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The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Luke 15

The prodigal son- the most beautiful of the parables. This parable came at a time when sinners were gathering around Christ. The Pharisees and Scribes were seeing this and thought to themselves, “this Man gathers sinners together and eats and drinks with them.”

Every word that follows is in response to their judgement. The son comes to the father and asks for his inheritance. The father does not say no, nor does he try to challenge him. He respects his freedom entirely. He not only gave away the inheritance that his son asked for but he allowed him to sell his inheritance.

In the Jewish Michener – one of the writings of the Rabbis on the interpretation of the law – it was permissible to give a child their inheritance before the father passed away, but never could you sell it before the father passed away. The son goes in haste, within days, and sells his entire inheritance. What shame this would have brought upon his father in the eyes of the entire community.

At the time that this happened, the prodigal son’s actions were the equivalent of him saying to his father, “I wish you were dead.” The son did the unthinkable, but we observe how the father reacted in complete respect for his freedom. Christ also demonstrates in this parable a completely different take on sin and sinners. The sin was not the mark of somebody that had made a mistake. It’s not a cross that was put against someone’s name. It was not a catalogue of sins that the sinner would have to account for, one by one. On the contrary, it was a broken relationship – moving away from the unity with God. The son humiliated the father, left him and went as far away as possible.

An old Jewish tradition was called the Kezazah shaming. When a Jewish person lost their inheritance to the Gentiles, they would be greeted with the Kezazah shaming upon their return to their village. The people would get pots and fill them with burnt corn and nuts and break these pots as the person returned to their village. While they did this, they would shout repeatedly, “you are cut off.” It was intended to be a deterrent so that a person would be extra careful with their family’s land.

The prodigal son knew the shame that would befall him if he returned because his immediate action was to tend to the pigs. Pigs were not a kosher food and would not be kept by Jews. The prodigal son must have been working for Gentiles as far away from his father’s home as possible.

And yet, the father never forgot the son; he remained watchful. Christ portrays the image of the father standing in the middle of the village square with his eyes fixated on the entrance. The prodigal son was the last of three parables Christ taught about the lost in response to the judgement of His dining with sinners. He starts with the good shepherd that lost one of his 100 sheep, the good woman that lost a coin and ends with the good father that lost his son. All three are symbols of Christ. The heroes of the parables are those that find the lost and rejoice.

The hero of the parable of the prodigal son is the father. Christ is telling us that He is the father, He is always watching and waiting for the son that has wasted his inheritance. We look at the son who became a herder of pigs whose only food was the food of the pigs. We read that he realises the state he is in and says,” I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19). He doesn’t say, “I will go and be a slave,” but a, “paid servant.” He wants to go back and earn what he lost. He knows that the Kezazah shaming is what awaits him and he knows he has a lot to make up for. The son was not searching for mercy and repentance, his mind was not on the broken relationship but on the lost money. Christ was teaching us that no father truly care more about the money that was lost over the broken relationship with his son. Christ is saying to us, “When you sin, you haven’t lost My money, you haven’t discarded something of Mine but you have broken your relationship with Me.” This is what sin is.

The son returns to the father that has been waiting all along. The father who is Christ, the One who eats with sinners, who yearns to repair every broken relationship. The actions of the father depict Christ’s love for the sinner. The father runs to his son after waiting day after day for the son that has shamed him. We read, “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). He was inwardly moved with compassion. Christ is inwardly moved with compassion for every sinner that returns.

The father ran to his son, possibly to stop the Kezazah ceremony from even commencing. Running for a wealthy middle eastern man was shameful, they would never run in public. Yet, he ran, he humiliated himself for the sake of the son. He embraces and kisses the son before he could even open his mouth. This is Christ speaking to his children. This is Christ’s feeling for the sinner that returns in repentance. He embraces him even before he repents. The son could only manage the beginning of his speech – ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Before he can say, “make me like one of your hired workers,” he stops. He doesn’t need to say those words, he doesn’t need to earn back his inheritance for his father that has accepted him back. The relationship is healed. The father embraces him and overlooks his weakness. This is Christ self-emptying for us – a son that has rejected Him and wasted his inheritance and come only because he was hungry, but Christ overwhelms us with His love.

Peter Chrysologus, Bishop of Ravenna in the 5^th century says, “The father fell on his neck and kissed him. This is how the father judges and corrects his wayward son and gives him not beatings but kisses. The power of love overlooked the transgression. The father redeemed the sins of his son by his kiss and covered them by his embrace in order not to expose the crimes or humiliate the son. The father so healed the son’s wounds as not to leave a scar or a blemish upon him. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and his sins are covered.”

Not only does the father return the son to his original state, but he elevates him for joy for his son who was dead was now alive. This is the nature of who Christ is. He created us out of the super abundance of his love so that we could be with him and we could be united with Him.

Finally, we see how the older son complains after a hard day of labouring in the field to return back to the festivities for his brother. He says to the father, “these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him’” (Luke 15:29-30).

Again, we see the nature of Christ when dealing with the older son. He pleads with him to return, gently encouraging him to share his compassion. He doesn’t condemn him for being judgmental nor scold him. He gently pleads that he becomes more like him, and share in his joy to have his son back. Christ calls us to love the way He loves. To seek the healing of our brothers and sisters and nothing else. All Christ wants is to shower us with His mercy. We were never just statistics of sin, but temples for His dwelling out of the super abundance of His love.

