Father.  In the Mystery of the Transfiguration, He showed to His disciples His Divine Nature, giving to them and to us a glimpse of our ultimate goal.  But when He descended from the mountain and continued His journey to Jerusalem, there He showed to His disciples the manner in which they would be able to attain that goal.  He washed their feet and gave them the Divine Eucharist, His own Body and Blood, then He showed them His sacrifice, giving to them the solemn commandment that they love one another as He had loved them.  He told them: “Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for his friends. When you do everything that I have commanded you, then you are my friends.”

11th Sunday After Pentecost-- Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     In the Mystery of the Transfiguration, the Lord shows to His chosen disciples “as much of His Divine Glory as they could possibly bear.” In the meantime, Moses and Elijah appear with the Lord, and discuss with the Lord Jesus all the things that would take place in Jerusalem.  Moses represents the Law of God, for he wrote the five books of the Law, which governed the people of Israel.  The Prophet Elijah represents the prophets, those revelations that were given to Israel after Moses’ time, which gave Israel hope in the Messiah and in the age to come.

     The Holy Apostles Peter, James and John, who were with the Lord Jesus on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration, were told not to tell anyone about the vision until “the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” After the Resurrection, the Apostles reflected on the strange event.  In the Holy Apostle Peter’s second letter, he writes: “His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. …We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain.” The Apostles’ reflection on the Transfiguration brought them to a knowledge of the point of our faith—our hope that we can become uncreated; we can share the Life of God through communion with Him.

     Our personal share in the Transfiguration of the Lord is our own conversion to the voice of the Law and the Prophets, to the prophetic voice of the Church.  It is our own interior conversion to God, which makes it possible for us to share in the Divine Majesty and Glory revealed on Mount Tabor.  In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself tells us that such a conversion to God creates exceedingly great joy in heaven, among the angels. 

10th Sunday After Pentecost-- True Priorities

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     The Gospel reading today directly follows the account in St. Matthew’s Gospel concerning the Transfiguration.  The Lord Jesus, and the disciples Peter, James and John come down from the high mountain, and encounter the father of the lunatic.  The other disciples have been trying to cast the demon out of the lunatic son, but with no success.  In the meantime, a crowd has gathered. 

     Just as with any passage from the Holy Scriptures, in order for our meditation to be truly profitable, we must put ourselves in the place of the various characters of this story.  We must enter into their sentiments and make their aspirations our own.

     First, we put ourselves in the place of the lunatic son.  We suffer terribly, and we often fall into fire and into water.  We suffer terribly on account of the effect of sin in our lives, because often we labour under the heavy burden of evil habits, or vices.  Often we “fall into fire and water,” that is, we suffer as a result of our propensity to anger and lust; while, on the other hand, we suffer from temptations and habits of depression, boredom and complacency.  While, on the one hand, our passions are too hot, on the other hand, our love for God is too cold.  We therefore spend our lives on the pendulum of vice, swinging between the heat of irascible passions, and the chill of forgetfulness of God.  Without practice in prayer and virtue, and real progress in the spiritual life, we will be incapable of escaping our circumstances and helping ourselves.  To put it another way, we cannot help ourselves at all.  Only Christ can help us to change our lives and become conformed to His Divine Nature. Recognizing ourselves in the lunatic son, we should pray to Christ everyday for His help in correcting our vices, casting out our evil habits, and conforming ourselves to His Divine Nature. 

