The Need for Patience and Humility

In the story of two miracles told in the Gospel of Luke 8.41-56, we hear of the healing of the woman with the flow of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter. In both cases we are taught the great gift of patience and humility. They are companions as we can’t have patience without humility. We will never be humble if we can’t be patient. But when we embrace both patience and humility we can be healed by God.

The Garden of our Hearts

In the Parable of the Sower found in Luke 8.5-15, our Lord explains His parable so we can know the mysteries of God. We are the soil that receives the word of God in our hearts, and we are the fruit and seeds that He sends out into the world in order to produce even more fruit for the glory of God. But like any garden soil needs constant attention and work to remain fertile, our hearts need constant work through prayer, fasting, almsgiving and the sacramental life of the Church to become and ultimately remain rich fertile soil.

Bring in the Catch

When considering the Gospel story of the calling of the Disciples as told in Luke 5.1-11, we must remember the Lord is calling us to go out and fill the Church with faithful. Unfortunately, many times we are too busy with our own agenda and cannot recognize Christ when we hear Him calling us. If could only engage the life of the Church so we could recognize God when we meet Him. Then we will be willing to leave everything behind and follow Christ.

 

The Fruit of the Church is Making Disciples

Christ tells a story of a vineyard which is lent out to workers. Unfortunately for the workers, when they tried to keep the fruit of the vineyard to themselves, the master of the vineyard took it away from them and gave it to other workers. Of course, it isn’t a vineyard the Lord is speaking about. The vineyard is the Church, and we will all be called to account for the fruit of the Church.

 

What Keeps You Away from God?

We like to think we want to be with God in heaven, but when we hear what is expected of us, how many times do we turn away from God and walk away? We hear of a rich man in Matthew 19.16-26 who said he wanted eternal life, but when God told him he had to sell everything and give it all to the poor, he left sad. For this man, it was money. What keeps you away from God?

 

All Sin is Against God

Jesus calls us each of us to forgive others from our heart or risk eternal torment. Many however find it difficult to forgive others because we feel the pain of the sin. In Psalm 50 we pray, “Against You only have I sinned and done that which is evil in your sight.” If our sin is only against God, then all sin is only against God. Maybe when we come to terms with the truth, then we can more easily forgive.

 

Some Choose to be Blind

On the Sunday of the Blind Man, the sixth Sunday of Pascha, the Church once again offers a chance for us to see and believe in the power and majesty of God. Unfortunately many of us choose to remain consumed in our own reality and blind to the truth of God. We say we believe, but we do not live as if God is real in our life. We remain blind to our own sinfulness thinking instead about our self-righteousness. We have seen the Light; now we should live by it instead of remaining blind.

You Are Not Alone

On the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, known as the Sunday of the Paralytic, we hear of a young man who thought he was all alone. When Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well,” his response was, “I have no man.” He was not alone, and you are not alone. You have the Church and you have God. Together nothing is impossible.

Give it Your All

On Palm Sunday, the day we welcome our King, the Church challenges us to answer the question, “Are we prepared for Christ? Have we done what it takes to welcome our King? How far are we willing to go to honor God?” In the Gospel According to John 12.1-18 read on Palm Sunday we hear about a woman who gave everything to God. She spent everything she had on a costly ointment she then pour over Christ’s feet before wiping His feet with her hair. If we would prepare to greet an earthly king, what are we willing to do meet Christ? We must give it our all!

Preparing for Heaven

For many Christians, going to Church and living ‘by the rules’ is about earning a spot in heaven. For Orthodox Christians, going to Church and the Orthodox way of life is about preparing for the reality of being in heaven. Christ said to His disciples, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" Are you able to live the life that Christ has offered? Don’t waste another moment. Great Lent is about learning how to live as God desires, if we choose to follow Him to Heaven.

God will raise us up!

When we arrive at that moment in life when we just don’t think we can make it any longer, then we turn to God. Just when we think there is no hope for us, then we realize that we can’t do it without God. God is always willing to raise us up, but He will wait for us to come to Him. There is just one problem. Until we learn to admit we need God we can’t, and probably won’t, bring ourselves to God. Through the prayer and fasting of the Great Fast we discover that with God, and only with God, we can accomplish anything....but most importantly He will raise us up to heaven.

Following Christ to Heaven

Half way through the Great Fast the Church reminds us of our destination. We are on a journey to the Cross. We are on a journey to heaven, but first we must learn to deny ourselves and take up our cross. The Church provides us with all the tools we need for our journey including fasting, almsgiving, patience, love, forgiveness, repentance, and humility. Once we can overcome our own self-desires we can then, and only then following Christ to heaven.

