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.

5th Sunday After Pentecost-- The Spiritual Adultery, which is Idolatry

The power of God inspires awe

     The story of the Gadarene demoniacs is concerned with the Lord’s journey across the sea to the Gentile district of Decapolis.  There, He encounters two infamous demoniacs, and cures them.  The demons, which are cast out from the demoniacs, enter, with the Lord’s permission, the nearby herd of swine, which rushes down the bluff and is drowned in the water of the sea.  The townspeople come out from the town in response to all the commotion and they beg the Lord Jesus to leave their district and go home to Jewish Galilee. 

     The story ends with the townspeople so overcome with dread on account of the cure of the demoniac that they beg the Lord to leave.  In an instant, they had forgotten the fear and dread, which they had for the two men, who lived in the wilderness, never wore clothes, could not be restrained even by chains, and would accost and molest anyone who was travelling on that particular road.  Suddenly, all the fear that they feel is directed towards the man who has, inexplicably, cured and tamed these monsters.

The greatest trial is the greatest blessing

     The power of God is an awesome and fearsome thing, and, although the Lord always employs His power for our good, often we are caught unawares by it, we become afraid of His actions in our lives, and we may even pray that the effects of the Lord’s work in us be mitigated or disappear.  Very often, truly holy people have learned from experience that the most frightening of their trials and tribulations were, in fact, the greatest of God’s blessings, which contributing immeasurably more than anything else to their growth in holiness and to their journey along the way of salvation.  “The greatest trial is the greatest blessing” is an insight that cannot be learned by any other means than by experience.  It can be repeated a thousand times in sermons and conferences and spiritual books, but it will always ring hollow and platitudinous if it is not known by experience. 

     Paradoxically, “the greatest trial is the greatest blessing” becomes true to the greatest possible degree when that trial ceases to be perceived as a trial.  For example, there are numerous examples of the saints being transfigured into the likeness of Christ through the suffering of crippling disease. The more the disease destroys their physical nature, the more their spiritual nature grows, strengthens and thrives.  The more their personal suffering increases, the greater their compassion for others increases. 

We are not our thoughts

     We tend to identify ourselves with our thoughts.  This perhaps is the cultural influence of the 17^th century French philosopher Rene Descartes, who famously postulated, “I think, therefore I am.” But to identify ourselves with our thoughts is like identifying the sky with the clouds.  The clouds are in the sky. The clouds float across the sky.  But the clouds are not the sky.  We sometimes think that we can know ourselves by observing our thoughts, but, in reality, by that method we would learn much more about someone else other than ourselves—we would learn about the Evil One.  In our tradition, thought plays a very important role.  Thought is the primary means of temptation.  According to the Fathers of the Church, especially St. Mark the Ascetic, thoughts are like guided missiles, which are sent by the Enemy.  They carry an explosive payload—a passion, which is calculated to harm the soul in a specific way.   Under the constant barrage of these missiles, any tribulation, any situation, can appear to be very, very bleak.  It would be interesting to know for certain how much of the societal problem with clinical depression is caused by cultural thought obsession. 

     It is feature of every spiritual tradition, including our own, that in order to truly know ourselves, and to know our God as well, thought has to be immobilized. This is not to suggest that we should no longer have thoughts.  Such a thing would be impossible, but we should allow our thoughts to drift by like the clouds in the sky without attaching to them.  Forming attachments to thoughts is, according to the Fathers, the spiritual adultery, which also goes by the name “idolatry.”  On the contrary, through concentration in prayer the mind is freed from the limitations imposed upon it by our lower natures, and is free to ascend toward God, without thought, moving towards that which transcends thought.  As long as we remain mired in our thoughts, the Lord’s actions in our lives are going to appear frightening, depressing, even confusing, but if we put away thought through an effort to live in simple awareness perfected in prayer, then we will know and recognize the deeds of God by means of simple intuition.  We will become acquainted with our deepest selves, our spirits, which do not have thoughts or feelings, but simply know and love without conceptual mediation. 

    Living in simple awareness means “doing what we are doing,” with complete concentration on the task (whatever it may be). This is perfected by prayer, through offering each and everything to God by conscious determination. 

    

4th Sunday After Pentecost-- St. Paul's Reflections on Servitude to God

Slaves of righteousness

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

Today, in the Epistle reading, the Holy Apostle Paul uses the terms “slaves of righteousness” and “slaves of impurity and sin.” These terms, for Paul, refer to the state of those to whom he is speaking after they came to Christ, and before they came to Christ.  According to Paul, acceptance of Christ has converted “slaves of impurity and sin” into “slaves of righteousness.”

