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Are You Sure You’re On The Right Road?

“If you’re wrong about being right with God, then it really doesn’t matter what else you might be right about.”

By: Fr Anthony Messeh

Original post by Fr. Anthony Messeh blog site

About 15 years ago, a friend of mine and I set out on a road trip to visit another friend who lived about three hours away. The route to get there was fairly simple; it was one highway the entire way. Neither of us owned a GPS at the time, but we didn’t need one. We had something just as good… MAPQUEST!

The directions were clear and straightforward: take Route 50 for 140 miles, then once you hit a city called Westover, MD, the destination will be on your right after ½ mile.

Simple. Straightforward. A piece of cake. What could go wrong?

Well… to make a long story short…SOMETHING WENT WRONG!

Unbeknownst to us at the time, we somehow managed to exit off of Route 50 and onto Route 301 mistakenly. Route 301 goes NORTH and we need to be going EAST. So instead of being in Westover, Maryland, we found ourselves in Glasgow, Delaware!

(I say “we” but really it was HIM; my friend was the one driving, not me. I was actually asleep in the passenger seat at the time and had I been awake, surely we wouldn’t have gotten lost 🙂 )

We drove for almost an hour on Route 301 – the whole time clueless to the fact that we were on the wrong road. But the real problem wasn’t that we were on the wrong road; the real problem was that we were on the wrong road THINKING that we were on the right road.

Let me repeat: the real problem wasn’t that we were on the wrong road; the real problem was that we were on the wrong road THINKING that we were on the right road.

Because we thought we were on the right road, we didn’t stop and ask for directions… we didn’t check a map… we weren’t worried or concerned in the least. As far as we were concerned, everything was fine. The sun was shining… the birds were singing… we were cruising with the windows down in my 1999 Mitsubishi Galant.

Everything seemed fine.

But it wasn’t. We were on the wrong road. And every minute we were on that wrong road was taking us one step further away from our destination.

One of the earliest writings in Christianity is a book called the Didache, also known as “The Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations.” It was written in the first century by the 12 guys who knew Jesus best and its purpose was to convey to the world His teachings.

Listen to what the first sentence in the book says:

“There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.” Didache 1:1

Simple and to the point. There are only two roads in life; if you’re not on one then you’re on the other. They may look similar in the beginning, but they are as different as can be. One road leads to life; the other to death.

SO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON THE RIGHT ROAD!

“Ok, thanks for the public service announcement Fr. Anthony, but you don’t have to worry about me. I’m ok. I’m definitely on the right road. I mean, I’m a “good” person. I go to church almost every Sunday… I help old ladies across the street when I can… and I read YOUR BLOG faithfully every day! So surely I’m on the right road, aren’t I?”

Look… I’m not saying that you’re not on the right road, but I’m saying that you need to check. My friend and I spent an hour driving down the wrong road thinking that we were on the right road. And during that entire time, we didn’t have a clue we were lost. We thought everything was fine. But in reality, we were lost. We were so lost that we didn’t even know we were lost. And every passing second that went by just made us more and more lost…

…UNTIL WE REALISED IT! Once we realised it, everything was fine. We turned around and retraced our steps and got back onto Route 50. Getting back on the right road isn’t the problem; the problem is REALIZING that I’m not currently on it.

So which road are you on? Be honest. Are you walking on the path of life? Are you deepening your relationship with God daily? Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you becoming more like Him?

Don’t just say “I’m not doing anything bad.” That isn’t the question. The question is “are you growing closer to God and closer to His image within you?”

Please don’t think that I’m judging you or trying to scare you; I’m not. I’m just asking questions. One of the things that I learned from that road trip is that it never hurts to stop and ask for directions every now and then – especially when you’re headed to a destination that you’ve never been to before.

Why? Because you don’t want any surprises at the end of the road.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23

Original blog found at- http://www.franthony.com/blog/are-you-sure-youre-on-the-right-road

Receiving The Lord

Receiving The Lord

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Chad Hatfield

Luke 2:21-39

The Feast of the meeting of our Lord in the Temple is one that is often forgotten from our memory and experience, however, this year we are blessed that it falls on a Sunday. In Orthodox tradition, when we gather in the liturgy temporarily, we recreate the temporary setting of the temple – the place where the bloodless sacrifice is to be offered.