In God’s Space

God makes it clear that the only way to enter heaven is for us to forgive others. Before we can forgive others, we must first allow ourselves to get into common space with them. Only then can we truly forgive others, and only then will we find ourselves in God’s space. Great Lent is an excellent opportunity for us to get into each others’ space and forgive. Our salvation depends upon it.

For the Lost

The story of the Canaanite Woman found in Matthew 15.21-28 is often misunderstood and rarely seen for its beauty in helping Christians reach out to others. Most of us spend most of our time focusing on our agenda and our needs to the point that we sometimes even resent when other’s needs seem to take attention away from our time with God and His Church. Christ’s refusal at first to respond to the requests of the woman even comparing her to a little dog. What we often miss is the opportunity to remember that Christ came for the lost, and while we have many needs as Christians, we are no longer lost when we are in the Church. He will still bless us. Our next step is for us to open our hearts and eyes to the lost and invite them in to receive Christ’s healing and blessings.

Only Some will be Saved

When Ten Lepers (Luke 17.12-19) approached Christ and begged for help, they were told to return to the priests and show themselves. As they turned, they were instantly healed, but only one returned to Christ to thank Him and worship Him. All nine were healed, but only was saved when Christ said, “Your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17.19) When we ask for God’s blessings and then do not return to Him to properly give thanks, we turn our back on Him and go about our day, we are no better than the nine. They should have known better. We should know better. There is a proper way to thank God, through proper preparation and participation in the Divine Liturgy which includes receiving Holy Communion every Sunday. If we come to Church and return home without receiving Holy Communion, then we are no better than the other nine. When Jesus asks “where are the others,” He is speaking about us!

Every Good and Perfect Gift is from Above

It is tempting to think that our success has everything to do with our hard work. It is even more tempting to think that the fruit of our success are meant for our pleasure. Neither is true. In fact no matter what our vocation, whether we are fishermen or farmers, our only part in our success is a bit of hard work. Everything else is a gift from God and that gift has a purpose. When we were married the priest asked God to bless us so that we could help others. Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to thank God for the blessings He has given to us by reaching out and helping other this year.

Learning from Each Other

“I grow old always being taught.” This ancient Greek saying expresses a truth about life that leads to heaven. It is only in a relationship that we can be taught and learn from each other. With the Church as our mother and teacher we learn to live together in humility, faith, patience and love waiting for God’s blessings. It is together that we experience joy and sorrow, anxiety and peace. We won’t always get what we want, when we want, how we want it, but through humility, patience and love as expressed by Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood in the Gospel, we learn to give glory to God.

 

We All Have Demons

When we hear about demon possession in the Holy Scriptures many of us don’t consider that we have anything to benefit. Many of us either do not believe in demons, or we accept that we aren’t ourselves possessed by demons. The truth is, we all have demons that take control over our life. Our demons may not be the spiritual demons that we read about in the Holy Scriptures, but we all have struggles that control us with no less power to cripple our lives. The Good News is that God is able and willing to heal us from our demons, no matter what that demon may be, and we can be freed from the struggle to follow Him and be a witness of the great things God has done for us.

 

Working our Soul for Good Seed

When it comes to our soul many of us live as if everything we learned in Sunday School was enough to get us through the daily struggles of life. Some even leaven their soul unattended, or worse allow bad seed to make its way in. As the Lord explains in the Parable of the Sower, our soul is at times hard, rocky, filled with weeds, or even rich fertile soil, but it doesn’t happen by itself. It requires work to improve the condition of our soul to receive the Word of God, and it requires work to maintain a healthy soul. Luck for us we have the Church and the way of life of Orthodox Christianity to work our soul to prepare it for the Good Seed, the Word of God.

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The Road to Heaven

Sometimes we just need a bit of a reminder that, even though life has its challenges, the hope of the Gospel isn’t about this life. The hope of the Gospel is in the life that God has planned for us, living with Him in heaven. Saint Paul knew this. He knew the true struggle of every Christian especially in a world that at the time was much less tolerant of Christians that today’s world. Eve depended on her understanding of the benefit of eating the apple rather than on God, and we know what happened to Eve? Saint Paul is trying to remind us, “The transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” The Church, through the entire life it presents to us, is trying to help us depend upon God rather than ourselves, and that takes endurance. It won’t be easy. That much we know, but it is worth the struggle.