The graces of true vocation

The words of today’s Gospel emphasize the theme of vocation.  Vocation is an essential element of the Christian life, and each Christian person has a special vocation, which God gives to him for his salvation and the salvation of the whole world.  An example of vocation, which the Gospel gives to us, is the vocation of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and James and John.  The Lord Jesus Christ says to them: “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Being a fisher of men means to value the salvation of souls before all other things, and to work for this goal with great zeal and devotion.  The fisherman knows that his life depends on the life of the fish.  The fisher of men knows that his everlasting salvation depends on the preaching of the Gospel, which the fisherman is called to preach.

                This story is similar to several stories that come to us from the Old Testament, which demonstrate for us the true meaning of vocation.  First of all, there is the vocation of the Patriarch Abraham.  God called Abraham to leave his land, his family and people, and to go to the land, which God would show him.  By means of this vocation, we know that true vocation has to separate us from our dependence on worldly things.  In true vocation, we choose God, and therefore we abandon all other things.

                Similar to this is the vocation of the Prophet Moses.  The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a fiery burning bush.  The Lord told him to return to Egypt and to lead the people of Israel to deliverance and freedom.  When he doubted his ability to fulfill this task, God promised to help him with divine grace.  When God calls us to work for the salvation of souls, He also promises to help us.  We labour with the power of God.

                The vocation of the Prophet Eliseus is also an important example for us.  The First Book of Kings says to us: “Elias left that place and found Eliseus, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve teams of oxen; he himself was following the twelfth team.  Elias came up beside him and covered him with his cloak.  Eliseus, leaving the team of oxen, ran after Elias and said: “Allow me to kiss my father and mother, then I will come and follow you.” Elias replied to him: Go, turn back, what have I done to you? Eliseus left him, took the team of oxen and butchered it, and building a fire, he cooked the oxen and distributed the food to the people, so that they could eat.  Then, he rose up to follow Elias and serve him.” This shows us another aspect of true vocation.  When God calls us, we must give everything that we have.  The vocation from the Lord requires total commitment.

                Each of us has a special vocation.  Let us pray that He will give to us all these signs of true vocation; that he will separate us from dependence on worldly things; that he will help us with His power; that He will give us the grace for perfect sacrifice.  Let us pray to God that He will give us the spirit of sacrifice, for the salvation of souls is highest priority. 

                This spirit of sacrifice was the constant attribute of St. John the Baptist, whose nativity we celebrate today.  From the time that he was an infant, he was an example of the ascetic life.  The New Testament tells us about his customs of fasting and poor clothing, as well as his life in the desert.  Saint John chose to follow the Lord God, and therefore he abandoned all other things.  In a similar way, we need to choose to follow the Lord, and thus to abandon care concerning all other things. 

The disciple will inherit a hundredfold-- and persecution besides

Today, Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us about the wonderful destiny, which He has prepared for all, who love Him and follow Him according to the commandments.  That which He promises us is the Kingdom of God, which He describes here as: “You that would follow me: when the new world is inaugurated, when the Son of Man sits on His throne of glory, you will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone, who has left home, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or land for my name’s sake, will receive a hundred times more, and, as their inheritance, everlasting life.” The Gospel of St. Luke is clearer, for that Gospel says: “There is no one, who has left home or wife, brothers or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God, who will not receive much more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.” Saint Luke speaks here about the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven already in this world, for our inheritance begins already in this world.  In the mysteries of Christ, we share in the Life of God, and we already begin to become God by grace.  In the Most Holy Eucharist, for example, we receive the true essence of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.  Through this personal experience with the Risen Christ, we begin to rise from the consequences of death, just as the Gospel of St. Matthew says to us: “The Lord spoke to them another parable: “the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and kneaded into three measures of flour, until the whole mass begins to rise.” When the mysteries of Christ are kneaded into us, we begin to rise to our resurrection and union with God.

                In the Gospel of Saint Mark, we see another valuable idea, since we should note the important difference between this Gospel and the other two versions.  This Gospel says: “there is no one, who has left his home or brothers, or sisters, or mother or father, or children, or land, for my sake and the Gospel’s, who will not receive a hundredfold now, in this time, and persecution besides… and in the age to come, eternal life.” Here Saint Mark emphasizes the fact of our journey in this world.  Truly, through the mysteries of Christ, we already live in the Kingdom of God, but we still live in this world as well.  We must transform this world, little by little, into the Kingdom of Heaven through prayer and good works, by the grace of God.  If we decide to live that life, which tries to transform the world, then we will receive persecution, because the world will try to destroy us.  For us, this doesn’t matter.  When the world tries to destroy us, then we remember that we live in the Kingdom, since this world is not able to harm us, just as the Lord says to us in the Gospel of St. John: “In the world you will have tribulation.  Be of good cheer! I have overcome the world.”