When they accused Christ of eating with His sinners, this is how He responded to show Himself as the father, sinners as the younger son and those that condemned Him as the older son. St Isaac the Syrian says, “among all of God’s actions, there is none which is not entirely a matter of mercy love and compassion.”

God is not waiting to pass or fail us depending on our actions. He waits to hear from us and to bring us to perfection. How then can we not turn him? How then can we not confess? How then can we not run team recognising that we have broken our relationship to him? Knowing that He is ready to forgive and heal us of all sin. May we all know who Christ is in the deepest recesses of our hearts.

You Crown the Year with Your Goodness

You Crown the Year with Your Goodness

by Marc Eskander

Lent is upon us! A time for being alone, purifying ourselves, detaching from the world, burning away all that is unnecessary, and striving toward victory over death. For every time, you have fasted half-heartedly, this is not the year for it, and it has nothing to do with your own spiritual life. In fact, it has nothing to do with being a Christian. For this year, a molecular particle is upon us. Coronavirus has flipped the world as we know it, upside down.

For those that strive for asceticism, coronavirus has half the world locked in their own homes under quarantine. For those that wanted to eat out less often, coronavirus has made eating out next to impossible. For those that do not want to live so apathetically anymore, coronavirus provides the cure. We are constantly ensuring we remain safe, and not just for our own sakes, but for those we may harm.

Whether we like it or not, whether we are fasting or not, we are abstaining from things we love, and not by choice. Lent is the time of year that I should want to slow down, increase asceticism and prepare for the Passion of our Lord. Christ taught us how to detach from the world when He entered the Judean desert to fast and pray for 40 days and nights before His upcoming mission. Christ neither ate nor drank but fought for us, His children, in the wilderness. He starved the body so that He could feed the soul.

Every year, I promise myself that this Lent is going to be different. That I am going to benefit more this year. I’m going to repent of that sinful habit, repair that broken relationship, pray harder, eat less, read more – be more like Christ! Yet this year, I am forced to do all the things I have struggled to in the past. This is the year to capitalise on virtue and embrace the restrictions that befall me.

In years past, occasionally yes, I have tried and benefited from this period, other years it feels like all l did was change my diet, albeit I wasn’t even being that strict. Do I forget what the point of it all was? Fasting is a struggle – and I speak for myself first and foremost – so there needs to be a point. Christ taught us to fast so that we may, “walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”(Galatians 5:16).

With the latest outbreak of coronavirus and the mass hysteria that surrounds it, I can’t help but look upon lent differently this year. I’m not suggesting that God sent coronavirus to teach us a lesson by any means, but I can’t help but reflect upon the timing. One verse in particular has me thinking…

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:12

The link I see so clearly between Lent and coronavirus lies in this verse. While Lent is a time of fasting, prayer, and slowing down, these are the means not the goal.

It is the Resurrection…victory over death and sin; an everlasting Crown. The aim of Lent is repentance. It is victory. Not regret, guilt, shame, self-control, or a mere change of diet. But repentance. Metanoia. A change of heart. Before victory, comes death.

Lent, is the spiritual game changer if you let it be. Similarly, the coronavirus pandemic, is a game changer … but can we make it a spiritual game changer too? In this time, we can gain victory over sin – eternal life by putting to death our desires that chain us to this world. This is what coronavirus brings. We can’t be ignorant to the effects this pandemic will have on many of us – the reality of loneliness, isolation, greed, selfishness, fear of death, and an immense focus on hygiene and cleanliness.

If we shift our mindset to our inner selves, we soon see that we are asleep at the wheel and God is trying to wake us up. Lent is a time of exposing ourselves… Figuring out where we’re missing the mark. It’s a time to realign ourselves with the path of the Cross.

The loneliness and isolation we turn into a dwelling place for the Lord.

The greed and selfishness we turn into an acceptable fast of the Lord where we “share our bread with the hungry” and “bring to our house the poor who are cast out.”

The fear of death we turn into fear of God, strength in tribulation and opening our arms wide open to accept the Cross just as Christ did.

At a time when hygiene and cleanliness are paramount, are our hands clean of sin? Have we rushed to dirty our tongue with the words we speak? Have we clouded the eye of our body? Do we clean the outside while our soul lies among the “swine” as the prodigal son did?

During this time, we must remember Christ’s rebuke the the Pharisees; “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness”(Luke 11:39. So it can’t be a mere coincidence. Use this as an opportunity to reflect and assess. Grab the broom and clean out the inner room of your heart.

Have our social gatherings become an opportunity for gossiping and bad mouthing others? Have we lost ourselves to the “practices” of our faith instead of the real essence of orthodoxy? Have we lost the importance of fellowship and unity in service? Do we just assume because our youth “are in church” they’re okay? With so many churches in lockdown, we cannot allow our spiritual lives to be put on hold but we must strive to fill our inner lives in the secret place, for our Father who sees in secret will reward us openly (Matthew 6:4), especially in this time of uncertainty.

This period could be God’s way of saying,”Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him” (Matthew 25:6). We must stop hoarding toilet paper and start filling our lamps with oil. Repentance is change, and change we must. The Bridegroom is coming to that guy that comes to church and leaves because He feels no love… He is coming to your friend stuck in that sin that is destroying them… He is coming to that girl in your class that is depressed and feels no one understands her. What are we doing to prepare them?

