Meditations - Pascha thru Pentecost 2005

 

June 9, 2005 - The Apostle Paul: A Hero For Us Today

Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

     The lectionary of the Orthodox Church assigns The Acts of the Apostles to be read during the Paschal/Pentecostal Season.  This book, written as a companion volume to his Gospel by St. Luke the Evangelist, records the initial emergence, growth and expansion of the New Covenant community in Christ Jesus known as the Ekklesia/Church.  The risen and ascended Lord sends the Holy Spirit into the world - the event of Pentecost - and the presence of the Spirit is the invisible divine wind and fire that generates and makes possible the life of the Church and her expansion "to the end of the earth."  (ACTS 1:8)  Or rather, there exists a synergistic relationship between divine grace and human freedom, for the apostles of the Lord are the human agents through whom the world is transformed by the preaching of the Gospel.  There may be a church on every other block of any major North American city today, but these churches and their presence are dependent upon the initial labors of the apostles.  And the apostles/evangelists did not have the luxury of their own radio or television stations with an 800 number flashing on the bottom part of the screen so that others could call in their donations using their credit cards!  Basically, it was the paradoxical combination of the grace of the Holy Spirit together with a great deal of blood, sweat and tears. 

     One of  these apostles - though not himself a member of the Twelve - is St. Paul.  He is the dominant figure inThe Acts, as his conversion, missionary journeys, sufferings, preaching, and the like, make up most of St. Luke's twenty-eight chapters.  It is just about impossible to overestimate the significance of the Apostle Paul in the history of the Church.  His many Epistles, which combine profound theological insights into the mystery of Christ, together with practical and pragmatic pastoral concern and direction, are an integral part of the New Testament Canon of Scripture.  (That many of the faithful do not know much about these Epistles today is a sad commentary on the over-all state of our Scripture reading practices).  Many of the local churches that he established remain to this day with an unbroken continuity to the age of the apostles as a key component of their identities.   What most of this legacy of the Apostle Paul "cost" him in terms of human endurance can be read in an autobiographical passage of great pathos that cannot fail to stir the soul to this day:

        Often near death; five times I have received thirty-nine lashes from the Jews;
        three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I
        have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I passed on the watery deep; on
        frequent journeys; in dangers from rivers, in dangers from bandints; in danger
        from my own kind; in dangers from Gentiles; in dangers in the city; in dangers
        in the wilderness; in dangers on the sea; in dangers from false brethren; in toil
        and hardship; many times without sleep; in hunger and thirst; many times not
        eating; cold and not clothed; and besides other things there is on me the daily
        pressure constituted by anxiety for the churches.  Who is weak and I am not
        weak?  Who is made to stumble into sin, and I am not indignant?  (II COR. 11:23-29)

     Perhaps one can somehow envision such endurance in the knowledge that the Apostle Paul was always successful in easily converting countless people to Christ through his preaching.  But even that would be an unrealistic assessment of his efforts.  Imagining that St. Paul managed to survive the hardships described above, what awaited him in one of the cities of the Greco-Roman world upon his arrival there?   The renowned biblical scholar Raymond Brown summarizes this well in an aricle entitled "An Appreciation of Paul:"

 

        The difficulties were not over when Paul arrived at his intended destination.  Today
        those who walk through the magnificent ruins of a city like Ephesus cannot help
        but recognize the grandeur and power of Greco-Roman culture embodied in majestic
        buildings, shrines, temples, and statues.  Yet here was a Jew with a knapsack on
        his back who hoped to challenge all that in the name of a crucified criminal before
        whom, he proclaimed, every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth had to
        bend.  The contempt and mockery of the sophisticated Gentiles for this babbling
        ragpicker of ideas reported in ACTS 17:18 ring true.