     The father is also a role that we are familiar with.  Most of us can relate to having deep concern for another person: a child, a relative, a friend.  Our concerns can be about many things.  We can be preoccupied with our children’s prospects for employment or married life, their education or even their appearance.  Nevertheless, we should remind ourselves daily that our central and basic concern should be about the salvation of our loved ones.  Yes, we can be concerned about our loved ones’ physical health, but it is the health of their souls, which should bring us to our knees before God.  Throughout Christian history there are striking examples of this kind of holy concern.  For example, St. Bridget of Sweden, when her eldest son became involved with an immoral woman, prayed that her son would die rather than commit serious sin.  In the end, her prayer was heard, he died a holy death in the peace of the Church.  Similarly, St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo Regius prayed earnestly for thirty years that the direction of her son’s life would change toward God and the Church.  Her assiduous prayers were finally heard, after many sacrifices and mortifications, when St. Augustine was converted from a life of heresy and sexual immorality to a life of true faith and sincere piety.  We should be preoccupied everyday with concern for the salvation of those who are dear to us.  Who should be dear to us? First of all, our family members and friends, of course, should be first in our prayers. But after them, the salvation of every human being should be our concern, as we see them enslaved to false religions, sexual immorality, vice of all kinds, and forgetfulness of God.  Every abandoned human person, who believes that he is only an animal, and that the purpose of his life is the pursuit of pleasure, should be the concern of our prayers, and our prayers should be as insistent as those of the father in today’s Gospel reading.

     We can also place ourselves in the sentiments and aspirations of the disciples, as they ask the Lord Jesus, “Why could we not cast the demon out?” We too, at times, may have the same doubts, as we wonder, “why can we not change, even in the smallest ways, the evils of this world around us?” Or, perhaps, we have come to believe that we are indeed incapable of making any difference at all.  But the Lord Jesus answers our doubts, “You cannot change the direction of this sinful age because of your little faith.” With the disciples, we might well answer, “Lord, increase our faith.” But He says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would be able to say to this mountain, “be uprooted and thrown into the sea.” At times, we may become accustomed to a Christianity that is merely cultural, without the obligation to steady growth and progress in the spiritual life, but God is not willing to forget that our faith is a means to communion with Him.  Communion with God is the point of our faith. It will take work and dedication on our part to build the life of prayer, which leads to communion with God. The key is consistency in daily spiritual practice, even though we may, at times feel a great aversion to it.

     Central to the life of prayer is recognizing our sins and faults, and asking God to correct them, interceding for the salvation of others and for the world, and deepening our faith through daily spiritual exercises.

9th Sunday After Pentecost-- Daily Examination Revisited

FIVE MIRACLES THAT DEMAND A RESPONSE

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

      The miracle, which is described in today’s Gospel reading, is actually the combination of five different miraculous signs.  Taken altogether, these miraculous signs have deep meaning about our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ.  The five miracles are as follows: 1) the Lord walks on the water, 2) Peter walks on the water at the Lord’s invitation, 3) the Lord preserves Peter, when he begins to sink, 4) The Lord stills the tempest, and 5) the boat is immediately at port.

     This whole complex of miraculous signs can be understood as a description of the way that the Lord works in the lives of all of us.  First, He gives to us the ability the pass through the midst of the temptations and troubles of the world without harm.  As long as we are in His company, we have the assistance of His grace, which helps us through the trials of our lives.  This world is a troubled, stormy sea, filled with the whirlpools and eddies of worldly distractions.  God allows us to tread these things under our feet, as He also calms the passions, temptations and persecutions of this life.  Finally, He also leads us with faithful support to the harbour of eternal life.

     The complex of these five miracles, which, in a mystical way, illustrate the way that God deals with each and everyone of us as an adopted son or daughter, also show us the means and way that we relate to God.  We know how important our daily examination of conscience is to our growth in relationship with the Lord.  The complex of these five miracles also shows to us the five stages of our daily examination. 

     In the course of the examination of conscience, we first give thanks to God for all of the blessing and graces that we have received during the past day.  This corresponds to the miracle of Jesus walking on the water.  Just as the Lord walked peacefully on the troubled water, in the same way, we, at the end of the day, are able to cast our eyes over the blessings and graces of God that have carried us through the difficulties of the previous day. 

     After our thanksgiving, we pray for light, so that God will illumine our consciences.  We need God’s help so that we can accurately see our sins and failings, and also accurately access our strengths.  This sincere prayer for light corresponds to Peter walking on the water at the Lord’s invitation.  It is only with God’s help that we can pass through this world’s temptations and struggles.  We express our dependence on God, and our confidence in Him by this simple prayer for light.