                Our challenge is to live more and more in the Kingdom, instead of in this world.  In order to do this, we must consecrate the present moment through prayer and sacrifice in the name of the Lord.  We return to this theme over and over again, because this is the essence of the Christian life—the imitation of Christ according to our circumstances.  We have no obligation to consecrate and sanctify any other life or any other moment than this life and this moment.  Why do we continue to do evil things, which have no place in the Kingdom of God? Why are we not steadfast against the evils of the world? We must reject the evil agenda of this society, since this society and this state, seeking to control every aspect of the life of its citizens, continuously commits evil and calls it good.  There can be no compromise with tyrants, who desire to coerce and force people to act against their consciences.  We need to recognize that we have a share in the Kingdom of God, but this share comes together with persecution.  If we reject persecution, then we also reject the Kingdom. “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge before my Heavenly Father.  Whoever denies me before men, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

The Life-Giving River of Prayer and Sacrifice

Today, Pentecost Sunday, in the Gospel, we heard that the Lord called out in a loud voice: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, will have rivers of living water flow from within him.” This passage is always a conundrum for readers of Holy Scripture, because the Lord Jesus seems to cite a specific passage, but this passage cannot be found anywhere in the whole Bible.  No, instead of citing a specific passage, He interprets a passage according to the custom of the rabbis.  Here, the Lord interprets the forty-seventh chapter of the Book of the Holy Prophet Ezekiel—a fascinating story about a vision of the prophet, in which the prophet sees a river that flows from the façade of the Lord’s Temple.  This river grew greater and greater, and fruit-bearing trees grew up along its banks.  In the end, the river flowed into the Dead Sea, and the sea became fresh.  In the Gospel of St. John, the Lord Jesus says again and again that His body is the True Temple of the Lord, which the Jews would destroy, but that He would raise again on the third day.  From the body of the Lord, a life-giving river will flow, which will give salvation and everlasting life to all, who believe in Him.  St. John says about the death of the Lord: “one of the soldiers pierced His side, and immediately there flowed out blood and water.  He who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.  He knows that he speaks the truth, so that you might believe.” This “river,” which flowed from the side of the Saviour is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which creates the mysteries of Christ, and engenders life-giving power in them.  For example, when the Lord, the Holy Spirit descends on the bread and wine during the Divine Liturgy, they become the body and blood of our Lord.

                What the Lord says to us in today’s Gospel is wonderful above all wonders, since we are not surprised when we see that the Body of Christ is a fountain of grace for all people through the life-giving river flowing from His side, but we are amazed concerning the revelation of our own very great dignity.  Here the Lord says that the same river, which flows from His side to engender the Holy Mysteries, will flow within us.  In other words, He is the Temple of the Lord, but in Him each of us becomes the Lord’s Temple, sanctified by the presence of the only God.  Just like Him, we become a fountain of grace for others.

                What sort of river is it that flows from us—the Lord’s Temple? What sort of river is it that gives life to the whole world? This is a river of that, which flows from a temple.  This is a river of prayer and sacrifice.  Prayer and sacrifice sanctify the world, because through them we take part in the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.  We are the true Temple of the Lord when, full of prayer and sacrifice, a river of grace flows from us do our parched environment.

                We offer to God all our prayers, joys and sufferings. This is our daily sacrifice, which is pleasing to God, just like the sacrifices offered in the Temple of the Lord under the Old Law and even the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.  Often during our normal day, we do not clearly discern our sufferings and joys, and thus we do not think to ourselves: “I should offer this to God the Father.” We should correct this problem by offering everything, each aspect of our experience.  In this way, we attain nearly continuous prayer, since we remain in conversation with Him during all of our tasks.  This method gives us greater concentration and attention to our goal and eternal destiny.  

God has promised us a universal and everlasting Kingdom

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

The subject of today’s Gospel reading is the high-priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In this prayer, the Lord Jesus proclaims that the Father gave to Him authority over all flesh.  Actually, the universal authority of the Messiah was foretold during the time of the prophets.  For example, King David proclaimed in the second psalm: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today, I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for an inheritance, and your authority to the ends of the earth.  You will shepherd them with an iron rod, and you will shatter them like a potter’s vessel.’” Here we have a description of the universal authority of the Son of God.  The Father gave authority to the Son even to destroy the whole of Creation, just as the psalm says, but the Son did not choose to destroy the Creation, but to save it and redeem it.  Therefore, the authority of the Son of God did not come about in order to herd and then shatter the peoples of the world, but, instead, this authority appeared in order to give enormous gifts to the human race.  The authority to destroy became the authority to give and to bless, since the Son of God gave up His claim to justice in order to show mercy to evildoers.  We should have a very great admiration and a great love for our God, because He willed to lay aside justice in order to act mercifully in our regard.  Instead of the authority to destroy, the Lord Jesus uses His authority to give us everlasting life.  It is just as we said all during the paschal season: “He has given us life everlasting.  We bow down to His holy Resurrection on the third day.” We should decide to become like Him in our generosity—to be merciful to one another, using our authority to give life and joy.

