Homily on the 19th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Corinthians 11: 31-12:9; Luke 6: 31-36
We are currently living times which are difficult. The price of everything has gone up and it may seem that the political class do not care about the needs of the people they were elected to serve. Whilst this may seem to paint a bleak picture for us in the end, we have a God who loves us and who will help us if we trust him.
It can be one of the hardest things to do, to let go, and trust our Lord and Saviour but that is what we are called to do. We are called as Christians to not worry about where things will come from because we are infinitely more valuable to our God than even the birds of the air (Luke 12:24). This is so, because we are made in His image and likeness given the gift of free will. This is why every human life is sacred and should be respected.
Many times, in my life I have faced challenging situations, but one thing has been constant the love and help of God. Whilst it can be difficult to trust especially when one is worried and the sky seems like it is going to collapse - but, just like out of the Crucifixion came victory, so too will we Christians succeed if we trust in Him who rose from the dead!
The first Christians lived through a reality which was far more dangerous than most of us have experienced. For them, to be recognised as a Christian was to forfeit their rights – even their lives. This is the same position in which many Christians find themselves in around the world today whether they be Orthodox Christians or not.
Sadly, no one seems to care or to want to help them. When was the last time you heard a politician bring up the plight of Christians in the Middle East or Africa? They seem to only care about their particular talking points in the hope of being re-elected.
How do we help them then? Well, the first thing we can do is always to pray for their safety and protection and if moved to, to write to our local member. Further to this, we can make sure that we do not shy of mentioning their plight to others so that they might be made aware of the plight of these poor souls.
Moreover, it is vital that we pray to the first Martyrs that they may pray to the All-Holy Trinity to help these poor people who are being persecuted in many countries by others who seek to impose their beliefs and practices on them. Also, it is vital, that we live out the words of today’s Gospel and show love to those who hate Christ and pray for them – this is what Christ commands us to do.
We must not treat those people in a harsh manner but show them the love of Christ. We as Christ’s Orthodox Church, are called to be icons of Christ in the world – his hands and feet. Has hate, fear, or oppression ever brought about a true conversion?
Look at the many Christians who were converted in the New World, often by force, did they ever truly convert to Christianity? Using Mexico as an example, many of the native population became Christians on paper whilst practicing their old pagan religions away from the eyes of the Catholic Clergy to the point that today, many of these beliefs are resurfacing.
Therefore, we must seek to show others the love of Christ for as the Psalm goes, ‘oh taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man who trusts in Him (Psalm 34:8).’ We are called to be cheerful and loving people who seek to show Christ to others. Others are free to accept Christ or reject him, that is the grace of free will that they have been given and we are to respect this.
If they reject Him, all we can do is to accept their choice and keep on showing them love and above all, keep praying to the Saints that they might open their hearts to God.
Saint John of Kronstandt puts it this way in his famous book on the life of Christ:
"Every person that does any evil, that gratifies any passion, is sufficiently punished by the evil he has committed, by the passions he serves, but chiefly by the fact that he withdraws himself from God, and God withdraws Himself from him: it would therefore be insane and most inhuman to nourish anger against such a man; it would be the same as to drown a sinking man, or push into the fire a person who is already being devoured by the flame. To such a man, as to one in danger of perishing, we must show double love, and pray fervently to God for him; not judging him, not rejoicing at his misfortune.”
Also, it is important to note that the evil one wants us to burn with hatred for others who we perceive as threats, or we deeply disagree with. This can be observed in how polarized we have become as a society – each group doing their utmost to insult and demonize those with whom they disagree. This is what the evil one wants - a house that is divided can be easily toppled (Matthew 12: 25).
This does not mean that we have to agree with everything another person says or believes. Rather, we must show them the decency of hearing them out and then respectfully responding to them why we disagree with their position.
All too often, people despair that this or that is happening in the Church or, that this or that Bishop said this or that. This attitude does not come from a deep faith in our Lord and Saviour - He promised that the Church, which is built on Him the foundation, and the faith of the Apostle’s and their successors the Bishops, cannot be toppled (Matthew 16: 18).
The size of the Church does not matter for wherever there are validly ordained Bishops, Priests and Deacons the Church is for through the Holy Mysteries dispensed by the ministers of the Church, all are united to Christ’s Body the Church – no matter where they are or how big their local Church is.
We are to trust that this is the case and get on with our mission to evangelize the world so that those who thirst for the truth of the Gospel may be sustained with the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) of He who is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6).
Many have left any form of Christianity, and many will follow them. Unfortunately, people have let the actions of a few rotten apples in the Church lead them to doubt their faith. Yet, we must be clear the Church is made up of sinful humans who are weak and will sometimes do the wrong thing whether intentionally or unintentionally. When they do, then we as the Church are to do our utmost to heal the damage caused by these people and help any people who they may have harmed.
One thing for sure, is that we are to not judge the value of the Church by the missteps of some of its clergy and laity. Rather, we are to judge Her as good for through the Holy Mysteries of Christ She offers to sinful mankind a way back into communion with the All-Holy Trinity – the source of our life and hope.