This is a wake up call! If we use it wisely, this Lent can become for us an opportunity to share in the immense Glory of the Resurrection. We too can experience the purification and change that Christ demonstrated for us in the wilderness. Through this isolation, doom, and darkness of our selfish human behaviour, our “healing shall spring forth speedily”, we “shall call, and the Lord will answer”, our “Light will break forth like the morning” (Isaiah 58:8).

The Pride of Life

The Pride of Life

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Samuel Fanous

Matthew 4:1-11

Today we have a perfect reading for us as we’re in Lent. Jesus was baptised in the Jordan and as soon as He came up out of the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came unto Him and this is immediately when He was led by the Spirit into the temple. If you think about Adam and Eve as the first humans who were tempted by sin in the Garden of Eden, they failed. These temptations are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

From the book of Genesis when Eve was tempted by sin, it says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food..” – this is the lust of the flesh, her hunger, “… and that it was pleasant to the eyes” – this is the lust of the eyes, “…and a tree desirable to make one wise” – this is the pride of life “…she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

Eve lusted out of hunger for the fruit. She looked at the fruit that was pleasant to the eye, and this was where the devil said I will make you ruler over everything, I will make you wise and she believed the devil. This was the pride of life. Adam and Eve represent all of humanity. Like us they sinned.

The first temptation is the lust of the flesh. It says the devil came to Jesus and gave him a stone after fasting for 40 days. Can you imagine not eating for 40 days? Eve looked at the stone that the devil gave to her and she saw that the stone was good as fruit. She was hungry and she desired it.

Oregon says the devil tries to convince us that this stone is bread and will nourish us. He tries to convince us that if you are well fed, if you have comfort, if you have sexual fulfilment, if you have everything you want in this world to satisfy your flesh, you will be satisfied. However, to you and to everyone it is just as good as a stone. It cannot satisfy us any more than a stone could satisfy anyone’s hunger.

The “bread” will provide a minute of enjoyment, a minute of satisfaction, but there is no lasting satisfaction with any of the lusts of the flesh. Christ teaches us how to overcome these lusts. He denied His body as soon as He was baptised. The second He was baptised, the battle began, and this is why, for most people, Christianity is too hard. It is too hard to fast, too hard to go to Church, too hard to pray and too hard to love unconditionally. So, most people take the easy way out. They don’t pray, they don’t fast, they don’t love unconditionally, they don’t come to church because it’s easy.

Jesus says that the easy way out will never satisfy you. What’s His response to the devil? He says “man shall not live by bread alone.” Our satisfaction will not come from bread but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The second temptation is the pride of life. That pride where in your heart you want to be like God, you want to have His authority. You think “I am my own God.” Satan convinced Eve that God didn’t want her to eat the fruit because if she did, she will have His power. Eve thought that was a pretty good deal. I eat this fruit and I become like God.

This is the pride where she wanted to become better than what she was created to be. Most of us want this in our lives. We want to live, ruling our own life and making our own decisions. How many of us live as if we are God, at least to ourselves and probably to those around us?

Everything in this world, everyone in this world exists for me. For what I want, for my comfort, my satisfaction and my achievement in life. It is very difficult to realise that you are proud until you have been humiliated.

When I’m humbled, when I’m embarrassed, when I’m disrespected, what happens? People will say that they’re not proud but watch when someone disrespects them publicly. What happens when someone is more successful than me or when someone is smarter than me. Do I feel anger and bitterness on the inside? Why is this person better looking than me? Why does everything good happen to this person and not to me? It’s my right. I should have it. We don’t realise it until we’re humbled and humiliated, we have no idea that we are filled with pride.

Everyone suffers from this to some extent – it is the basic human condition. Jesus, once again teaches us how to overcome. His death and His essence is so beyond our comprehension that we can’t even begin to fathom it, yet this same very God emptied Himself of all His glory and every right that He had, yet He had all the rights.

He was crucified, He was poor, He had nothing. If God emptied himself of His glory and humbled Himself, then we must. There is no disrespect, no humiliation, no embarrassment that could ever compare to what Christ has gone through.

When we hold a grudge, respond in hatred, act petty, with envy, with jealousy and cannot forgive, we are not acting to be God, we are making ourselves out to be far above God. When we are humbled, we apologise when we feel like we shouldn’t, we accept disrespect the same as you would respect. That is when you are behaving like God.

The last temptation is the lust of the eyes. The fruit was pleasant to the eyes and this is the human desire. I look at everyone around me and I want what they have. I’m never satisfied with what I have. This is the curse of Western civilisation. Jesus once again teaches us how to overcome this. He was baptised and immediately He fled to the desert to the wilderness. Saint Arsenius says, there’s one way to overcome this world. Flee, be silent, and be still.

Wealth, investments, and status are only attractive because we have nothing to compare it to. If we go to the wilderness, away from the noise and distractions and find God, we realise all of these things are counted as nothing. They’re relatively meaningless. It doesn’t mean we don’t work and try to achieve in all the things we do, but they have no hold over me. If I have them, thanks be to God if I lose them. We have to recognise that there is nothing external that can satisfy me, only what is within.

Christ says “Behold, the kingdom of Heaven is within you.” It’s only what’s within me that can satisfy me. We are made in the image of God, in His likeness. If you want to find Christ, retreat to yourself. There you will find him.

Let’s focus on retreating into my inner deserts. Let’ take the opportunity to utilise that quiet. Retreat into your bedroom and find Christ there. If you go into your bedroom and open your heart before God, you will find the pearl of great price that Christ talks about. When you find the pearl of great price Christ says, you will sell everything you have to get that pearl.