     After praying that our consciences be illumined, and our knowledge enlightened, we then review our sins and failings committed during the day.  In the Gospel, the Lord preserves Peter from drowning when he begins to sink below the waves of the sea.  In the same way, we recognize that it is the Lord’s compassion that has preserved us, when we have fallen into sin.  The Lord’s compassion has always raised us up, and the memory of our sins is the memory of His merciful actions towards us. Having been enlightened by Him to truly see the truth about ourselves, we make an honest review of our sins during this day. 

     Next, in the course of our examination of conscience, we ask God for forgiveness.  This is a very important stage in the process, and it corresponds to our Lord Jesus Christ calming the tempest.  The Lord by His word alone stills the water of the sea; just as, by His word alone, He remits our sins, obliterating them from His Divine memory.  If we are truly sorry for our sins, there is no limit to the amount of transgression that He will forgive.

     Lastly, we ask the Lord’s help with the work of the coming day. We make resolutions for the coming day that will help us to grow in the spiritual life.  We forecast the events of the coming day, asking God’s special assistance with specific things that concern us.  This corresponds to the miracle that the boat was instantly at the port.  The Lord’s deepest desire for us is to share His life with us eternally, and all our circumstances are directed by Him towards the realization of that end. Putting ourselves completely in His care, trusting Him completely, is a foretaste of our goal of being in His loving presence forever.

8th Sunday After Pentecost-- Remembering Ss. Vladimir and Olga

THE LORD FEEDS US THROUGH THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     Today, in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus feeds the great multitude in a miraculous and unexpected way.  It is time for us to reflect that, in the very same way, He feeds us in very miraculous, very unexpected and beautiful ways, to satisfy our hunger and thirst for salvation, for the life of God and the glory of His presence.  Again and again, over the long history of the Church, the Lord has told us, His disciples, the same simple message concerning the great spiritual hunger and desperation of this world.  He says to us repeatedly, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Then, when the task seems so very far beyond our power, the Lord Himself, by His Divine Power, takes it upon Himself to feed the people through us. 

     One of the way that the Lord feeds this desperate world, so hunger for Divine Life, is through the lives of the saints.  He raises up certain people in every age, to whom He gives the ability to feed His people with inspiration and example.  Today we turn our eyes to the ones, whom our Church calls “the Equals to the Apostles,” because they brought their whole nation with them to the Christian Faith: Great Prince Volodymyr and his grandmother, the Princess Olha. 

     Particularly, today, we should focus on Saint Olha, just as it is appropriate to examine the root before we turn our attention to the lofty heights of the full-grown tree.  St. Olha is a good example to us, because she is so much like ourselves.  In the history of the life of St. Olha, we see a remarkable change from before she came to Christ to the period after her Baptism. She, who was so well known for cruelty, deception and vengeance, became known instead for gentleness, sincere charity and wisdom.

     St. Olha was born at Pskov, but at a young age she was wedded to Prince Ihor of Kyiv, who had succeeded his father Prince Oleh.  Some time later, she bore the prince a son, whom he named Sviatoslav.

     Prince Ihor was anxiously seeking to unite the Rusyn lands by extending the authority of the Kyivan Prince into the territory of all the neighbouring principalities.  As a result of this policy, Prince Ihor was assassinated by his rivals from the region of Drevlyani, when his son, Sviatoslav, was only three years old.  After Ihor’s death, Olha became the regent for her infant son.  Gathering her armies together, she marched against Drevlyani with a terrible vengeance.  At the siege of Yaroslavl, she pelted the city with rotten wheat, and then released flocks of pigeons, which had burning firebrands hanging from their legs.  The thatch roofs of the city were set on fire, and many burned and choked to death in the ensuing conflagration of flame and smoke. 

     Rounding up all the leaders of the plot that had killed her husband, her justice was terrible.  She brought them to Kyiv, bound with ropes.  In the freezing cold, she made them lie next to one another on the ground.  Then, she slowly scalded them to death with boiling water. 

