September 2019 -

HOMILY: Walking in mindfulness – September 22, 2019

Readings: Galatians 5:16-24, Matthew 6:24-33

If one studies the choice of language in the scriptures enough, preferably in the Greek, one begins to see a language of journey and transformation. It is a way of life that takes us from where we were, leading us in Christ likeness in this life, towards the completion of all things in the world to come. The Christian faith is a journey in which Christ is the path, Christ is the door, and simultaneously the prize and completion of the redemptive work of the cross. Ours is a journey of restoration and healing, to restore the dignity of our humanity to its Edenic and former glory.

We undertake this journey not as one alone, but we walk together as the body of Christ, being lead by Christ towards the end of all things: the eschaton. In this journey we must always ask ourselves if we are indeed following Christ, or if we are following something else as unfortunate yet willing slaves to sin. Do we follow the Holy Spirit of God, or are we enticed instead by the spirit of this age. It is a constant struggle being waged within us; though, no one can serve two masters, as Christ tells us in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The word translated here as master is the word κύριος, or Lord. So, do we follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, becoming slaves to righteousness? Or, do we succumb to the temptations of the Evil One, seeking the passions and pleasures of this life over the rewards of the next? It is an ever present tension in which we live, choosing between the immediate gratifications of this world, or the delayed promises of the next. We should prefer to live our lives in constant expectation of the world to come, where those likewise who have gone before us look forward with equal expectation towards the resurrection. What expectations can be found in the things of this world but loss, suffering, and anguish born from our attachment to them, and our eventual loss of them; for, they are fleeting and all is vanity.

In this journey, Saint Paul tells us to “walk by the Spirit” so that we “will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Elsewhere in the scriptures we are told likewise to live in the world, but not of it. We are instructed to live in the world as citizens of the Kingdom of God, adopted as sons and daughters of God the Father almighty. We are exhorted to live as aliens and sojourners in this world. We walk by the spirit, passing through this world without any attachment to the things of this world. We live in the world, but do not follow nor participate in the spirit of the age in which we live. We live in the world, but we do not acquiesce to the vagaries of this age, for the spirit of any age will always and invariably lead to death. The spirit of an age is impermanent and changes from generation to generation; but, the Spirit of God is eternal. The spirit of God is everlasting. The spirit of God is Truth, and life.

So, what does it mean by use of the word “spirit?” The word translated here is πνεῦμα, which by extension and context connotes the heart and mind of God. So, the spirit is in essence the mindset that has come down to us from God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; however, there is also another word with a similar meaning, and that is φρόνημα. This is the Orthodox mindset in which we live and understand our day to day lives, a mindset rooted in Christ and the sacramental life and rhythm of the Church. So, we follow the heart and mind of God, exhibiting the heart and mind of God in this world and in our day to day lives. We know that we are doing this by those fruits which Saint Paul has listed for us in his letter to the Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is by these that we may know that we are following a right spirit within us.

The spirit of this age is known by the other list of bitter fruits also given in the same letter to the Galatians: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and all things such as these. Many of these are easily made manifest in the world around us, for indeed we live in a fallen world, and we should have no participation with it. It would be better for the world to consume us, than to give in to such as these. Such is the life of a martyr.

There are many spirits for us to follow, but we can only be mindful of one. We cannot be of two minds. We cannot possess two hearts. We cannot take two paths, nor can we follow two masters leading us in opposite directions. We must be of one mind and one accord, both within ourselves and with all who surround us. For we rise together, but we fall alone. We must decide whether to be hot or cold, for a life of indecisive faith is lukewarm, and will lead to us being spit out of the mouth of the Holy One who spoke all things into existence.

We cannot hover indefinitely between the convictions of this world or those of the next. We cannot sit on the fence for the rest of our days. We cannot hold on to both lives, for we can only live one of them. We can only conform to one way or the other. We cannot – at the risk of sounding flippant – have our cake and eat it too. There is one Truth, one path, one way, and one spirit. God is not a God of many minds, so neither should we be likewise.