    What the Apostle Paul did accomplish is truly amazing, considering his own description of how he presented the Gospel:

        When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the
        testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing
        among you accept Jesus Christ and him crucified.  (I COR. 2:1-2)

     The Apostle Paul must be one of the greatest examples of perseverance in the presence of adversity.  Discouragement or even despair must have been readily-felt temptations for him.   He was overwhelmed with the realization that the "life in Christ" that he bore witness to, was an ongoing process of transformation.  It was not a static goal that would generate false comfort and self-satisfied complacency.  Rather, the Apostle wrote of "pressing on" and "straining forward:"

        Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to
        make it my own, becuase Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brethren, I do not
        consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind
        and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of
        the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (PHIL 3:12-14)

     He is convinced that this is not only for him as an apostle, but for any who are alive in Christ, because he immediately adds the following:

        Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are
        otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you.  Only let us hold true what
        we have attained.  (PHIL. 3:15-16)

     In a somewhat "hero-less" age, we do not have to search far for "heroes."  The words of the Apostle Paul and his indelible image are forever before our hearts and souls in the ongoing life of the Church.  He was a man totally overwhelmed by the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus.  That is a free gift offered to one and all.

Fr. Steven

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The Lifelong Practice of Prayer - May 23, 2005

Dear Parish Faithful,

                Kristo levigis!                            Vere levigis!

        "As a bird without wings, as a soldier without arms, so is a Christian without prayer."
        (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk)

     Presvytera Deborah and I were invited to St. Paul Orthodox Church in Dayton for their "Parish Education Day" just this last Saturday.  I was rather impressed.  On a warm, sunny, mid-May Saturday afternoon - and without the further attraction of well-known speakers from outside - there were about 35 adults and 20 children present.  The theme was "Prayer" and this was explored from a few different perspectives.  The day ended with a catered meal and Great Vespers. 

     We heard some very insightful and profound passages on prayer from  the great saints of the Church and some contemporary theologians, so I simply wanted to pass on a few of these passages for our remembrance, meditation and, most importantly, for inspiration so as to make prayer integral to our own daily lives.  Perhaps you recall the Midweek Morning Meditation from last week and the passages from The Apostolic Tradition about the daily "hours" of prayer that the early Christians were urged to fill with prayer.  The texts offered today are an extension of that exhortation to "pray without ceasing."  (I THESS. 5:17)

     St. Theophan the Recluse (19th c.) reminds us of the simple truth that prayer is absolutely basic and essential to the Christian's life:

        "If you are not successful in your prayer, do not expect success in anything.
        It is the root of all."

    He then wrote further with a kind of over-all description about the very purpose of prayer:

        "The principle thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God, and go on
        standing before Him unceasingly day and night until the end of life."

     In the same spirit, and expanding a bit further on St. Theophan's words, Arch. Kallistos Ware offers another over-all description of the meaning of prayer:

        "To pray is to stand before God, to enter into an immediate and personal
        relationship with Him; it is to know at every level of our being, from the
        instinctive to the intellectual, from the sub- to the supra-conscious , that
        we are in God and He in us."

     It is St. Theophan the Recluse who outlined the three stages of prayer:

        1) The habit of ordinary oral prayer in church and at home.
        2) The union of prayerful thoughts and feelings with the mind and heart.
        3) Unceasing prayer.

    In his own words:

        "The more the heart is purified, the more oral prayer will become prayer of the
        mind in the heart, and when the heart becomes quite pure, then unceasing
        prayer will be established."
 
        "When inner prayer gains power, then it will control oral prayer, gaining dominion
        over external prayer and even absorbing it.  As a result, the zeal of prayer will take
        fire, because then Paradise will be in the soul."

    St. Ignatius of Brianchaninov (19th c.) reinforces this same teaching:

        "Gradually the vocal prayer becomes mental and afterwards it passes into the heart.
        This passing from one stage to another takes many years.  It must not be forced.
        Let the process  develop by itself, or rather, let God grant this to you at the time
        known to Him when you will be ready."

    We may very well be getting way ahead of ourselves with the practice of "unceasing prayer," but perhaps it is still good to hear about the goal of our Tradition concerning the deeper aspects of prayer. 

     Another important thing to remember is that we actually combine personal and liturgical prayer in our lives.  In other words, we pray both at church and at home, and these are two complementary and essential aspects of a healthy prayer life.  As Fr. George Florovsky explains it:

        "One begins to pray at home and then goes to the Church.  There praying persons
        discover and find each other and spontaneously join in the act of common adoration
        or humble petition, in common."