     Once her vengeance was complete, she turned her attention to completing her deceased husband’s policies, by extending and strengthening Kyivan authority over all the surrounding regions.  She was the first to divide her territories into oblasti, which were ruled by governors responsible to her in Kyiv, thus ignoring and circumventing the authority of the local rulers.

     In this way, she handed over a very well organized state to her son, Sviatoslav, on his sixteenth birthday. Sviatoslav made her his ambassador to the Roman Empire, and sent her to Constantinople to negotiate a treaty of peace.  Olha, at this point, was already familiar with Christianity.  When she left Kyiv at the head of the embassy to Constantinople, she already intended to become a Christian there.

     Olha was baptized in Constantinople in 954 by Theophylact, the Patriarch of Constantinople.  The Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was her godfather. Her godmother was the Empress Helen, who would also become, after the passage of many years, the grandmother of St. Volodymyr’s wife, Princess Anna of Byzantium.  St. Olha’s lady in waiting and future daughter-in-law, Malusha, was baptized with her.  Some years later, after her wedding to Prince Sviatoslav, Malusha bore Volodymyr.

     After Olha’s return to Kyiv from the embassy to Constantinople, she became known for her gentleness, meekness and wisdom.  At every opportunity, she promoted the Christian faith and the life of prayer.  She continuously urged her son, Sviatoslav, to embrace Christianity, but he did not acquiesce.  She turned her attention to building up the Church in Rus’.  She tried many, many times to obtain bishops for Kyiv and the surrounding cities, but her entreaties were not heeded, either by the Church in Constantinople, or by the Pope of Rome.

     As a mature Christian, her deepest inspiration came from the passage from the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which the Lord Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like a child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” She strove to practice this kind of meekness and humility everyday.  Because of her humility and her incessant prayers, her innocence was restored to her.  Despite her many sins, she was given the gift of incorruption after her death. When she died in 969, she was interred, according to her instructions, in the Church of St. Nicholas Over Askold’s Grave, but her grandson, St. Volodymyr, ordered for her remains to be moved to the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, where they lay in a special sarcophagus, through which the people could peer, and see her body in the same condition as when she was alive.

     The lives of the saints are our nourishment.  Is not the life of St. Olha our nourishment? Are we not sustained in our faith, when we can see that someone, whose sins were so great, was, nevertheless, glorified and purified with her original innocence restored? We can have that too.  No matter how great our sins, an evil and angry heart can become renewed, like the heart of a little child.  St. Olha is praying that this may be so, for all of us.

A Meditation on the Moral Meaning of Psalm 3-- Verse 5

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.

The moral meaning of this verse presents to us one of the saddest of all of the facts of our daily life in this world.  Our fervour for the Lord cannot be sustained, we walk in great fervour and devotion for a time, but later, because of our sinful nature, we devolve into a sense of complacency.  This complacency the psalm refers to as "sleep." Our fervour and devotion for the Lord cools, and we sleep.  Preventing this sleep is the work of a lifetime of mortification and labour in the spiritual life.  The great majority of our time in this world is spent swinging between the opposite poles of fervour and tepidity.  We have a conversion experience that puts us into what we believe to be an experience of communion with God.  There is a fervour that is engendered in us, which makes us "walk by faith, and not by sight." But the first fervour of conversion dies away. It wanes, and we are left, not as we were before, but complacent-- satisfied with our relationship with the Lord-- satisfied that we are right with Him, perhaps for the first time in our life.  Our sense of security and peace in our relationship with the Lord is here called a "sleep."

In this kind of state, it is something else-- some new development in our lives-- that must wake us again to the need grow and advance in our divine communion.  Something must wake us, and convince us that we, who thought we were very close to the Lord, need to advance yet closer.  Something has to convince us that we, who had worked to develop all kinds of detachments from the things of this world, need to become yet more detached-- that we need to part with that that is most dear to us.