We are mindful of God and follow Him not for a reward of earthly things, but we follow Him for a reward of promise. For, we are promised no luxuries or comforts in this life, for indeed Christ had none. We are to pass through this world without any attachment to it. We are to have faith and trust in He who gave us life that all things – that which we receive, or those things which we lack – will be necessary to the salvation of ourselves and others. As our Gospel reading has exhorted to us today, we are not to be anxious about the things of this world,” for indeed the world has enough anxieties of its own. We are not to possess the world, nor are we to be possessed of the world. We are to be concerned with the things of God; for those things that are holy; for those things that are just; and for those things that are rooted in righteousness. Anything outside of this is superfluous vanity.

We must be mindful, developing an appropriate φρόνημα about our Orthodox faith. We must be mindful of our words; mindful of our actions; and mindful of that which we do before the watchful eyes of the world. We must be mindful of our thoughts, for as Elder Thaddeus has said, our thoughts determine our lives. Not least of these, we should be mindful of what spirit we follow, for there is only one Truth, but there are many spirits. There is only One way, but there are many roads that lead away from the present moment. There are many mindsets, but there is only one mind of God. We shall be known by the fruits that we bear, for we walk in the spirit, that we may have the spirit of God within us.

I close from an excerpt taken from Edler Thaddeus’ own writings, from a chapter titled “Repentance is a Change of Life:’

“Life on earth is manifested in our thoughts. Whatever our thoughts are occupied with , that reflects the kind of life we lead. If our thoughts are quiet and peaceful, kind and loving, there’s peace for us; and if they are negative, there’s disquiet and restlessness. We are small and helpless beings, and we must unceasingly ask our Heavenly Father for help in all things; we must pray to Him to give us strength and to give us of His Grace, the Divine energy that is present and works everywhere, most especially in those souls that have chosen to serve the Lord with their whole life, both in this world and in eternity. For God is peace; God is comfort and joy to all people, I therefore wish you peace and joy in the Lord.”

By the prayers of our holy fathers and mothers, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy upon us and save us

Amen

Homily: Be opened. – September 1, 2019

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen

I would like to open with a reading from the Old Testament today. It is not one we have heard read today, but it is wholly relevant to what we have heard so far, and what I have to say.

From Isaiah chapter 35, beginning at verse 3:
3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The whole of the Old Testament points towards forwards towards the messianic promise, points forwards towards Christ, but this particular verse is a direct prophecy of Christ which we hear partially fulfilled in our Gospel reading for today (Mark 7:31-37). In this reading we hear of the man who was deaf and dumb, as they say, who was brought to Christ by others to be healed. Christ pulled him to the side, stuck his fingers in his ears, spitting on his finger and touching the man’s tongue, he looked to the heavens and said one of the few obscure Aramaic words we hear in the Gospels: Ephphatha.

This word means to be opened. In the Greek, which is given along side the Aramaic, the word is dianoigō (διανοίγω), which specifically in this case means to be opened, but more generally used it refers to an opening of the heart; an opening of the mind and the understanding; to open one’s self to the sense of a thing. Yet, why did Christ find it necessary to speak this word as part of this act of healing? Could He not have just healed the man through the spirit? Could He not have just willed his healing into existence? Of course the answer is yes, but he does this because words have power. Words have the power to heal, and the power to destroy. Words have the power to build up and encourage, as well as tear down. Words are important. In fact, in the chapter preceding our Epistle reading for today, Saint Paul speaks at length about the gift of speaking in tongues and prophesying. What we say matters.

The Son of God spoke all of creation into existence, for indeed He is the Word of God. Christ drove out evil spirits with but a word. Saint James warns us of the dangers of the tongue and the words we speak, with Christ corroborating this in the Gospel of Matthew by warning us that “those things which proceed out of the mouth comes from the heart,” and these are what defile a man. Those that came to Christ in His ministry – the man with leprosy, the Centurion, the paralytic, and others – when asked what they needed, though God knew regardless of the request, they spoke their needs to Christ that they may be heard and met likewise. We pray so that our needs might be heard, rising before the saints and the throne of God like incense that they might be heard (Psalm 141:2, Revelations 8:4) Even Saint John of Kronstadt places an importance upon the words we speak into this world, exhorting that “man, in all his words, does not die. He is immortal in them, and they speak after his death.” So, if we should be judged by that which we say, then surely we should be mindful of that which we say, and what manner of words we bring into the world. Do we speak slander, or do we speak praise? Do we speak Truth, or babble on endlessly about the things of this world. Be mindful.