                The Lord Jesus also spoke concerning a task, which the Father sent Him to accomplish.  “But I glorified You on earth, accomplishing the task, which You had given Me to accomplish.” What was this task? The Lord Jesus accomplished many works during the period of His earthly life.  But here the Lord spoke concerning the redemption of mankind, the inauguration of the Kingdom of God and the gift of everlasting life.  In other words, the Lord Jesus received authority from the Father to accomplish a task, and He accomplished it.  Naturally, He has plenipotentiary authority, since He is God the Creator and the Almighty, but He speaks concerning a specific authority to fulfill a specific task.  This is the authority of a servant, not the authority of God.  He gave up His royal authority in order to receive the authority of a servant and agent.  Here we have a special motive for gratitude, since our Almighty God came among us in order to serve the Father and us.  According to His example, we ought to look upon all our tasks (even the most mundane) as very important things.  After all, God has sent us in order to accomplish them.  Our salvation depends upon us doing them well.

                The Lord continues His prayer, so that He can speak about glory. He says, “Now glorify Me, Father, in Yourself, with the glory I had in You before the world began.” What sort of glory is it, for which he asks? Of course, it is a share in the only true glory—the Life of God.  But, He already shares in this glory, since He is God—One of the Holy Trinity.  But, He asks for this glory for the sake of human nature, so that in Him human nature might be deified and receive everlasting life.  Our hearts ought to be full of gratitude and love for God, because our God Jesus Christ asks the Father for our sake, so that we can receive as an inheritance the greatest benefits and goods.  On account of God’s very great compassion for us, we should pray to the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ for others to receive God’s benefits and to be glorified through the Lord’s works in their lives.

                In Christ, we have authority to accomplish a task, which will lead us to glory—the salvation of our souls and the souls of others around us.  

Some reflections on the Gospel of the Man Born Blind

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

Today in the Gospel, we find the theme of spiritual blindness.  We know that often sight is a metaphor for knowledge, and blindness is a metaphor for ignorance.  Here the Son of God proclaims to the man born blind that He came from Heaven so that those who cannot see may see, and those who see may become blind.  This is the judgment of the Son of God on this world, and the sight of which He speaks, is knowledge of the True God, the Holy Trinity.  The blindness of which He speaks is not the blindness of the eyes, but the darkness of the will.  The Lord Jesus describes the condition of people, who freely choose not to see; people, who know the light, but choose to sit in the darkness of evil.  They deny the existence of sin, and yet they are continuously surrounded by the devastation due to sin.

     St. Paul explains in his epistle to the Romans that the Lord God gave us a Law, because he wished to reveal the disobedient spirit in the human race.  Before the Law, there was no sin, because it is impossible to transgress without the Law.  By the Law of Moses, the Lord God revealed His criterion of justice, and sin became clear.  Human beings, oppressed by the spirit of disobedience were not able to choose the good, but were slaves to evil.  Therefore, Our Lord Jesus Christ came from Heaven to show manifest perfect obedience to God’s criterion of justice.  After that, He gave us the only true medicine for sin: The New Law, and the New Justice, which we fulfill through faith.  In the letter to the Romans, St. Paul gives a summary of the thinking regarding the New Law, when he says: “Everything that is not of faith is sin.” By means of the New Law, we are able to fulfill God’s criterion of justice in Christ Jesus by doing three simple things.  First, we must ask for the mercy of God.  God’s mercy is available to us, but we must seek it and ask for it.  As the Lord says to us through His servant, the Holy Prophet Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while He may be found.  Call to Him while He is still near.”

     Second, we must be merciful, for the Lord warns us that we have to forgive the sins of others if we desire that our sins be forgiven, just as we pray in the Our Father: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We have to fill our lives with works of mercy, according to the example of God Himself, who is generous in His gifts and benefits to all people, even the wicked.

     Third, we have to completely trust God to fulfill His promises.  “Everything that is not of faith is sin,” means that our trust in God has to be simple and complete, according to the example of the Holy Apostle Paul, who wrote: “We know that all things work together unto good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” We need to trust that everything works together for our good.

     The New Law of Christ gives to us the ability to escape from the spiritual blindness, which hold us imprisoned in sin, but we must ask for the mercy of God, we must do merciful and loving things for others. Finally, we must completely trust God in all the circumstances of our life. If our goal is to fill our lives with works of mercy, and if we pray we trust, then we will see everlasting life in Christ’s Kingdom.