It is the Lord Himself, Who has sustained us in the sleep of our complacency, but it is also the Lord, Who through various and different circumstances of our lives wakes us to greater knowledge of Himself.  We should thank Him with all our hearts for protecting us during the nights of our complacencies (when we were lulled to sleep by the false sense of security, but were, in reality, most vulnerable to the attacks of the Enemy), and we should also thank Him for the many times He has waked us from these sleeps, and set us once again on the path towards Him.  Let us ask Him to gently wake us from all of our confidences and egocentric phantasies, to the recognition that real growth and wealth is in the knowledge of Him as source of all created being.

All of Us Have the Mute Spirit-- The Importance of Our Daily Examination of Conscience

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     In today’s Gospel reading, as the Lord Jesus is leaving the house, His disciples bring to Him a man, who is possessed by a mute spirit.  The man, in other words, could not speak, but gave other signs of being demon-possessed.  The Lord casts out the demon, and the man begins to speak. The crowd, which is witness to what has happened, is amazed, and begins to ask whether Jesus could be the promised Messiah.

     The Gospel says nothing about the manner in which the Lord Jesus casted out the demon.  This is the case, because the Gospel of St. Matthew has covered this territory before.  At this point, St. Matthew simply states that the Lord Jesus casted out the demon without any further comment.  We know from this that He did what He had always done before.  He did not invoke anyone else’s name, or quote the Scriptures.  He simply told the demon to leave, and it left.  This clearly shows the majesty of the Lord’s divinity.  Immediately, after the demon has left, the man speaks (thus showing that the demon had departed.

     But who is the mute spirit? Why is he mute? He does not want to be known.  He does not want anyone to know his name, or to have any certain knowledge about him.  In ancient culture, particularly in Hebrew culture, knowledge was power.  To possess the name of another person was to have power over him.

     Each of us, in a sense, has the same mute spirit.  Very often, even if we are aware of our individual sins (enough to make a good confession, for example) we remain ignorant of any real self-knowledge.  The universe of our faults and vices remains unknown and invisible to us.

    At the same time, however, we know that, in order to make any real progress in the spiritual life, we need to have personal knowledge of our faults. Particularly, we need to have firsthand knowledge of our predominant fault.  Progress in the spiritual life requires that we first identify our predominant fault, then labour to build the opposite virtue. 

     The mute spirit of our predominant fault wants to hide, so that it will not be discovered, because knowledge of it reveals its opposite virtue, which in turn shows us the way forward towards greater perfection.  In order to discover this “mute spirit” we need to search it out.  We search out our predominant fault through the daily practice of the examination of conscience.  The Church encourages us to examine our conscious every evening before we retire as a means to greater spiritual growth.  This encouragement is very apt, because without it we cannot uncover that fault or faults, which is the source of our sins. At the end of the day, we consider our thoughts during the past day.  We begin by examining those thoughts on the basis of the seven cardinal sins: pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth.  That category, which is most frequent and active in our thoughts, is likely to be our “predominant” fault, or, in other words, the area where we are most susceptible to temptation. This area will play a central role in the all of our subsequent examinations. A predominant fault in any one of these areas will then lead us to a resolution to practice the opposite virtue.  If, for example, we notice that our predominant fault is pride, then we resolve in concrete ways to exercise the virtue of humility through some sort of mortification.

     Lastly, since we are resolving to take seriously the science of the spiritual life, we ask Christ to help us to combat our predominant fault by giving us an abundance of grace, so that we can exercise the contrary virtue.  We acknowledge that we cannot do it without Him.  Although He commands us to be perfect, nevertheless, we cannot fulfill His commandment unless we put all of our trust in Him, for He is the vine and we are only the branches.

A Meditation on the Moral Sense of Psalm 3-- Verse 4

I cry aloud to the Lord, and He answers from his holy hill.