Christ spoke words of healing, because He is the Great Physician. Christ spoke words of Truth, because he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Christ calls each of us to be opened, so that we can be healed of our spiritual deafness, so that we may receive the Truth. The healing of the deaf man is a metaphor for all men. It can be taken as an analogy of the Christian life, speaking of those outside the Church in the wilderness (of the world) alluded to in Isaiah chapter 35.

As those few of you who have attended my classes may have learned by now, I filter my theological viewpoint and my entire basis of understanding the Truth through the understanding of the Church, for the Church is the pillar and foundation of Truth (1 Tim 3:15). So, with that being said, the deaf man is every man standing outside the Church. He cannot receive the Truth. He cannot speak the truth because he does not know it. But, Christ calls each of us to be opened, but it is not an opening that can be forced. He wills each of us to be opened to the Truth, but we must first turn towards Christ, and do so by our own volition. All are called, but not all respond. Christ came for all mankind, but not all will receive Him. Christ speaks, but not all hear his words. He meets everyone where they are in life, but not all will experience Him. So, how can a blind man see the sun? He cannot see it, but he can feel it. How can a deaf man hear the words of truth? He cannot hear it, but he can see it, or experience it. The Truth must be incarnated into the world, becoming all things to all people, so that all spiritual infirmities may be overcome for the receiving of the Truth. We must bring the Truth to all men, so that man may know and accept it; turning towards Christ; turning towards the Church; turning towards the Great Physician and the Hospital for our souls, so that we may be healed of our spiritual infirmities..

Most of us started in the world, living for the world. We encountered the Truth and accepted it, turning towards Christ, and subsequently the Church. We repented of our sins. We knocked on the door of the Church by our act of confession, where the wounds of our souls were healed with the absolution of forgiveness. We put on the garment of baptism, sealed with the oil of Chrismation, and were allowed into the Church, the body of Christ. We approached the Lord’s table to partake of the Holy Mysteries, becoming one with the Truth. We are now a living stone of the Church, the body of Christ. Our eyes are opened. Our ears are unstopped. Our tongues are loosed. It is now our responsibility to share this Truth we have received to those who would receive it. In word and in deed we must incarnate Christ in the world, for this is the way of Holiness mentioned in Isaiah chapter 35, and this is what we are called to be. We must preach the Gospel message to all mankind in both word and in deed; to all the spiritually deaf and blind who have yet to turn towards Christ amidst their clinging to the things of this world

Yet, what is the Truth? What is this Gospel message that we are so inclined to declare unto the world? We find the answer to this in our Epistle reading for today (1 Cor. 15:1-10). We hear Saint Paul making dogmatic statements which we are so familiar with, and hear every Sunday in the words of the Nicene Creed:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

We preach the resurrected Christ, for He is Risen! This is the pivotal and most important act of Christ’s ministry on earth. Even though Pascha is behind us, it is also simultaneously ever before us in the sacramental rhythm of the Church, and we must always remember the Risen Christ. We must always be willing to proclaim that He is risen, and do so with every fiber of our being, every moment of our daily lives in all that we say and do. He is risen, he who endured the death of the cross for all men, to open the gates of paradise. He is life because He is risen, trampling down death by death! He is Risen because He is God incarnate in the flesh, he who condescended to become one of us, that we may be able to become like him. If Christ had never risen from the grave, then we should never leave it. If Christ had never risen, then death would never have been defeated. If Christ had never risen, then his death upon the cross would have been in vain, and our entire Christian life an empty promise.

He died so that we may live in the presence of God. We live, so that others may die to this world and all that it may bring. We all die to the world so that we may all live in Christ. So let us speak the truth so that it may be heard. Let us incarnate the Truth, so that the Truth may be experienced; the truth may be seen; the truth may be felt; and the truth may be known. By the truth may all ears be opened, that all men may hear and know the Truth of the risen Christ, and turn towards Him to be healed of their infirmities of spirit, and to be healed of infirmities of mind, body, and soul. You were once deaf, but now you can hear. You were once mute, but now your mouth is opened to proclaim the truth. So then, we must ask ourselves, why aren’t we?

By the prayers of our holy Fathers and Mothers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

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