Let’s overcome the temptations like Christ showed us by hungering from physical comfort. We are nourished by the word of God, which is Jesus Christ, by emptying ourselves of our pride, sacrificing ourselves and living for others and finally retreating into the wilderness, into the silence and stillness, to encounter God who is within me.

Where are You, Lord?

Where are You, Lord?

by Marcus Mikhail

Where are You, Lord, can’t You see I need You?

Where are You, Lord, I need You to be true.

True to your promises, true to your love,

True to Your blessings and grace from above.

Where is the strength that You promised to give,

Or the peace that surpasses all understanding to let me live?

Why can’t I stand up?

Why don’t I have strength to live?

Did I forget that with You all things are possible;

Did I forget that all things will work for good for those called to Your purpose?

I feel like my problems are not salvageable,

But really, they are only on the surface.

I live a life that is external,

When all the joy in the world resides internal.

In the secret place, You reward me openly

In the secret place, I fall in love with You totally;

So much that I can’t remember the force of the external.

Help me, dear Lord, to get up and not forfeit.

This life is tough but I know You will not leave me orphan.

I love you, Lord, I want to trust You with all my being

I need to trust You, but sometimes I can’t believe what I am seeing.

I’ll climb every mountain cross every ocean

Until I find You and cease the commotion.

Lord, help my unbelief help me to stay true

Help me to stop questioning, “where are You?”

You are always there regardless of the distractions.

You are my Lord, You are my comfort.

Your ways are higher than any worldly attraction,

Help me to trust Your promises so that my life reveals You triumphant.

Let me never let you go and always pray,

That you will be my hope and help me through the grey.

You are my shield, my counsellor and guide

You’ve helped me so much, how could I deny?

Let me live according to Your will

And help me to remember to be still.

Be still and know that you are God

Be still and know You are my rod

As I feel a sense of relief You have helped me overcome my unbelief.

Did I Make The Right Choice?

by Sandra
Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantine and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”― Sylvia Plath

Last September I had a pretty big decision to make about where I was going to accept a job. I called up the people who knew me best to get their insight, asked my father of confession for his wisdom and spoke to people working in the same field for their perspective.

Whether it’s deciding over relationships, colleges, schools or jobs, sometimes we might find ourselves with two seemingly great choices, and so we find ourselves in a dilemma. Each choice will come at a cost; each choice will have positives and negatives, and ultimately no choice will be perfect.

I’ve never been a fan of pros and cons lists – I find that life can’t be categorised that easily. However, a friend gave me advice that helped. I was told to assign a value to each point under my two options. When I started writing the values I held, I started to see that while both choices were in line with the vision I had for my life, there were some values that were more significant than others. And while one option had way more values than the other, the other which only had a couple were much more fundamental to me.

A few of the things I’ve learned this season…

“We don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). In the midst of his crisis, King Jehoshaphat acted by praising God. We also in the midst of our confusion and turmoil over decisions, need to learn the art laying our anxieties and restless thoughts down, being still and opening our heart in worship. The voice of the Holy Spirit can be so gentle that it’s only when we spend time in his presence that we can discern His Voice from all the noise.

Pray and learn from whatever happens on the other side. No matter what you choose, there will be struggle, and there will be trials for we know “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Sometimes those are a result of our choices, but in the end, they will be used by God to sanctify us and purify us. Living with our eyes on eternity is important in those seasons to understand that nothing is outside of His never-ending and unfailing love and mercy. There is no such thing as Plan B or Z with Christ. He will use all for our deification; it might take us longer on certain paths but even then, all we need to do is repent, and we are restored.

There’s a principle in radiology that says even if you find the fracture on an x-ray you should keep looking for other signs because you don’t want to be blindsided. Bring your decision before the Lord in prayer and meditation but challenge yourself to be curious and look deeper into your intentions, motivations and reasons for each choice. Give yourself time, patience and space and trust that the Holy Spirit will examine you, try you and reveal what is in depths of your heart.

Sometimes God’s will is clear and other times, most times, God allows us the freedom to choose and become whoever we want, though He may certainly have a direction for you. Submission is hard as we deny our self that we may be dedicated to Another. The hardest part in all of this is asking God “Who do you want me to be?” I think of Mary, called to be Mother of God; Abraham called to be Father of Nations and the disciples called to be Fishers of Men. God revealed to them who they were in His eyes and with that promise He gave them the strength and grace to become. Sometimes we don’t know how to choose because we don’t know who God is asking us to be. That may not be a question that gets answered overnight, it needs silence and self-awareness and time alone with Him. Sometimes it’s a process – it takes making one choice faithfully, and waiting faithfully and then making another and waiting to see what is revealed. But it’s a question we all desperately need the answer to – more than what we do God wants us to know who we are. It is only in knowing that, can we then make the decisions about what we do, how we spend our time, money and emotions. Because where we invest our heart, there we invest our life.

What if there is no such thing as the perfect choice? Because choosing means we can’t have everything. Because we don’t know how things will change and how those things that change will change us. Because we don’t know who we will be or what we will need in the future? Because we can sit here and play “what if the the grass is greener over there?” all day and it won’t bring us any closer to an answer – only further from being satisfied. And what if none of that matters because the point is to grow and seek His kingdom regardless of our choices?