In general, in the Book of Psalms, whenever prayer is described there is a sense of urgency built into the expression.  King David does not merely pray, he "crys out" to the Lord.  Naturally, the reason for the urgency in the matter of prayer is the immanent threat to his soul's salvation that presented by "the multitude," who, in a moral sense, we identify with the demon-controlled passions and their masters, the demons themselves.  In the same way, we should cry out to the Lord.  There should be a sense of urgency in our prayers as well.  After all, the Enemy is within our gates, since the passions, like a fifth column, are parts of our soul that are so disordered that they actually work for our destruction.  So, we cry aloud to the Lord.  The Father of the Church St. John Cassian was in the habit of meditating constantly on one single verse from the the Psalter, "O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me." His meditation (like all ancient meditation, consisted in repeating this verse over and over again, replacing his thoughts with the prayer, replacing his thoughts with the Word of God.  In this way, "he cried aloud to the Lord." No matter our method or technique of meditation, we too must learn to cry out to the Lord with urgency from the depths of a soul and mind that is filled with the evils of this world. 

When we learn to cry aloud to the Lord, the answer is immediate.  This is exactly what King David says when he states, "I cry aloud to the Lord, and He answers..." I cry and He answers.  There is no delay, no hesitation.  If there seems to be delay or hesitation, it is because we do not yet understand the ways of the Lord.  We do not understand as yet what is truly for our good, because His compassion "makes all things work together unto good for those who love Him." It should be a great relief to our anxious and worrisome minds that "I cry, and He answers." If we accept that this is the case, it can be a source of great peace for us.

What do we mean when we say that "he answers." We mean that He conforms everything to His perfect Will.  All that is disordered, He reorders according to His intention.  His wrath (which, remember, according to St. Ephrem the Syrian, is the same as His mercy) burns against His creation, and it is reformed and renewed; "Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth."  If we have sinned (and we most assuredly have) then we are deserving of this wrath, that is, we are deserving to be renewed by the Holy Spirit of God.  His work of renewal will perhaps be unpleasant, but it will accomplish that for which it was intended.

The verse ends, "He answers from His holy hill."  Here again, King David is referring to the abode of the presence of God, Mt. Zion.  The moral sense of this expression is to remind us that the source of our help in times of distress, when we "cry aloud to the Lord," is the Holy Church.  It is through the ministry of the Church that the Lord answers our urgent prayers for renewal and restoration, and for freedom from the passions and their masters.  He answers from the Church, to whom He gave the forgiveness of sins and the graces of the Sacraments.  The absolution prayer in the Roman Rite is a good summation of this: "God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, has reconciled the world to Himself, and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the remission of sins.  Through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Psalm 3-- A Meditation on Verse 3

"But You, O Lord, are a shield about me-- my glory, Who lifts up my head."

After the bleak beginning of Psalm 3, the poet, King David, recovers his hope by thinking on God.  Turning to God, he acknowledges God as his source of protection from the multitude that seeks to destroy him.

He describes the Lord as "a shield." Without any serious doubt, we know that what King David is referring to is the typical battle implement seen everywhere throughout the ancient Near East.  These ancient shields took two forms: an older elongated style that covered the warrior from ankles to face, and a newer style, which was round and only large enough to cover the torso. King David seems to have the older style in mind.  Both styles were supported on the defender's arm (his left).  The arm was then raised in order to block an adversary's blows.  The Lord as a "shield about me" testifies to the Lord's ability and willingness to parry the blows of the Enemy.  In a moral sense, this means that it is God Himself Who limits and mitigates our temptations (just as a shield lessens the energy of the blows of an adversary).  He lessens, limits and mitigates our temptations so that they are within the limits of our strength.

But the second part of the paired phrases suggests that the Holy Spirit intends something more.  The second part declares the Lord to be: "My glory, Who lifts up my head." It is hard to say how this fits with the first part of the pairing, but it makes us think of the other typical use of the ancient shield.  In the ancient Near East, those who had fallen in battle were lifted up and carried in honour on their shields.  It was the dead, whose side was victorious, who were borne aloft on their shields.  They were borne in such a way so that their heads were high, as if they were seated in triumph.

The dead are impervious to further attack.  There is nothing more that the Adversary can do to them.