This Feast is the last of the Great Incarnation Feasts and ties together what the Church is presenting to us in the incarnation Feasts. The first of these Incarnation Feasts is the Feast of the Nativity. From the beginning of the Church year we understand that the Lord has come seeking you and I. It is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. It is written in scripture that this is incomprehensible by Jews and Muslims and other religions that God would humble himself to take our humanity in every way. That ours is a God who humbles himself to come to seek out you and I.

This message of God seeking us, is one that God himself spoke from the beginning of time, in the opening words of Genesis. Even in the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God seeks these beings who are primary elements of the universe and have come from dirt. Like Adam and Eve, we also are made of primary elements of the universe, we are dirt, we are minerals. Science today tells us we are primarily made of water – we really aren’t much.

We must remember that we have come from dust and will return to dust. However, we reflect the Glory of God, because God has taken on those primary elements and formed you and me who bears His image and His likeness. He is the One who breathed the breath of life into us.

God told man in paradise that we could have anything we want, save one thing – avoid this tree. What Adam and Eve lacked was good judgement, so they had to the learn the consequences. The Father of the Lie said to Eve, “Go ahead. Eat of the tree. Then you will have no need for Him. No need for the Life Source.”

When Eve presents the forbidden to Adam, he simply partakes of it himself. The Glory of God, the light which clothed them in their nakedness, was dimmed. It is here where God calls to them “Where are you?”. He still calls out those exact words to you and I. It is in the foundational book of Genesis that we see that God promises that He will not leave us captured in that state of Sin and Death.

This Feast begins a trajectory in which we can see God at work, bringing forth our Salvation and the opportunity to be restored to Paradise as was intended at the beginning of Creation. Throughout the Old Testament, God continued to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, where the prophets were sent to bring back the lost. We can see, it is all about waiting for the Lord to act. We see the trajectory of this Feast moving through the Scriptures where finally, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, fulfilling this path of Salvation.

Simeon, in his old age, sees the Messiah and is able to say, “Lord, let your servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:29-30). God has moved and shown us our salvation. The incarnational feasts become a recognition of the truth of God’s love for you and I, found in the image of the babe in the manger in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem there is a great and open field where Passover Lambs are kept to be offered at the Temple without blemish or spot. Our Lord Himself is that Sacrificial Lamb, born without blemish or spot.

This Feast is known by another name, “The Purification of St Mary the Virgin”. We are told in the Gospel today the law was kept in its fullness. Anna the prophetess witnesses it. Simeon recognises it and it is transfigured, no longer simply the rules, but it is the very path to salvation by God’s great act of love – the giving of Himself for Salvation. We hear these words of fulfilment in the Epiphany, where God proclaims: “this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

This is the challenge for us today in a world that is so busy. There are so many voices, so much noise, we struggle to hear the voice of the Lord. We cannot even recognise Him in the crowd like Simeon did when he took Him in His arms. We struggle. But our good and faithful Lord calls us as He called Adam and Eve.

On this Feast we thank God for His goodness and the path to restoration to a life of Salvation. But we must not forget the vehicle that intercedes for us and brought us this Salvation, the Mother of Our Lord, the New Eve. Our First Mother, Eve, in her disobedience, brings us sin and death. Mary, in her obedience, brings us life.

The icons we see day to day show her presenting us Jesus, our Salvation. In the Russian Orthodox Church, a very popular icon associated with this Feast is called ’She Who is the Softener of Evil Hearts.’ She is not holding Jesus in this icon, rather, she holds a sword, lifted from the scripture in Luke 2, where we are told that “this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce [St Mary’s] own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35).

So in the commemoration of this Feast, we should rejoice in God’s goodness and thank God for the obedience of our Pure Mother Mary, that she will soften our evil hearts so that we may be prepared, like the aged Simeon, to receive the Lord into our lives.

