Homily on the forth Sunday after Pascha.
Wallowing in our own sorrows is the worst thing we as Christians can do; for we are essentially saying to God, whatever it is that has weighed us down is beyond Him. Can anyone of us say that to Him??
When we wallow in self pity, we are closing the spiritual doors of our hearts to God who wants nothing more but for us to be truly happy and to live in Him who is the source of all blessings!
The first time we took the training wheels of our bikes as young children; most of us had a few falls as we were still learning in how to balance ourselves.
Mum and dad where never too far away / watching that we didn’t hurt ourselves badly; they left us to figure it out for ourselves. However, if it was too much for us to do on our own, we would call on them and they would render assistance accordingly.
Hence, God as the loving Father Pantocrator is always with us; waiting for the moment we call out to Him for help be it in our pain, uncertainty, anguish, confusion or lack of understanding.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have people who for several reasons such as pride, resentment or embarrassment; refuse to ask God for help and would rather bathe in their misery.
Moreover, just as Jesus the loving Saviour said to the paralytic man “rise, take your bed and walk!) Jn 5:8 so too must we adhere to His call when we are down in the dumps! Supressing such sentiments may be a quick fix for the time being, but sooner or later these anguishes will surly resurface and be extra potent than before; perhaps to the extreme of clinical depression / resulting in the loss of family, friends and in severely extreme cases in the loss of life. (Suicide)
Thus, as I have stated before, one of the many greatest gifts/graces God has given to us His children is that of free will. Further, as the loving Father is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb 13:8) so too is the glory of His word!
In todays epistle we heard the encounter between the paralytic man Aeneas and the apostle Peter.
There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed." Then he arose immediately. Acts 9: 33-34
Over the centuries many faithful Christians have gone to their local clergy for their spiritual ailments; yesteryear everyone truly lived as one mystical body! (The Church) Now days, it’s extremely disheartening to see how many clerics cannot help their parishioners concerning spiritual matters! How many times as a young teen I would ask priests questions concerning different topics and the same answer would be given.... “God’s will be done".
Well No! Forgive me but that statement is what yesteryears children would say due to the lack of knowledge. It is true that God’s will be done as prayed in the prayer of the our Father (Mt 6: 9-13) However, most of the time it is the decision of humanity and ourselves that determine what the outcomes of situations are. (Free Will)
Moreover, however good and necessary it is to be versed in scripture and have an outstanding academic background’ clergy must remember that practicality and common-sense work hand in hand, one cannot cancel out the other especially when helping someone deal with issue’s they themselves are dealing with!
As a young lad, academia was never may strong point. I was known by my class mates as the class clown; making a fool of myself in order to gain the attention of my peers. Later on, when I entered the work force in the trade industry, it really brought out the typical rough tradie lingo out! Even to this day, I can get somewhat confused of what to say and how to say it for fear that it may come across slightly rough.
Thus, when God had graced me by becoming a member of His mystical body the Church; my heart was ready and willing to learn the faith! Thus, by the grace of our loving God I have been able to write a homily each week for the past several months; something that was impossible in previous years!
Our Lord always says, “For it will not be you speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Mt 10:20
As this week opens the midpoint of Pascha, may we open our hearts onto God; laying aside all earthly cares so he may speak to our hearts in order to render us and our brethren whole!
Let us place our hope in Him for He is Emmanuel! (God is with us)
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