So trust yourself. Most of our choices are not made in isolation. Where we are now and the choices we are making today is a culmination of all the choices and experiences in the past that have led up to this point. Trust that the God who has knit you from birth, has been guiding you and shaping you like clay can lead you today in this choice. Sometimes it’s fear of not having the perfect picture of our future figured out that holds us back.

A year later I’m fighting to find peace in the unknown road I’m on, but I want to continue to fight and continue to hope in Him because when I put the pieces in front of me, they don’t fit. Before me lays the back of a colourful tapestry and I have little idea what the canvas is going to look like. There are some dark threads from the past and some strange shapes from the present. But if I let Him just take all the colours, threads and pieces, I don’t have to sit and stare at them. The root of every untrusting feeling is the fear that He is not in fact good and that His love will end, especially when I feel I have no clue or answers about what to do. But if I forfeit my desire to know every outcome, if I forfeit the need to have physical evidence or feeling as evidence, then I will trust in His Word that He is with me, and that He is weaving stars and gold from what looks like odd patterns to me. And doesn’t that make all the difference?

C.S. Lewis — ‘I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?’

One choice we can always make, even in the midst of painful uncertainty, the simplest place to start is with this: “Love the Lord your God … and love your neighbour as yourself. No other commandment is greater…” You will always be where you need to be as long as Love is your aim.

Original blog found at – http://becomingfullyalive.com/did-i-make-the-right-choice/

Whom the Lord Loves, He Chastens

Whom the Lord Loves, He Chastens

by Shery Abdelmalak

“For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:12

In Proverbs, we have the image of a loving father and son relationship, the father corrects so that one day his son will be even better than him. But what does this mean to the rest of us, who am I to correct, and how do I receive correction?

When the people went to stone the sinner woman, Jesus stopped them saying, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone” (John 8:7). As Jesus said this, He was writing on the ground. While it is not mentioned what He was writing, the Church Fathers suggest that He was writing the sins of the people. By extension, if every time I condemn another person for their sin, God remembers my sin then any desire to “vent” or express any ill-feelings quickly disperses.

On the contrary, in Jeremiah, we read, “I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). How do we gain this forgiveness? By imitation of the One who taught us to love when He first loved us and died on the Cross for our sake (1 John 4:19). Love is what covers a multitude of sin (1 Peter 4:8). When we face sins committed against us, we can choose condemnation or we can choose love.

In condemnation, we do the same as those that stoned the sinner woman, and we know that in the remembrance of her sins, Christ remembered the sins of those that stoned her. To strive for justice and fairness also means being accountable for my own sins, and the price of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

More so, I need to consider my own dwelling place that I find refuge in at the end of each day. If I have hardened my heart all day, if I have spent my days defending my own honour and allowing no room for any kind of mistreatment, how can I soften my heart in prayer to the One that is Love?

If I learn to take the sins of others to the Cross, I soften my heart and prepare it as the dwelling place of the King. I can spend my days in prayer for those that have hurt me. I can see a glimpse of the love Christ has for me because I know that no matter what anyone does to me, I have done worse to my Beloved. I can be a part of God’s handiwork. Is that not exactly what God wanted for us? “As I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34).

When it comes to correction in love, it is only for the benefit of the other person. These are not irrational or emotion-filled words. When Nathan corrected David, it was the wake-up call that created the repentance of Psalm 51. He told him a story of a rich man that stole from a poor man all he had. He knew that this would arouse goodness within David for he knew David and he loved him (2 Sam 12:1-15). Correction cannot be separated from love, nor can it be effectively executed if ill-feelings are present.

When I look at how God deals with me, He doesn’t give me all the answers when I ask for them. When I am at the depths of despair, He shows me His love. He doesn’t tell me the mistakes I made that caused the turmoil I find myself in. So why do I attempt to correct His children? God has made me, fearfully and wonderfully, He has plans for me. Every sin, every weakness, every doubt in my mind, He is going to heal. We’re not meant to fake it, we’re meant to take it all to the throne of grace. St Peter says to take all your cares to Him, for He cares for you. Do I know Him enough to be giving myself life advice, let alone other people? Sometimes I can feel the love of God so strongly in my life, I feel safe, I feel secure, but even then, it is just a glimpse – a shadow – of His limitless love.

How can I make a judgement on another when my knowledge is limited? What I know about life is based on what God knows I can handle and what is relevant to me. He is giving the same grace to those around me. It’s not my job to teach them lessons He so carefully taught me. To be a friend of God is to support others along their journey. Recognise that I don’t have all the answers. I use what He has given me. I have strengths, but I don’t disregard my weaknesses. When someone comes to me in weakness, I don’t act high and mighty, I approach them with lowliness. I make sure that they don’t feel small when they’re in my presence. I don’t tell them my heroic stories. If I’m going to tell them anything, it is that what they’re feeling, I felt too. If they’re feeling weak, so am I, and I understand that it is in weakness my need for a Saviour becomes apparent.

Christ taught us to love beyond limit. He taught us that greater love has no limits than to lay down one’s life for his friends. He didn’t tell me to play Dr. Phil, He just told me to love, and love will cause the change. He didn’t tell me to lecture people into taking my superior life advice on board. Support your friends, pray for them, see a fault in them and pray all the more.

At a time when Noah was at his lowest, he was drunk and naked and his sons laughed at his shame, but he also had sons that covered his nakedness. Every time you see a fault in a person, you have the choice to cover them or to shame them. Be the one that covers their shame. It is a gift when God reveals the weaknesses of another to you, because it is in that moment that He is inviting you to share in the salvation of another. When we see the sins of others and pray for them, we partake in God’s ultimate plan for their life to grant them salvation.