Filling the Gaps

Filling the Gaps

by Bethany Kaldas

‘When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”’

Psalm 27:8

I know a lot of regular people who think they are terrible human beings—I’m sure you do too. You might even be one of them. It’s easy to understand why. After all, we get front row seats to our own misdeeds, every cutting remark, every envious thought or impure desire. If we look at humanity in general, we see selfishness and greed sown into almost every action, every word, and when we dare to look within, we can see the monstrous weeds those seeds grow into.

Lately, I find myself asking: Why do people do evil in the first place? If I’m being perfectly candid with you, it was my own sin that inspired such a question. I constantly find myself in the dilemma Paul captured so perfectly, of doing what he willed not to do and not doing what he willed to do, but in my own life. I follow impulses I know will end badly, boarding trains of thought destined for ruin. And I find myself asking—why? Why do I do these things?

I know, I know—we’re selfish. I’ve asked this question before and that’s the answer I most commonly receive. Humans are innately selfish, we’ve evolved to put ourselves first. But even if that’s true, I still don’t think that can fully explain sin. After all, some—perhaps most or even, all—sins are really sins against ourselves more than anyone else. Especially in modern times, we’re constantly doing things we know are bad for us. We are not only enemies to each other, but our own worst enemies too. And a lot of the time, we know that very well.

So…why? And Where does it come from?

‘Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.’

James 4:1-3

We have a desire that is not sated, a longing not fulfilled. This verse from James implies it is a desire for pleasure—and I do not deny that at all—but if pleasure really is the missing piece, then why are we not fulfilled by sin? Why does the glutton not stop once he has cleaned out his fridge? Why don’t the proud content themselves with the admiration of their loved one, instead of continuing to demand it of strangers? If pleasure was what we needed, then sin should be self-defeating—once we have sinned, we should sin less. So why does reality tell us the opposite?

‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’

St Augustine of Hippo

I want to say that every human who ever lived has been seeking God their whole lives—every single one. Just wait—hear me out.

We were made in the image of God—in the image of Love Himself. Naturally, all those made in His image seek love. Surely that is easy enough to accept—there’s not a person out there who doesn’t need to be loved, it’s just part of what we are.

But we are fallen—we are broken. We are full of cracks and holes and we want nothing more than to fill them—but our image is distorted, deformed. We are filled with a desperate need…but we do not remember what it is for.

And so, we search.

‘And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.’

C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

We seek to be filled, so we overeat, or eat the wrong things, or abuse the planet and each other in the hopes of finding something that will satiate our empty hearts.

We seek to be strong, so we demean others, or force ourselves over them, or spit on them, we hate them, we murder them with words and works.

We seek to be happy, so we act rashly for short-term gain and long-term loss, we follow our instincts and impulses, blind guides that promise a thrill but leave us empty and more broken than we began.

We seek to be loved and to love, and so we lust, we lie, we flirt and demand attention—wherever we can find it, even if we know it will end in heartbreak and even deeper loneliness.

We seek to be valuable, so we puff up, we focus on ourselves, we neglect our kin, we envy others, we sabotage them, we sabotage ourselves and then expect pity and wallow in the dread that nobody cares.

I say these of myself first and foremost, but I believe most, if not all, of us can sympathise.

If you take any sin, and you look at it hard—you dig deep down to the roots, I think you’ll find that sin is not, in fact, a desire for evil. It is hamartia—it is ‘missing the mark.’ It is a misplaced, misremembered, deformed desire for the only One Who can fulfil that desperate yearning…it is a desire for all God is, but without God Himself. It is a failure to remember that He is what we need—that He is our Beloved, that He is our satisfaction, our strength, our joy, our love and value. He is everything—He is oureverything. But we forget, we seek Him without Him—we seek after gifts, forgetting the Giver, forgetting that it was Him, and nothing else, that we actually need.

‘Man is a hungry being. But he is hungry for God. Behind all the hunger of our life is God. All desire is finally a desire for Him.’