Slaves and slavery vs. the ideal of freedom

     The words “slave” and “slavery” are difficult words for us, who believe that we live as free men.  In Western culture, the ideal of freedom has always been exalted from time immemorial.  The Greeks and Romans considered themselves to be “free men” in contrast to the barbarian peoples, who lived all around them, who were ruled by tyrants, without the benefit of the protection of written law that was applied to all equally.  The Greeks, specifically the Athenians, invented the concept of dimokratía (democracy—the system in which the people [dimos]  rule themselves), and the Romans invented the similar, but less cumbersome idea of the res publica (the Republic—the people’s common concern or endeavour—in which the elected magistrates ruled in the people’s name and by their authority).  On account of their possession of these concepts, the Greeks and Romans felt that even the lowest of citizens outranked the tyrant-kings, who ruled the barbarian lands, because every citizen had the benefit of the rights guaranteed to him by law, whereas the barbarians were ruled by the whims of their tyrants.  This contrast has been shown very dramatically many, many times in the history of the West. For example, in 138 B.C., the simple citizen Lucius Cornelius Sulla was sent by the Republic to negotiate the peace treaty between King Mithridates of Pontus and King Tiridates of Armenia.  During the negotiations, the kings were bejeweled in costly gold crowns and robes.  They carried and scepters and sat on expensive cushions.  But the Roman citizen, wearing only the plain, white tunic, overlaid with the white toga (the symbol of his citizenship) was seated on a dais above the kings, presiding over them with authority. In a similar way, we also have the account of the Roman commanders in Gaul, under Julius Caesar, Sabinus and Cotta, who refused to negotiate peace with an armed enemy.  The enemy had to lay down their arms, first; then terms of peace could be discussed, but to negotiate peace before the enemy laid down their arms was beneath the dignity of free people. 

     Among the barbarians, even the tyrants lived in fear of their lives, fearing even the members of their own families, because, finally and ultimately, they had no more rights or protections than their people had, but only a strength that gave them temporary power, which eventually waned.  All of this fear was the result of the fact that the barbarian societies were without the benefit of law, and their inhabitants suffered without the protections it afforded. 

What is essential to freedom? Choice—freedom to make choices

      The point of all of this is that freedom is very important for us in Western culture, a freedom that is based in law applied equally to all the members of society.  Thus, we believe that as free people we are entitled to make our own choices and determinations regarding the direction and conduct of our life.  What is essential to freedom is choice, and the degree of freedom is measured by the extent to which this essential element is exercised.    

A different kind of freedom: Freedom from choice—the ability to live according to our Original Nature

     At the same time, however, we are also aware that as religious people we mean something quite different when we say “freedom.”  Consequently, we also mean something different when we say “slavery.”  The goal of our political, social and even economic life is to maximize our freedom by exerting our right to choose this over that.  The emphasis is constantly on “freedom of choice,” because making a choice is the essence of self-determination. Yet, in our Christian life, freedom of choice is not our aim at all.  What we seek as the foremost good is “freedom from choice.” After all, we believe that God is the fullness of Good.  Once we possess Him in Heaven, there will be no choices.  How could it make sense to choose one good over another when we are in possession of the Ultimate Good? Of course, it makes no sense at all.  In Heaven, we will love God voluntarily (that is, with our wills), but not freely.  If God were to reveal Himself to us openly and clearly (simply appear in the sky, perhaps), we would have no choice but to love Him.  No, God has to conceal Himself from us in order to preserve our freedom.  We have to know Him by faith first, so that we can choose to freely love Him, before we know Him by experience. 

     It is the greatest theologian of our Church, St. Maximus the Confessor, who gives us the insight that our continued need to make choices is evidence of our imperfection, for the greater the perfection of a person, the more he or she acts naturally according to the Will of God.  Only the imperfect are subject to deliberation (should I choose this or that?).  Thus, in a religious sense, slavery to impurity and sin is slavery to deliberation.  Slavery to righteousness is the extinction of deliberation.  It is the state in which we naturally and lovingly act according to the Will of God. 

     How do we get from here to there? How do we move from slavery to deliberation to the freedom of constantly and infallibly following the Will of God?  By following Christ.  We will make this transition naturally if we conduct ourselves after the manner that He lived. The first step to following Christ is to voluntarily limit our choices by means of self-denial.  This is what Christ refers to, when He says: “Come follow me, all you who are heavy-laden and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” The “rest” which he refers to is not from self-indulgence, but self-denial.  In this, the Lord is building on human nature, as He always does.  He never contradicts the nature that He Himself created.  Simply from a natural point of view, we know that satiety makes us nasty, proud, and self-righteous.  Want, which is freely embraced, makes us generous, loving and compassionate. 

    In Paul’s terms, a “slave of righteousness” is one who is truly free, but not free to choose.  No, such a person is free from choice, so that he or she acts naturally according to his or her God-given nature.  Freedom from choice is built in us through our determination to follow Christ, to act as He did, and freely limit our choices in self-denial. “He Who would follow me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow in My footsteps.”

A Meditation on Psalm 1

"Blessed is the man, who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked... He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."

The man, who makes the commitment to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, is sustained by streams of life and grace that flow from the Holy Spirit.  This life-giving grace endues him and makes him grow, aspiring towards virtue and communion, like the spreading branches of a tree, with its leaves reaching towards the light.
     Such a man yields his fruit in his proper season, the season ordained by God. We should not grow discouraged and disspirited because we do not see growth in ourselves, or the fruit of our efforts, because God alone knows the proper fruit for his tree and the proper season for that fruit.
     After all, it is not that the follower of Christ merely grows nearby springs or streams of water. No, he is PLANTED by the streams of the Spirit of God, and draws his whole life from the friendship of God.
     Lastly, because of the life his receives, "his leaf does not wither." His aspirations to greater and greater growth in virtue and communion are not frustrated, but the Lord carries him by ever-increasing degrees.

From glory to glory we advance, praising the Salvation of our souls: Father, Son and Spirit, now and evermore. Unto ages that never end, we praise the Salvation of our souls. --the Divine Liturgy of St. James of Jerusalem.