     Praying with with "two or three gathered together" expands our experience of prayer to embrace our brothers and sisters in Christ; and praying for others at home helps safeguard against  overly subjective, individualistic, if not even, selfish prayer.  Again, Fr. Florovsky:

        "Ultimately, the praying heart is to be enlarged in order to embrace all needs and
        sorrows of the whole suffering humanity."

    Are we always pressed for time, feeling that we are unable to keep up with the demands of the day?  Then we need to be brief - but regular - in our praying.  As St. Theophylact (11th - 12th c.) once wrote:

        "You should not make a long prayer, for it is better to pray little, but often.
        Superfluous words are idle talk."

     And as the contemporary Archbishop Anastasios of Albania has written:

        "Many times in my life, there has been no opportunity for long prayers, only time
        to go into what I call the 'hut of prayer' - very short prayers that I know by heart or
        to make a very simple request:  'Show me how to love!'  Or, when you have to make
        a decision, 'Lord, help me make the right estimation and come to the right judgment,
        to make the right action.'  Then there is the very simple prayer, "Your will be done.'
        Often I pray, 'Lord, illumine me so that I know Your will, give me the humility to
        accept your will and the strength to do your will.' I go back to these simple prayers
        again and again."

     Brevity and simplicity are not strangers to depth and profundity.  It is a matter of our faith and the condition of our hearts.

     And here is something for Monday morning or any other morning that brings us to a new day as a gift from God:

        "Rising early in the morning, stand as firmly as possible before God in your heart,
        as you offer your morning prayers; and then go to the work apportioned to you by
        God, without withdrawing from Him in your feelings and consciousness.  In this
        way you will do your work with the powers of your soul and body, but in your mind
        and heart you will remain with God."  (St. Theophan the Recluse)

     We are not mere "consumers."  We are actually "praying beings" with the capacity to know the incomprehensible and invisible God as "Our Father."   And that will put a whole new perspective on life.

 

                Christus er oppstanden!            Sandelig han er oppstanden!

 

Fr. Steven

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At All Times and At Every Hour... - May 18, 2005

Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

                     Ua ala Hou 'o Kristo!                        Ua ala 'l no 'oia!

     There are many documents or writings from the early Church that strongly encourage Christians to pray at certain designated hours of the day, in addition to the customary morning and evening times of prayer.  These writings became the basis of our canonical  hours of prayer - the Third, Sixth and Ninth.  (These hours of prayer correspond to 9:00 a.m., noon, and 3:00 p.m. respectively).   Here is a mere sample of the over-all structure of daily prayer, taken from a document known as The Apostolic Tradition (probably written by Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, around 215 A.D.):

    "Let every faithful man and woman, when they have risen from sleep in the morning, before
    they touch any work at all, wash their hands and pray to God, and so go to their work ...
 
    And if you are at home, pray at the third hour and bless God.  But if you are somewhere
    else at that moment, pray to God in your heart ...
 
    Pray likewise at the time of the sixth hour.  For when Christ was nailed to the wood of
    the cross, the day was divided, and darkness fell ...
 
    And at the ninth hour let them pray also a great prayer and a great blessing ...  For at
    that hour Christ was pierced in his side and poured out water and blood.
 
    Pray before your body rests on the bed.  Rise about midnight, wash your hands with
    water, and pray ... Do not be lazy about praying.  He who is bound in the marriage-bond
    is not defiled.
 
    For the elders who gave us the tradition taught us that at that hour all creation is still for
    a moment, to praise the Lord:  stars,  trees, waters stop for an instant, and all the host
    of angels (which)  ministers to him praises God with the souls of the righteous in this hour.
    That is why believers should take good care to pray at this hour.
 
    Bearing witness to this, the Lord says thus, "Lo, the bridegroom comes; rise to meet
    him."  And he goes on saying, 'Watch therefore, for you know not at what hour he comes."
 