I can’t forget how patiently God deals with me, He reveals glimpses of His love when I am down. When I have sinned and the repercussions are beyond me, He shields me from the damage my own sins have caused. The remembrance of my sins and the greatness of my God are what grant peace to the troubled heart.

Perpetual quietness of heart is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I blamed and despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.

– Andrew Murray

Perhaps it is perpetual quietness of heart that causes change in another, more than our words of correction ever could. More so, that same spirit of peace is the prerequisite for turning any condemnation into helpful correction as we strive toward the ultimate goal of eternity with the One who is Love.

Let Your Eyes be Filled with Light

Let Your Eyes be Filled with Light

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Matthew 6:19-33

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – Matthew 6:21. This is a vital reminder to lay treasures in heaven and not possession on earth.

Jesus goes on to say, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

This is strange comparison made by our Lord. He first talks about treasures in Heaven and then diverts to the lamp of the body being the eye. They don’t seem to be related, but if you look closely, the relation becomes clear. Whatever your heart treasures, your eye will naturally be drawn to.

Why does He refer to the eye as the lamp of the body? The word lamp in Greek means source or window. The eye is the window of the body, it is the entry point for light to enter the body. But what is the light that comes to us?

St Cyril of Alexandria says, “Before the coming of our Saviour, the Father of darkness, Satan, made the world dark and blackened all things with an intellectual bloom. In this state of affairs, the Father gave us the Son, Jesus to be a lamp to the world to illuminate with divine light and to rescue us from satanic darkness.”

Furthermore, the gospel of John says, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). Christ is the source of light. Light is an energy and we know energy must always extend from an energy source. By extension, Christ is the lamp and our eyes will never see light unless they see Christ. Where your treasure is, your heart will be also for your eyes are ever upon the desires of your heart.

For the eyes to see and recognise Christ, they must be functional. If the eye is good then the entire body will be full of light. The actual translation for the word, ‘good’ is ‘seen.’ If the eye is seen then the entire body will be full of light. When the eye is fixated on the seen, life will have a single purpose with no confusion for seeing truth.

If the eye is bad then the whole body will be filled with darkness. The Greek translation for the word, ‘bad’ is, ‘disease.’ If the eye is disease then nothing you do will allow light to travel through. We must be conscientious in protecting our eyes from any sources of harm. Another requirement for eyes to function is the presence of light. Eyes cannot function without light, they can’t retain health unless there is a source of light. In babies for example, if they are starved of light, their eyes will not be able to develop into functioning eyes that bring images to the body. Receiving of light is what ensures eyes can grow and function appropriately.

When the eyes are starved of light, they adapt to the darkness. They begin to hallucinate and see things that aren’t there. First, they see moving patterns and then turn they see full blown images. For our eyes to be functional, they need the light of Christ. This is why Christ says, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

St John Chrysostom says, “If we destroy our eyes which ought to give light to the rest of our bodies, by what means are we going to see clearly? For when the pilot is drowned, when the candle is put out, when the general is taken prisoner what sort of hope will remain for those that are under his command?”

But more than this – if our eyes are diseased and deprived of life, we are not only in darkness but we begin to hallucinate. Our sense of right and wrong becomes distorted and we do not know how to act. We become angry irrationally, we judge inaccurately, we imagine people have said things against us, we create false scenarios and negative perceptions of other people and then act upon these.

Amid all this turmoil, what we see most clearly is who we actually are. A painter will see the world in colour, a builder will see the world in measurements and a musician perceives the world in sounds. We see as we are. Somebody that is full of anger and hate can only see other angry and hateful people. Somebody that is insecure feels threatened by everyone around them.

If you have murky vision, everything looks dirty; nothing looks clean. But if you have clear vision everything looks beautiful. Father Bishoy of Alexandria was an example of someone so filled with light that he could only see good in other people. When someone would come to him and say that they spent all night thinking sinful thoughts, Father Bishoy would see this person’s capacity for contemplation. When someone confessed that they had spent all night parting, he saw the person’s capacity to pray all night. This is why Christ could only see good in the sinners that came to Him in repentance. Mary Magdalene came to Him as a prostitute, He saw the thief on the Cross but both gained the Kingdom.

May we open our eyes, purify our vision and see Christ as He is where His light not only purifies my eyes but will help them grow so that I can see everyone like Christ sees them. Let us understand the symptoms of disease. If I can only see evil, mistakes, darkness and malice in people around me then I know there is a problem with my eyes, and not those who I see. When I have conversations with my friends, what do I say about other people? Let us purify our eyes so that our interactions remain pure also. May we learn to see how Christ sees. May Christ be our eternal source of light.

Busyness: The Illness of Our Time

by Veronia
Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blogsite

I believe we all have terminal cancer. From the moment of our conception we go through this slow progression towards our own death. Regardless of the type of cancer we have and the speed at which it is growing death is a reality for all, whether we have a few months to live or many years.

In the current generation each of us is encountering and experiencing the disease of this age: busyness. It has become the norm; if one is not busy then something is wrong with them … they must be lazy or intellectually deficient.

We are constantly running around from one thing to the next and when we look back on our day or week it’s all a blur. We feel less and less satisfied and fulfilled.

Since having grown up most of my life in a slow-paced country and then moving to a much faster paced lifestyle, it has been and continues to be a huge struggle for me to adjust.