Alexander Schmemann (For the Life of the World)

Consider even the very first sin of man. Was the great crime of Eden disobedience? Was it gluttony? Lust for power? Was it the desire to be like God?

No, it could not be—we are calledto be like God—it is the goal of a Christian life. That wasn’t the problem. The desire to be like God is only an issue when you want to do it apart from God Himself.

Alexander Schmemann goes on to describe the forbidden fruit as such in his book, For the Life of the World:

‘Not given, not blessed by God, it was food whose eating was condemned to be communion with itself alone, and not with God.’

Alexander Schmemann (For the Life of the World)

The nature of sin has not changed. The brokenness of humanity is not only the holes we now bear, but our desperation to fill them with all the wrong things. Our hearts are all fractured—if someone says otherwise, they are in the worst denial. Sin is like trying to fix a broken mirror by shoving a wooden plank into the cracks—it only makes the holes bigger, it only distorts the image further.

We all desire to be whole, but it is not possible to be whole without Him—because He is the piece of us that is missing. Perhaps, if we recognise this, we will be one step closer to actually searching for Him. And when we do, we find Him waiting, with open arms, full of all those things we need to be whole again…because it was always Him.

‘O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a good inheritance.’

Psalm 16:5-6

From Theology, with love: Eponymous

From Theology, with love: Eponymous

by Tom Seodyu

My thanks to A,

with ornery irony,

you above others are responsible

for my most mature spiritual ideas

and incendiary hopes for this life.

You’ve asked me why I even bother with this (and you).

And again, I have repeated the only real answer I can give –

it’s because you have a beautiful soul, and are a misunderstood sort.

I understand why you hate this answer. Even more so because you don’t believe I am being sincere:

‘I’m just another person he has decided to be nice to today.’

‘He’s only listening to me because he’s naïve for the church and rituals.’

That you’ve mistaken me for a liar makes it hard for me not to feel hurt. But I know why you would think that way – that I’m some “Sunday school agent” here to pretend that he cares long enough to return you to “the quack priests who cannot give [you] a straight answer”, who are totally worthless and despicable to you. You’ve even asked before, “if you really understand how incompetent our church is, why don’t you speak up about it?” Because I learned long ago that this earthly body of Christ does not need any more ‘fixing’ by way of noise, and recommendations, and complaints (especially Facebook rants). Rather, it needs Christ; examples of His love, and a serious personal start – and perhaps, if I myself cannot succeed in setting this example, and inspire change through that love, then I am another mouthy critic. Though I am too ironic, and sarcastic to be that example…

I know that you are a sweet person (since you care so much about those who are nice to you and the suffering of innocents,) which begs the first question you asked. What is all this for? Because of all the commandments you had to stomach being raised here; of all the beliefs that we possess, the one that you feel most betrayed by; is the commandment to love our neighbour.

“If it’s real then why is it, when we try to love our neighbour, we act more out of pressure than genuine love?”

Perhaps it’s our poor understanding of Gospels and the story of the Good Samaritan:

A man left beaten and half-dead, ignored by the priest and the Levite but rescued by the Samaritan; bandaged with oil and wine, and taken into an inn in care and mercy. We were told growing up that the Samaritan was the enemy, but because he loved his ‘neighbour’ he overcame this and we are called to become like him and treat everyone like our neighbours with our love. But even atheists can ‘become the Good Samaritan’, loving their neighbor; like we were taught.

But no church father has ever understood the parable like this…

For them, we do not play the role of the Samaritan, but rather the dying man on the road.

Chrysostom wrote:

“Here then was man (that is Adam) lying destitute of the aid of salvation, pierced with the wounds of his sins, whom neither Aaron the high priest passing by could advantage by his sacrifice […] Nor again could his brother Moses [the Levite] assist him by the Law […] Naked and afraid we lie. Until the Good Samaritan – who is Christ – rescues us. He poured in wine, that is, the blood of his passion, and oil, that is, the anointing of the chrism, that pardon might be granted by His blood, sanctification be conferred by the chrism. The wounded parts are bound up by the heavenly physician, and containing a salve within themselves, are by the working of the remedy restored to their former soundness […]”

Since it was Him who first showed us great love through His Incarnation, all humanity is called to love to the end, without exception.