    And likewise rise about cockcrow, and pray.  For at that hour, as the cock crew, the
    children of Israel denied Christ, whom we know by faith, our eyes looking towards that
    day in the hope of eternal light at the resurrection.
 
    And if you act so, all you faithful, and remember these things, and teach them in your
    turn, and encourage the catechumens, you will not be able to be tempted or to perish,
    since you have Christ always in memory.

     In addition to these admonitions about praying "around the clock" (including at midnight!) we find another exhortation in The Apostolic Tradition about coming to the church for "instruction:" 

    He who is pious should think it a great evil if he does not go to the place where
    instruction is given, and especially if he can read, or if a teacher comes.  Let none
    of you be late in the church, the place where teaching is given.  Then it shall be given
    to the speaker to say what is useful to each one; you will hear things which you do
    not think of, and profit from things which the Holy Spirit will give you through the
    instructor.  In this way your faith will be strengthened about the things you will have
    heard.  You will also be told in that place what you ought to do at home.  Therefore
    let each one be diligent in coming to the church, the place where the Holy Spirit
    flourishes.  If there is a day when there is no instruction, let each one, when he is
    at home, take up a holy book and read in it sufficiently what seems to him to bring
    profit.

     In the light of our present-day conditions and parish activities, I would unhesitatingly apply this passage to our parish Bible Studies, as well as to other forms of teaching and instruction in the Faith - Catechetical Classes, Adult Education, etc.  These are communal  events that complement and strengthen our personal prayer and reading.  By the grace of the Holy Spirit, we learn things that are "useful to each one," and we hear things that we would "not think of" on our own.

     What is of great interest here are the expectations made by these early pastors and teachers towards their respective communities, for you will find similar exhoratations from other local Christian churches about the daily hours of prayer.  These exhortations were not being made to people who had a great amount of leisure time on their hands.  In fact, I highly doubt that these early Christians had the "leisure" time that we have today, even amidst our very demanding schedules.  Many belonged to the "artisan class" - the butchers, the bakers and the candlestick-makers, so to speak - and their days were most probably difficult and demanding.  With the cares of daily life that they faced, they were probably exhausted after a hard day of work. 

     On the other hand, we have no way of really uncovering just how many early Christians actually managed to keep up with such a structured and rigorous prayer life.  What we  read in such a document as The Apostolic Tradition,written in a somewhat hortatory and rhetorical style, may reflect an ideal that was hardly maintained by everyone in any given Christian community.  The point still remains, however, that Christians were encouraged to pray with regularity, punctuating the day at significant hours "sanctified" with prayer and the remembrance of the pashcal mystery of salvation in and through Christ.  Our monasteries maintain the canonical Hours of prayer so as to fulfil the apostolic command:  "Pray without ceasing."  (I THESS. 5:17) 

      We have our own "Rules of Prayer" that are meant to keep us praying with consistency on a daily basis.  And no matter where we find ourselves, we could probably pause at the Third, Sixth, and Ninth hours of the day to inwardly recite the Lord's Prayer or the Prayer of the Hours (I can supply you with a copy of this wonderful prayer if you need one) - if not a bit more.  Created in the image and likeness of God; transformed in Christ; and being vessels of the Holy Spirit, pray is meant to elevate us to a constant awareness of God on a daily basis; and to unite us with Him in a communion that lifts us up beyond the world and its concerns.    

     If we are capable of prayer and receive the gift of prayer from God, then here is something we should desire with all our hearts  to strengthen and develop throughout our lives, so as to further increase our desire for, and further strenghten our faith in, the Kingdom of God and the blessedness that awaits us there through Christ Jesus our Lord.

                    Ukristu uvukile!                        Uvukile kuphela!

Fr. Steven

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On The Myrrhbearing Women - May 16, 2005

Dear Parish Faithful,

Christ is Risen!