It is not enough to say, ‘I believe in God, but I don’t believe in organised religion’ – for without the Holy Mysteries of the Church it is so much harder to come into communion with the Holy one.
Taking on this attitude one opens oneself to the attacks of the evil one and all of his minions because one has taken off one’s spiritual armour – how many people like this end up being the victims of diabolical cults who seek to feed on their weakness and brokenness to feed the growing narcissism of the cult leader?
Therefore, it is vital that people have access to the Holy Mysteries of Christ’s Church.
Saint John of Damascus talks about the importance of Holy Baptism in this way in his book The Exposition of the Christian Faith:
“For Christ is the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16), whom the Father anointed with the All-Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38): in the words of Saint David, Therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellow men. Saint Isaiah also speaking in the person of the Lord says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me (Isaiah 61:1). However, Christ, taught His own Disciples the invocation used in Baptism saying that we are to baptise converts in the name of the Father, the Son and the All-Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Since Christ made us for incorruption (the opposite of evil), when we transgressed His saving command, He condemned us to the corruption of death in order that that which is evil and diabolical should not be immortal, and when in His compassion, He stopped down to His servants, through His most glorious incarnation, becoming like us He redeemed us through His death on the wood of the Cross.
At the Holy Cross he caused the fountain of remission to well forth for us out of His holy and immaculate side (John 19:34). The water for our regeneration, and the washing away of ancestral sin and corruption in the Holy Mystery of Baptism, and His most precious blood to be received in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist as the means of reunion and communion so that we may inherit eternal life as it was before the fall.
He made it clear that we are to be born again of water in Baptism once received and of the All-Holy Spirit through the (Holy Mystery of Chrismation) through the invocation of the All-Holy Spirit drawing near the water and the Holy oil. For since man’s nature is twofold consisting of body and spirit: The Holy Spirit in renewing that part which is His image in us which is fashioned after His image and likeness. The water by the grace bestowed on it by the All-Holy Spirit cleansing the body from ancestral sin and delivering it from corruption so that we after receiving these two great Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation are born again to eternal life and the possibility of communion with the All-Holy Trinity.”
This clearly shows that there can be no such thing as rebaptism for if one is baptised validly then one has already received this Holy Mystery. Therefore, there can be no rebaptism as commonly practiced by some sects of Western Protestantism.
Moreover, it is vital that you receive the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist as often as is possible. Saint John of Damascus puts it in this way in his great treatise The Exposition of the Christian Faith:
“The Body and Blood of Christ received in the Holy Eucharist are the support of our soul and body… being a preservation and protection from all sorts of injury, a purging form all uncleanness: gold is purified by the fire so too are we purified by the fire of the All-Holy Spirit in this great Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. These divine gifts purify us from all sorts of diseases and calamities: according to the holy Apostle in 1 Corinthians 11: 31-32, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world…
Through worthily receiving the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist we partake of the divinity of Jesus through being gifted the gift of life for Christ says in Saint John that we must partake of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist to have eternal life within us (John 6:53-54). Holy Communion is an actual communion with Christ and His Body the Church for through this great Mystery we are mystically united to one another. For since we partake of one bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood, being one Christian family, being one Body of Christ.”
Thus, those who say that the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist is just a symbol are wrong for Christ is truly present after the Epiclesis (the calling down of the All-Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour).
Furthermore, how can one be a Fundamentalist and say that all the words of the Holy Scriptures are meant to be read as they read and then ignore the passages dealing with the reality of the Holy Eucharist?
This seems to be a nonsensical position to take and refutes itself by its very nature. How can the words be considered to be believed as they read (taken at their face value) and yet certain passages concerning the Holy Eucharist be considered symbolic – which position is correct? Who decides? Does Holy Scripture say that the Eucharist is simply symbolic?
None of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church have considered the Holy Mysteries offered to be simply bread and wine standing in place symbolically for the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour. They have always professed to His very real presence in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist – to them the bread and wine actually become His very Body and Blood, His real presence.
Further to this, the belief in the symbolic nature of the Holy Eucharist is a heresy which dates back to the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and as such does not represent the view which the Church has always held about the nature of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist.
Also, if we are spiritually renewed through this great Mystery then how can we truly fulfill our mission to be icons of Christ in the world if we do not receive this Holy Mystery as often as we have the chance. Flat batteries cannot power a light just as spiritually empty people cannot shine the light of Christ for all to see.
One of the most common things people have noticed about many of the Holy Saints of the Church is that they seemed to exude a supernatural light. This light is the light of Christ shining, forth so that all those who encountered these great Saints could not help but know that these holy men and women belong to Christ in life and in Heaven. This light came from the frequent reception of the Holy Mysteries of the Church and the life and communion with Christ that this brought.
This week focus on asking our Lord and Saviour how you can better show His love to others sowing in them the seed of curiosity so that they might want to know more about their Lord and Saviour and His Holy Church. For all are called and invited to the Heavenly Banquet should they choose to accept the invitation and take their seat.
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