Those who share the identity of Christ in Baptism have been baptized into the death of Christ.  St. Paul tells us explicitly that the Law has no jurisdiction over those who are dead.

The Lord not only mitigates and limits the strength of the blows of the Enemy against His Chosen Ones, He also offers them ultimate safety and protection through the death of His Christ.  We only have to claim that inheritance that is freely offered to us by conforming ourselves to Him, Who was crucified for our sake.

Psalm 3-- A Meditation on the Moral Meaning of Verses 1-2

The moral meaning of Psalm 3 is complementary to what has been shown in Psalm 2.  In Psalm 2, the "kings of the earth" and the "rulers, who take counsel together," were introduced.
     Both the powers of the soul and the passions are inimical to our salvation on account of our fallen nature.  We experience our foes as a multitude, on account of the great number of the passions, along with the weakness and complicity of our own intellects and wills in the passions' designs.
     This multitude is not made up of the kind of enemies, who are content to stand at a distance.  No, these enemies continually "rise up" against the higher mind (nous) in a ceaseless battle for control over the soul's determination.  The passions, of course, are demon-controlled, so the "many" who rise up against the higher mind can also be understood as the demons themselves.
     They hurl thoughts (logismoi) as missiles against the soul.  One of their primary weapons is doubt, as they seek to destroy confidence in God.  "How many are saying about me: There is no help for him in God," is a summation of the thoughts by which the demons seek to break down the soul's defenses through despair.

The Intercession of the Mother of God is Key to Our Salvation--The Feast of the Deposition of the Most Holy Mother of God

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

Today we celebrate the feast of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Mother of God in Vlachernae.  Vlachernae is the name of the palace in Constantinople, in which there was a famous church dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God.  During the period of the Later Roman Empire, the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Vlachernae had a very extensive treasury of holy relics and precious items from the history of Christianity.  There, for example, was kept the Holy Shroud of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and also the Lord’s crown of thorns, which the Lord Jesus wore during His sufferings.

     When the relics of the Robe and the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God first came to the Imperial capital in the seventh century, the people of the city honoured them in the church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Chalcoprateia, the Bronzeworkers’ Quarter.  But later, for the safety of the relics, the Emperor transferred them to the Vlachernae Palace, together with the relics from the other churches of the city.  In the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Vlachernae, the relics of the Robe and the Belt of the Mother of God became very important symbols of her special protection of the city.  During many sieges, the people of the city bore the relics of the church’s treasury in procession, and it was during the siege of 806 that the Most Holy Mother of God appeared to the people most wondrously in the Church of the Vlachernae during the All-Night Vigil.  She was seen to stretch out her mantle over the city, as a symbol of her protection.

     Naturally, God is our protection, but the intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God is very important for our salvation.  When the Mother of God prays for us, we can have a special confidence in God, because we have his perfect disciple, whom He cannot refuse.  God is our strength and our refuge, but our key to His protection is her intercession.  Mystically, that intercession is called “robe,” “mantle” and “mercy.” Therefore, we pray “We flee to your patronage of Holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”

Psalm 2-- A Meditation on Verses 6 -9

I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you."

This word of the Lord is called a decree because it is absolutely and surely established by the command of His Will.  Each of us has been adopted in Christ to share the identity of Christ.  In a way that mirrors the eternal generation of the Son, we are newly begotten in each moment, so that our sad past of slavery to sin falls away.
     He then addresses each of us as His Christ: "Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and your authority to the ends of the earth."  We have the full authority of Christ to spread the compassionate love of the Father.  We keep in mind, however, that a reference to the nations and their rulers applies first and foremost to the interior life; namely, to the powers of the soul and the demon-controlled passions.  He goes on: "You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron, and shatter them as a potter's vessel." The powers of the soul, the intellect and the will, we will bring into subjection under the authority of Christ (our authority).  The demon-controlled passions we will shatter as a potter's vessel.

Psalm 2-- A Meditation on Verses 3-6

"He Who sits in Heaven laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then, He will speak to them in His anger, and He will terrify themin His fury, saying, "I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."