The following passage comes from Fr. Alexander Schmemann.   It is the concluding paragraph from a short chapter on the Myrrhbearing Women found in a book of collected homilies.  Some would no doubt label the passage as "stereotyped" - or perhaps "romanticized" or "idealized" - but I prefer to see Fr. Alexander reminding us of an essential presence in our midst that hopefully will not change in the foreseeable future:

        Love does not ask about theories and ideologies, but speaks to the heart and
        soul.  Human history rumbled along, kingdoms have risen and fallen, cultures
        have been built and bloodly wars fought, but what has remained unchanging
        on earth and in this troubled and tragic history is the bright image of the woman.
        An image of care, self-giving, love, compassion.  Without this presence, without
        this light, our world, regardless of its successes and accomplishments, would
        be a world of terror.  It can be said without exaggeration that the humanity of
        the human race was, and is, being preserved, saved, by woman - preserved
        not by words or ideas, but by her silent, caring, loving presence.  And if, despite
        all the evil that dominates the world, the mysterious feast of life still continues,
        if it is still celebrated in a poverty-stricken room, at a barren table, just as
        joyously as in a palace, then the joy and light of this feast is in her, in woman,
        in her never-fading love and faithfulness.  "The wine gave out ..." (JN. 2:3), but
        while she is here - mother, wife, bride - there is enough wine, enough love,
        enough light for everyone ...

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What Is A Christian? - May 12, 2005

Dear Parish Faithful,

            Khristus zmartwyckwstal!                         Zaprawde zmartwyckwstal!

    The homilies for this paschal season will be based upon the readings from The Acts of the Apostles, the second of St. Luke's two-volume work that records the life of Christ and the growth and expansion of the Church.  I found the following passage in a small book - A Once and Coming Spirit at Pentecost -  that summarizes some of the more important aspects of The Acts.  The author is the late and distinguished biblical scholar, Raymond Brown.  He makes a telling point, I believe.

        Here again I see Acts giving us valuable guidance about Christian fundamentals.
        I have often thought it would be a fascinating exercise some Sunday to ask
        everyone in church to write on a slip of paper one sentence explaining what a
        Christian is.  My suspicion is that many of the responses would consist of
        behavorial descriptions, e.g., a Christian is one who practices love of neighbor.
        True, one cannot be much of a Christian without behaving as Jesus taught, but
        behavior is not sufficiently defining:  Christians are not the only ones who exhibit
        love toward each other.  It would be fascinating to know how many would answer
        that a Christian is one who believes that Jesus is the Christ.  That, of course, is
        both the most ancient and basic definition.  We may well need to reiterate today
        what seemed so obvious to our original ancestors in the faith.
 

     Again, a good question and a point well-made.  I would find the above suggestion to be quite an intriguing one for any of our Orthodox parishes.  I would read the results with the greatest of interest.  How many such slips of paper would fail to mention Jesus Christ - especially in a one-sentence answer?   Many people, including convinced atheists, are committed to acting in a loving way toward their neighbors.  In fact, some of those very atheists just mentioned may just be better neighbors to others than are Christians to their neighbors!  A rather complex issue that I will avoid for the moment - but one that certainly undermines our witness to the world as Christians. 

     However, the point is that Christians came into existence as a new group or body of particular believers because they considered Jesus to be the Christ - the anointed of God who triumphed over death in His resurrection.  Their first commitment was to this belief, not to a choice of being good.  They already had access to the Law that was meant to make them righteous through careful observance, including issues of moral and ethical behavior. 

     Salvation from sin and death - basically the only possibility of transforming the endless stream of human suffering and misery that we live with and which threatens the very meaning of our existence - comes through Jesus the Christ according to the Gospel.   That is why Christ is the "hope" of the Christian believer.  This hope is based on the events that the disciples witnessed to unto the shedding of their blood in martyrdom. Salvation does not come through being  good. A "Christian" bears the name of the Christ - Jesus of Nazareth.  In embracing that defining term as to who and what we are, we commit ourselves to the Crucified and Risen One.  Belief in Jesus as the Messiah is what sets Christians apart as a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."  (I PET. 2:9)  From this flows our love of the neighbor.

                Kristo gesso!                                        Buhar ha sho nay!