I have been reading a book this Lent that has really enlightened me about this struggle.

The book talks about despondency and our relationship to time. Despondency is given the definition of the failure to care about things that matter, for example our spiritual life and the care of our neighbor.

Despondency happens as a result of our busyness. We lose our desire to grow and be, our desire to dream and wonder, and our desire for deep intimacy. We as humans choose a busy life to escape the reality of our pain and suffering. Our minds as a result abandons the pain of caring. We lose the capacity to focus, to encounter and love which in turn provokes a toxic kind of emptiness – a vacuum that attracts all manner of distraction, restlessness, rumination, anxiety, fear and lethargy.

Despondency causes us to move from living to existing.

The root of despondency is the broken relationship we have with and our perception of time. We have confined our notions of time to fleeting moments throughout our life. We despise time as we always complain we don’t have enough of it as it is constantly ‘flying by.’

Through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Christ has sanctified time. Time is no longer a ticking bomb counting down to our final moment. Without Christ, time enslaves us whereas in Christ time is liberating and time, most importantly, is relational.

Yes we live in chronological time but through the incarnation, where the One who is out of time came in time, made time eternal. Despondency traps us in chronological time where there is only despair and it makes us constantly want to escape from the present moment. The mind prefers thinking about either the past or the future as they are both the constructs of the mind’s own doing and our mind can control them. The present moment is outside of the mind’s control and therefore is completely ignored.

We desire to be ‘anywhere but here; any moment but now.’ We have become dissatisfied with our present. In that way time has become our enemy, a prison in which we find ourselves locked up in leading to our own self-destruction.

Man now has the ability to live in the present moment, where Christ is. Christ is in the now. Eternity is now.

Only in the present moment can I meet with Christ and only the in the present moment can I dine with my fellow brethren. Christ is not in my past ruminations and He is certainly not in my future fantasies. We have given our minds so much control that we can no longer tolerate being present. Our minds have become the author of our stories of despair and as a result our negative fantasies become more attractive to us.

We become so focused on getting to the next big thing… the next holiday, the next event, next weekend, our next meal. We no longer know or want to be present and focused with the task at hand, we no long focus on the person in front of us or enjoy the magnificent experience before us.

The here and now is not about the duration of time but about my state of being. The present moment is not measured by clocks or determined by the mind but it is experienced by the heart. In the present moment we are transformed, we become more watchful, attentive and sober.

We are able to experience.

We are able to enjoy every moment that has been presented to us, no matter where we are or who we are with. Because every time we are present we meet with Christ regardless.

One of the fruits of despondency is lukewarm prayers because we lack the ability to be present. We then question why prayer seems like I am talking to a brick wall and why I haven’t experienced the joy and transformative life of prayer.

Unfortunately our society is so good at deceptively allowing despondency to creep into our lives with the bombardment of technology and work.

Fortunately for those in Christ and in the Church, the Church continually calls us all who are wandering back into Life, back into the present moment. One beautiful way She has done this is through the Divine Liturgy. In Liturgy we experience, if we are present, the eternal now. Christ meets us where we are as heaven and earth are united.

Liturgy has no longer become the centre of our worship but the centre of our inconvenience as we want to get Liturgy ‘out of the way,’ so we can socialise or get to Sunday school etc. We gaze up during Liturgy thinking about what we will eat after or where we will go.

Liturgy is the pinnacle of the present moment but we despise it, as we cannot stand the present moment.

Thank God for this season of Lent where the Church gives us things to practice living in the present moment. It’s a time to slow down, to attend liturgies, and to wait on God in prayer.

To paraphrase Kallistos Ware, the most important time you are in is now, the most important place you are is the one you are in now and the most important person there is, is the one you are with now.

Let’s be in the now to meet Christ and to meet each other where healing and transformation may abound for all.

I challenge you today to practice being present in the remaining time of Lent and hopefully beyond.

Quiet down your mind about thinking about tomorrow while you are present with the one sitting in front of you today.

Be present in whichever task you are doing now and if you have the urge to escape by pick up your phone for example, then wait a few minutes, don’t act on impulse and wait for the urge to pass.

Let’s switch off our fantasies and ruminations and instead switch on our hearts and be attentive to the here and now.

The present is not an emptiness but a Fullness.

Original blog found at – http://becomingfullyalive.com/busyness-the-illness-of-our-time/

Finding One’s Calling In Life

by John
Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site

I wanted to share this simple but powerful pamphlet I stumbled upon on my visit to St Vladimir’s Seminar by the late Fr Thomas Hopko. It is a refreshing take on answering the question “what’s my calling in life?” Although many of these are highlighted in the pamphlet itself, I wanted to share some of my favourite:

“God knows every person from before the foundation of the world and provides their unique life and the specific conditions of their earthly way that are literally the best possible conditions for them.”

This is a convicting statement as Fr. Hopko explains that it is pride that leads us to say things like, if only I would have been born in this time period, or into a wealthy family, or this or that way… We think we know better than God what is best for us! It is an awe-inspiring and humbling thought to know that God has placed us exactly where and when we need to be, and given us everything we need.

Another quote that touched me was:

“…’form of life’ is not necessarily a job or profession. For example, some people may be called to suffer on this earth and to bear the results of fallen humanity in the most violent manner—to be victimised by disease, affliction, or both physical and mental disability; to be the objects of other people’s cares or disdain.”

