Saturday, August 27, 2011

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost



In today’s Gospel Christ tells us about a man who owed a vast sum of money to his overlord but had no means of repaying and his lord forgave him all because he had pity on him. After leaving his overlord’s presence this man met another who owed him a small amount, and began demanding payment without mercy. Hearing this the overlord said: I forgave you your enormous debt, so how could you not forgive your debtor his small indebtedness? In the same way we expect that through one word of God’s mercy, the gates of eternal life will be opened for us, yet we close these very doors - no, the small doors of this temporal life in the face of another person. What can we hope for?

The Gospel says in another place: with what measure you measure it shall be measured unto you. In the Beatitudes it says: blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, and in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us as we forgive. How simple it all seems, and yet how difficult we find it. It would be simple if our hearts responded to sorrow, to need; it is difficult because our hearts are silent. But why is this so? May it not be because when someone behaves badly we always think he must be a bad man, without realizing that often the man so much wants to be good, so much wants every word of his to be pure, his thoughts and his heart pure, his actions worthy ones, but he simply has not the strength, he is enmeshed by old habits, by the pressures of his environment, by false shame and so many other things. And he continues to act wrongly; but we could disentangle him. We could look at him as God looks at him, with pity, as one might look at a sick man dying of a disease that could be cured if only he were given the right treatment.

And each one of us could do what is necessary for someone. Look at a man and pity him for being wicked, angry, vengeful, and bad in one way or another. Have pity on him and turn the bright side of your soul towards him, tell him that his actions and his words will not deceive you, however wicked they may be, because you know that he is an image, an icon of God, besmirched and disfigured, and yet in him you bow down to God, and love him as a brother. To do this may cost you a great deal, but if you can do it once or twice and see how a person changes because you have faith in him, because you have rested God’s hope on him, what a world we should live in - a world of mutual trust.

- Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost



And they cried out for fear. But immediately He spoke to them, saying “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”

The Sea of Galilee is actually a rather small lake (only thirteen by eight miles) which is almost completely surrounded by mountains. When the northern winds are funneled through the mountain peaks, they sweep violently across the lake, causing fierce waves. It was in the midst of such a violent storm that Christ Our Savior manifested His power to the disciples by walking on the water.

Just prior to this event, Jesus had performed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. One would think that the disciples, having just seen this demonstration of Jesus’ power, would have been confident that Jesus surely could save them from the fury of the storm. Like them, we too tend to forget or misunderstand the significance of Jesus’ work in our lives.

In this incident, Peter’s faith was both tested and strengthened; he experienced the trials and growth of a true disciple of Christ. Having seen the power of Our Lord’s words and actions, Peter put his faith in him and began to walk across the waves toward Jesus (Matthew 14:29).

By stepping out of the boat at the Lord’s invitation, Peter demonstrated at least some degree of realization that Jesus was the Messiah. Even when his faith faltered and he began to sink, it was still to Jesus that he cried out: “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30). After the Lord had returned Peter to the safety of the boat, all the disciples worshipped Jesus in awe saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33).

Day after day, we are confronted with situations which put our faith in the Son of God to the test. Perhaps there has been a sudden death in the family, an unexpected financial burden, or some other crisis in the family that seems too hard to bear. At times like these, our faith may falter; we can doubt that God cares for us or even that he exists. Yet it is in these very situations that our faith can be strengthened by calling out to Christ Our Savior.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

We constantly read about Christ’s miracles in the Holy Gospels, and we ask ourselves, “why is it that such things were possible in those days, and yet we see so few miracles in our own day?”

The first is that we do not see the miracles that surround us; we take everything for granted, as completely natural. We receive all the good things from the hand of God as though they were normal, and we no longer see that life is a wonderful, joyful miracle, that God wanted to create us, that He called us from non-being into being, laid open before us the whole miracle of existence. And what about those miracles that are even less obvious to us, like health, like peace, like friendship, like love? They are all pure miracles - you cannot buy them, you cannot force anyone to give you his heart; and yet all around us there are so many hearts open to each other, so much friendship, so much love. And our physical existence which we consider so natural - is not that a miracle?

Today we read that the people were in need, that the apostles noticed this need and spoke to the Lord about it. And the Lord said: “It is up to you to relieve this need, to feed these hungry people”. “How?” they said, “we have only two fishes and five loaves; can that possibly be enough for such a crowd?” And Christ blessed those fish and those loaves and it was enough for the crowd.

The Lord urges upon His disciples is, “give everything that you have, and we shall be able to feed them all.” The disciples did not leave aside some fish and some bread for themselves; they gave it all to the Lord. And because they gave everything, the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of love, the kingdom where God can act freely and unrestrained, was established and all were satisfied. This call is addressed to us also: when we see want, let us give all, and all will be well.

On this Sunday let us consider this, for every one of God’s miracles was introduced, and so to speak conditioned, by the participation of all. It depends on us that the Kingdom which we pray and long for should be established on earth, that Kingdom which we are called on to build together with God and in His name. Amen.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

ON DRAWING CLOSER TO GOD



Many hundreds of years ago a very holy old man lived in a desert. One day people came to him and said, “Father, teach us, how can we come closer to God while we live in the world?” The old man drew a circle in the sand at his feet. “This circle is the world,” he said “and here in the center of it is God. Each one of us lives in the world,” and he made dots around the edge of the circle. “As we try to come closer to God, we draw closer to each other and this is the only way in which we can come closer to God. Remember it.”

- The Teaching of St. Dorotheos of Gaza