Fr. Steven

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A Paschal Story - May 11, 2005

Dear Parish Faithful,

            Kriste ahzdkhah!                Chezdmaridet!

     Here is a wonderful and powerful "Paschal story" that sounds like something straight from the Acts of the Apostles, thus demonstrating that the same Spirit sent into the world by the Risen Lord is working today through the great saints of the Church.  In this instance, that would be St. John Maximovich (+1966), a Russian Orthodox bishop who was forced to flee from Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution.  He spent some time organizing an emigre Russian Orthodox community in Shangai before eventually travelling to Western Europe and then to San Francisco, where he is buried and venerated. 

        The gifts of the Saint for working wonders and foresight were very well known in
        Shanghai.  One time during Bright Week, he went to the Jewish hospital, in order
        to visit the Orthodox patients there.  When he passed one room, he stopped in
        front of a screen, behind which there was the bed of an elderly Jewish woman who
        was on the verge of death.  Her family members were there, awaiting her demise.
        The Saint lifted his Cross over the screen and exclaimed loudly, "Christ is Risen!",
        and at the same moment - O, the wonder! - the woman, who was at death's door,
        came to and asked for water.  The medical personnel remained astonished by the
        change in the woman, who had almost died a few moments previously.  The woman
        recovered and left the hospital.  Such incidents are innumerable.
 
        (From The Life and Conduct of Our Father Among the Saints ST. JOHN THE
        WONDERWORKER, Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco)

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That you may have Life in His Name - May 9, 2005

Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

                Christ is Risen!                                Indeed He is Risen!

'Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God"!'

     The Second Sunday of Pascha is referred to in the Synaxarion as "Thomas Sunday, also called Antipascha."  The term "Antipascha" could possibly cause a certain confusion, so here is a short description of this term as found in the Synaxarion:

This day is called Antipascha (meaning "in the stead of Pascha," not "in opposition to
Pascha") because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates
every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.

     Every Sunday of the year is consecrated to the celebration of our Lord's Resurrection.  Do we possibly need anything further to inspire us to awaken on any given Sunday - even those Sundays durings the year when, seemingly, nothing "special" is going on in church - and eagerly prepare for the Divine Liturgy where we encounter the Risen Lord and partake of His deifed humanity?  On every Sunday we celebrate the "death of death" and the reign of Life shining forth from the empty tomb and flowing forth from the pierced side of the Lord.  The Feast of Pascha wonderfully focuses, and powerfully manifests, that ultimate truth with a splendor and brilliance that directs the Church to calling this festival "Queen of holy Days."   It thus stands at the center of our liturgical year.

     Following the Gospel of St. John, we discover that the Risen Lord first appeared to His disciples on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover and following His Crucifixion and Burial.  When the bewildered disciples realized that is was Jesus Himself, the evangelist, with the characteristic sobriety of the biblical texts, relates to us the following reaction:

"Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."  (JN. 20:20)

     Here St. John is apparently using an "economy of language" in order to describe the indescribable.  The disciples were then granted the grace of receiving the Holy Spirit.  The disciple Thomas was not present and therefore refused to believe this astounding news.  It is hard not to understand and even sympathize with his unbelief.  Who among believing Christians does not have more than a few moments as those ascribed to Thomas?   Who has not doubted the reality of the Resurrection?  It is one thing to believe in the Resurrection of Christ at the doors of the church following the paschal procession at midnight, when we are dressed in our best, anticipating the moment of the first ringing "Christ is Risen!"  and being drawn into the holy atmosphere of the Paschal celebration surrounded by others of like mind.  But perhaps it is another matter in the cool light of a Thursday morning when we are sitting alone in an empty house.  Or thinking about our regrets, losses or future prospects ...