Our vocation isn’t necessarily tied to what we do in this world, but rather who we are becoming. Being a doctor, lawyer, or engineer should not be an identity but rather a means to an end. Furthermore, we are instructed to bear illnesses that come to us patiently knowing that it is God who has allowed them and is using this vocation of suffering as a means for salvation.

This pamphlet also touches on the ‘ways of salvation’ that the Lord has given us:

“Some will sanctify their lives being married; others will be single. Some will do it in clerical orders; others as lay people. Some will be monastic; most will live in the everyday secular world.”

But it also affirms the vocation we share in common:

“In a certain sense, every person has the same vocation, which is to be a saint… We can cooperate with God. We can share His holiness. We can become, as the saints themselves teach us, all that God Himself is by His gracious action in our lives”

These last two quotes really sum up the entire matter for me:

“In the eyes of God none is better than the other. None is higher or more praiseworthy. Each must find his or her own way and glorify God through it. Ultimately this is all that matters”

“Being faithful were we are is the basic sign that we will God’s will for our lives”

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! (download by clicking this link)

Original blog found at – http://becomingfullyalive.com/finding-ones-calling-in-life/

The Perfect Fast for Lent

The Perfect Fast for Lent

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Sam Fanous

Matthew 6:1-18

The Gospel reading this Sunday explains to us ‘how’ to fast during Lent. This is the most powerful time of the year in which your spiritual life can be recharged. If we ignore it and we do nothing for the next 40 days and we reach Holy Week, how can we expect to reap the fruits of our labours in Holy Week if we’ve ignored God the whole 40 days?

Holy Week is a journey, a climax of everything that we do in the next 40 days. When we ponder on the question “Why do we fast? Why is it that the church does something that makes our life difficult? Why is it that when I have a nice steak in front of me during this period, I have to say no? Do we like to see people suffering?” We have to make reference back to what Jesus did. Jesus lived His whole life on earth as one movement, from the moment of His birth to one movement on the cross. That cross was pure suffering and also the greatest moment in the history of humanity. Jesus Himself is not a man. He did not appear in history in the year dot. He was before all ages and was equal to God in essence, so the man that we saw on earth is Himself God. But as a free choice He chose to empty himself, to deny Himself, His power, His glory and His throne, for the sake of creatures who were ungrateful. For the sake of creatures who needed salvation. That is really the starting point of the change in all of history and why we mark BC or AD as the beginning of human history as we know it.

So, we wonder, if this is God’s personality and if God is living within us, is this the personality that we must have? A self-sacrificing personality? One that doesn’t satisfy its own desires time and time again?

Man is a composite being, we are body and spirit. In saying “No, I won’t eat this burger. I’ll go hungry for a period of time” we say “no” to the body in the small things and are able to say “yes” to the Spirit. Some people think that it’s okay to fast and just say “no” to the body. This has one of two outcomes. Firstly, we will achieve nothing from the fast. I may lose some weight; however, I may achieve nothing spiritually. Secondly, I will fall into spiritual pride. Similar to the Pharisees when they fasted, they told everyone about it, they walk around saying “look at me, this is what I’m doing for God.” Christ would say to that person your reward was from the praise of men. The most important type of fasting is to fast saying “no” to the body in addition to saying “yes” to the Spirit.

How do we fast? Practically in the Orthodox Church and in every Christian Church up until the 16th century there were certain foods we avoid. We are basically vegan. That means no dairy, no meat and in this particular fast, no seafood. More importantly, Lent should be combined with a period of abstinence according to everyone’s ability, where we don’t eat for a certain period of the day. We then break it with simple food because we’re reminded that the more we fill our stomach, the more we’ve satisfied our body and the weaker our Spirit becomes.

In the book of Isaiah, we see the perfect example of fasting. God is talking to the people of Israel and says.

“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:3, 6-7)

This is the perfect fast. Fasting is not to make myself miserable. It is to deny myself and say yes to everyone around me. It’s to live for other people and look around with the eyes of Christ. When Christ saw a sinner woman or a tax collector, He didn’t condemn them. He loved them. All of us know someone who is suffering. They may not be starving, but they may be starving for companionship. They may be lonely. They may have nowhere to celebrate Easter. People are suffering but we close our eyes to it. All we have to do is open our eyes and look and we will see exactly who needs our love. Lent is the time to forget the concept in this world that we live for ourselves. We are not here to live for ourselves, we’re here to live for other people and to live for God.

The time of Lent is also the time of prayer. Without prayer, your fasting is useless. The only way to have healing like it says in Isaiah is by prayer and fasting. Think of lent this period as the start of a relationship between you and God. Our relationship with God is like that with our best friend. It is not for Him to be distant and every now and again when I need something to awkwardly come into His presence and speak to him. It is to build a relationship where we are best friends where we know each other. He knows my secrets. I know His secrets.

If you feel as if your prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back, there is a solution to this. Combine fasting with prayer, come before God not just physically hungry but spiritually hungry. Feel in yourself physical food has no sustenance for me. Any kind of spiritual goal you want to achieve in your life, it should be done without anyone knowing. Whilst God sees us in secret, He rewards us openly.

Let’s start tomorrow. Let us try not to make excuses. Don’t ask questions. Don’t make it easier for yourself. Don’t give yourself shortcuts. This is the one time of the year where we sacrifice for God. Only He knows what you’re sacrificing. The more you sacrifice the more you feel hungry and combining this with prayer, the sweeter it will be as an offering to God.