Don’t Be a Pretender

I meet many people who claim to be Orthodox Christian, yet do not attend Divine Liturgy at all or rarely. They fast, they say their prayers, they even light candles in churches and chapels, but they can’t remember the last time they received Holy Communion. I often wonder why someone who go through all the motions of being Orthodox, even having elaborate home altars with oils and other holy items for veneration. Consider today’s Gospel reading from Luke…

At that time, the Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?" And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" (Luke 5.33-39)

Christ is reminding us that living in communion with Him is the reason we fast and pray and do all the other things we do as Orthodox Christian. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “Fasting without prayer is a diet.” This is true, but let’s go a step further….. “Orthodox practices without Holy Communion is just pretend.” Don’t be a pretender. Call your spiritual father today to schedule for Holy Confession and get back on track to Live A New Life IN Christ.