     Our compassionate Lord anticipated those very human moments and the future "dialectic of belief and unbelief" that we are inevitably forced to experience in a fallen world.  After bringing St. Thomas to faith by His actual presence"eight days later," Jesus further said to him - and to all of us througout the ages through him: 

"Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not
seen me and yet believe."  (JN. 20:29)

     We "see" the Risen Lord through the eyes of faith now and not with the same empirical certainty as did St. Thomas.  Perhaps he could not have believed otherwise than he did after seeing the Risen Lord and the marks of His wounded, but now glorified, Body.  Regardless of how we speculate about that, we realize that subsequently people can believe or not believe.  We who do believe as did Thomas and the other disciples have been brought to faith through the witness of the original disciples who eventually proclaimed the Risen Lord to the world - and suffered for it.  That first evening on the Sunday after the Passover Following Christ's Crucifixion and Burial, has endlessly actualized itself througout the centuries as fallen and sinful human persons have come to believe in the Risen Lord even though they have not seen as did Thomas.   And it has further actualized itself in the Lord's Day  - the mysterious "eighth day" of our eucharistic assemblies.  For it is there that we gather in the presence of the Risen Christ "behind closed doors;" receive His greeting "Peace be with you;" further receive the grace of the Holy Spirit; and worship Jesus Christ as Lord and God.  What an indescribable blessing, privilege and joy!

    Upon transferring his being from the realm of unbelief to belief, St. Thomas exclaimed in the presence of Christ: "My Lord and my God!"  (JN. 20:28)  To use a bit of jargon for a moment, this can be called a "Christological confession of Faith."  In the Gospels we encounter these spontaneous confessions in St. Peter:

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  (MATT. 16:16)

and from Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus:

"Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming
into the world."  (JN. 11:27)

     To imitate Sts. Peter, Martha and Thomas is to enter into the realm of Christian belief centered upon the Person of Christ.  This is a "doctrinal belief" that is synonomous with Life itself.  This is stated magnificently by St. John the Evangelist at the end of the penultimate chapter of his Gospel:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not
written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. 
(JN. 19:30-31)

                Christus resurrexit!                    Vere resurrexit!

Fr. Steven

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Hogar Mission Team and Appeal - May 6, 2005

Dear Parish Faithful,

     Cristo Ha Resucitado!

      As you know, we have organized a new Mission Team to visit the Hogar San Rafael Orphanage from June 20 - 30.  Presvytera Deborah has passed on the role of team leader/co-ordinator to Kris Duke and Kara Krueger.  This year's team has more diversity in its over-all make-up, for several members are from outside of our parish.  There is a total of twelve Team members.  Here is the official Team list in its finalized form:

From Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit:
Kris Duke - team leader
Kara Krueger - team leader
James Duke
Shirley Leara
Charlene Myers
Sophia Myers
Christina Davis
Fr. Steven - spiritual leader

 

Other Team Members:
Kathryn Kisha-Wise - E. Canton, OH
Mary Blakely - Pittsburg, PA
Lesa Postel - Cleves, OH
Kristia Fertile - Cincinati, OH

_____

Our parish has been extremely generous in supporting our past Teams (2003 and 2004); and especially with the Nativity Appeal that I personally delivered to Mother Ines in January of this year.  For this reason, we certainly felt a justifiable reluctance to turn yet again to the parish for financial support of this year's June team.  I am fully aware of the issue of straining our resources and perhaps of making one appeal too many. 

However, upon discussion, we decided to overcome such reluctance for an appeal based on at least three sound reasons:

1)  The Hogar San Rafael is an orphanage.  This orphanage provides food, clothing and shelter for a large group of abused, abandoned and orphaned children - together with massive doses of love and healing from the madres and the staff.  These children are the 'poorest of the poor' and the 'weakest of the weak.'  According to the Scriptures, it is our moral responsbility to assist the 'orphan' when possible.  Recall from the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great:  "... defend the widows; protect the orphans ..."   Without the Hogar they would be unprotected and have literally nowhere to go but the streets of Guatemala.  There they would be the victims of the shameless parasites who prey upon such homeless children.  The Hogar has saved at least these children from such an unthinkable fate.  They depend upon the support of faithful Christians to assist them.  Right now, they are experiencing a financial crunch, if not crisis.  They have been forced to lay off some of their faithful staff - from nannies to cooks.  Our financial contributions will allow the Hogar to maintain some stability.  In other works, we have the opportunity to do God's work here.

