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.