     The Lord is not laughing at us, or holding us in derision. He is mocking the "rulers who take counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ." He is deriding the power of the passions. For, although we experience them as a mighty force within us, their power is paltry, in fact, non-existent in the sight of His face. The passions say, "Let us break bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us." The bonds are the commandments of God, which the passions strive against.  The cords are the graces, which the Lord gives to us, to direct us like reins.  The passions desire to cast Divine Grace away.  The presence and action of the Holy Spirit directing the soul by grace is obnoxious to them, since the passions are demon-controlled. 
     Nevertheless, the Lord "speaks to them in His wrath, and terrifies them in His fury," that is, He makes His power known.  The wrath of God is God's action to right His Creation, when it has somehow gone astray. The passions and the passionate man experience this as an anger, but it is actually a mercy to His Creation (cf. St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on the Faith)
     In the same way that He created the whole universe with a Word, He rights His capsized Creation with a Word, "I have set up my king on Zion my holy hill." He restores the soul to faithfulness (for it is called Zion, the name of the faithful soul) and firmly reestablishes over her the authority of His Christ.

The Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (12 July)--The Most Important Thing: The Development of Our Interior Life

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

The Gospel reading today relates the story of the visit of the Lord Jesus to the district of Caesarea Philippi, where He asks His disciples two questions: “Whom do men say that I am?” and “Whom do you say that I am?” When addressing these questions to the disciples, He also asks us.  Each of us must come to our own personal conclusion, and each of us must arrive at a completely personal and individual love of the Saviour of our souls.

     The Holy Apostles did not come to faith in the Lord Jesus all at once.  No, they spent three years in the company of their Galilean rabbi.  It is true that they knew from the first that He was an extraordinary man.  Nevertheless, after three years in His company, they became convinced that He was the Messiah (the Anointed King of Israel promised in the Scriptures), and, after experiencing His Resurrection, they were convinced that He was God.  This was the spiritual path of the Apostles.  It is paradigmatic for all of us.  In Christianity there is no other spiritual path.  All of us must come to know the Lord Jesus personally and intimately (through Scripture, the Church and the Divine Mysteries).  This personal knowledge will grow into love through the spiritual practices of our interior life.

     The feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is a good opportunity for us to remember that the most important thing in our life in this world is the development of our interior life, the life of prayer and meditation on the life and mysteries of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.  This is a good opportunity to recommit to deepening that relationship with the Lord Jesus.  If we are serious about accomplishing this, there is no better way than spending at least thirty minutes a day in meditation. 

     The history of the church has given us innumerable methods of meditation, but the simplest is, perhaps, also the best.  We begin by reading the Scriptures (perhaps four verses).  Then we meditate on the meaning of the text, turning it over, again and again in our minds.  Then we pray, conversing familiarly to God concerning the insights we have learned.  Then, we sit silently in God’s presence, fixing our intention firmly upon Him.  Whenever we are distracted from our intention, we renew it, fixing it again upon the Lord.

A Meditation on Psalm 2:1-2

"Why do the nations conspire together, and the peoples plot in vain; the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel togehter against the Lord and against His Christ."

     The nations conspire together because of the inclination of human sin. The psalm refers to "nations" here, which makes us think of governments.  The inclination of worldly governments is contrary to the Will of God, friendship with God and peace with the Church.  The psalm then speaks of "peoples"; This makes us think of ethnic groups and other human associations, which always strive to exalt their ideologies and agendas over the Gospel.
     The psalm turns to describe the same conflict internally.  The powers of the soul are described as "kings of the earth," because they rule the soul and are yet bound by the earthly things that claim their attention and affection.  It is characteristic of the human soul that these "kings" (its higher powers) are not its "rulers." Thus, the psalm adds, "the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ." The rulers are the passions, which, in fallen human nature, override the soul's higher powers.  This is what St. Paul is describing, when he states: "For I delight in the Law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive in the law of sin which dwells in my members."(Romans 7:22-3) Our mission is to destroy the passions through our union with Christ.