2)  You may have wanted to contribute to the Nativity Appeal but were unable to at the time.  Now, a fresh opportunity has arisen when perhaps circumstances will allow you to fufill that earlier desire.

3)  I know that for some of you, the Hogar has become an ongoing concern and personal ministry.  Your commitment is deeply appreciated and you look forward to the next opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the Hogar San Rafael.

Once again, we felt that these reasons were indeed weighty enough to inaugurate a new appeal for our June trip.  In addition, we know that our non-parish Team members are doing their best to raise funds from within their own communities, families, circles of friends, etc.  These are new and perhaps untapped resources that will combine with our contributions.

We will provide some further details following our next organizational meeting.  We will be purchasing some requested supplies, but the greatest need of the Hogar presently may be a financial contribution in order to ensure its ongoing quality care of the children. 

Please pass on your donation to our parish treasurer, Steve Korach, making all checks out to the parish.

In Christ,

Fr. Steven and Hogar Mission Team

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Monday Morning Meditation - May 4, 2005 - Bright Week: Extending the Light of Pascha

Dear Parish Faithful,

                    CHRIST IS RISEN!                        INDEED HE IS RISEN!

      We were blessed yet again with a wonderful celebration of Holy Week and Pascha, and though you are probably more than a little exhausted today, I hope that this Bright Monday finds you well and still bearing some traces of the paschal joy that God allowed us to experience over the weekend.  This morning we just completed the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with all of its paschal characteristics. 

     We are now in Bright Week, a special week that in some ways is no less significant theologically, spiritually, liturgically and personally than Holy Week.  It fact, Bright Week provides the perfect complement and balance to Holy Week.   Intense fasting gives way to no fasting.  The sober, if not solemn and somber character of the Holy Week services that led us to Golgatha and the life-giving Cross, give way to the bright and festal services that are an extension of the initial Paschal Liturgy that was inaugurated by our first "Christ is Risen!"   During this entire week, the services - Matins, Vespers and the Liturgy - have the same identical paschal structure and paschal texts, the variables taking us through the eight resurrectional tones and the Scripture readings alone changing.  It as if this entire week were "one day" - the eternal day no longer measured by time of the Kingdom of God which we are vouchsafed to taste through our experience of the Risen Lord in our midst.  Also, dark colors give way to bright colors throughout the church - from vestments to analoy and altar table coverings.  In other words, this week is especially "bright" as the blinding light of the Risen Lord illuminates the life of the Church from within.  As Fr. Sergius Bulgakov has written:

The light of the resurrection of Christ lights the Church, and the joy of resurrection
of the triumph over death, fills it.  The risen Lord lives with us and our life in the
Church is a mysterious life in Christ.  (The Orthodox Church, p. 1)

    Not to spoil anyone's celebration, but as I have learned the hard way,  if there is indeed an "art" to fasting, there is also an "art" to breaking the fast.  "Fast-free" can become nothing more than an excuse for self-indulgence when any and all restraint is simply abandoned in an orgy of consumption, and not necessarily of food and drink alone.  We then face the real danger of losing that which we may have gained during Great Lent - a much needed sense of discipline and restraint in a consumer-driven society that neither embraces the one nor the other.  I believe that the Church understood our human nature well, and the temptations that we face as flesh and blood being, by allowing us only one fast-free week during the Paschal season.  A good Mother - the Church/Ekklesia - knows what is best for Her child!

     Events come and go in our society which is characterized by an impatient desire to always move on to the next form of stimulation, or from fad to fad.  The "American way" in this instance would be to put Pascha behind us and look forward to "something else" that could arouse our excitement because the first Pascha Sunday is over.  But, from the perspective of the Church which knows thoroughly about "times and seasons," and the more natural rhythms of life, the paschal season has just begun.  It will lead us toward the glorious Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost, forty and fifty days away respectively.  We have no need to "move on" because there is nothing better to "move on" to!  This is the Resurrection of Christ - "our God and our Hope."  Let us enjoy the season and feel some of its warmth and light.

                CHRIST IS RISEN!                        INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Fr. Steven

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