Augustine wrote:

“He shows mercy to us because of His goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God’s goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy Him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy Him.”

If we tried to love everyone from our own power, without remembering – and deferring first and foremost to the lover of mankind – how could we not become practitioners of guilt and slide inevitably into hypocrisy and sin in exhaustion? Likewise, if the atheist has no one who loves them and can return to to be refreshed, how can they prevent despair and not abandon their righteous instincts?

Ambrose said:

“Since no one is closer than He who tended to our wounds, let us love Him as our Lord, and let us love Him as our neighbour. Nothing is so close as the head to the members.”

You may despair about your upbringing and your surroundings, but always remember Him, for He is blameless in His love for you. You may not accept this parable, or even believe that this love is a real contending force on this miserable earth. But I see evidence of a girl, who (though, all her life is one long disaster) races eagerly to feel embraced. Her head leaning into the other, cradling into the warm tenderness available for her. Held in the envelopment, she experiences in those moments the idea that she has found a home that reciprocates her – and she thinks, for a single moment, for one absurd second, that it may really be possible that God had sowed this friend into her life.

This leads me to your second question…

Even if, in the end, you still cannot find meaning, or purpose, or drive in your life remember that you and I who are so young have very limited right to nostalgia. You need only to learn what Life is.

Smile sweetly to strangers on your walks.

Learn humility from nature.

Listen to music that makes you want to sing and look ridiculous!

Laugh and be full of good humor.

And young woman,

do not forget to pray.

And with that,

I want you to know that I meant it when I said I loved you.

Christ be with you always.

Walking by Faith

Walking by Faith: A Contemplation on the Man Born Blind

Transcribed sermon by Marc Bastawrous

Passage: John 9:1-38

When we read the story of the man born blind, we notice that Christ does something unusual compared to His other miracles. He puts the healing in the hands of the healed. He doesn’t immediately restore his sight, but asks the man born blind to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.

What is noteworthy in Christ’s words is that at no point did He say, “wash and you will be healed.” There were no guarantees made. In this moment, Christ had picked up some mud, threw it in the man’s face and told him to walk through the town, past all the townspeople, to wash his face for no suspected purpose except to get the mud off his face. The pool was outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, approximately 2 km away from where the temple was thought to be. It would take the average person 15 minutes to walk this distance, not to mention he had to navigate through the city without being able to see where he was going.

How would you feel if you were the blind man in this situation? You had sat at the temple for most of your life, you were ignored by the people, you were judged sinner by those that didn’t know you. But then, you hear a Man. You hear a Man say to His disciples, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). What does this mean? Who is this Man, and could He be the One that you have waited your entire life to hear? This quite possibly could’ve sparked a small glimmer of hope that he would be just like everyone else, that there was hope that he would be able to see.

Alternatively, he could have been at a point where he had lost hope entirely. He had lived his entire life sitting outside the temple, being ignore and judge by the most religious people. At the words of Christ, he could’ve thought to himself, “please don’t. Don’t give me false. Just leave some money and be on your way.”

Still, Jesus draws near to him. To which the blind man may still be wondering if He would mock him. Jesus comes to him and spits on the ground before him. At this point, his heart would have sunk – another mocker. He could’ve been at his lowest and thought, “Ideserve this. I deserve to be shamed. But just leave me alone.”

Jesus takes one step closer and picks up the mud and anoints his eyes. Imagine the heartache he would’ve felt. He would’ve felt like Christ was making fun of him. In case people didn’t realise he didn’t have eyes, he now had mud where his eyes should be.

After all this, our Lord makes a request. “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:7). I can only imagine what I would have done in this man’s shoes. A beggar that had endured abuse, humiliation and was then told to walk a considerate distance with mud on his face so he could wash with no indication as to what would happen after he washed. It makes sense in hindsight that he would wash and receive his sight, but in the moment, he had no idea.

Something compelled him to walk through the crowds and get out of the city. All logic would have told him to stay where he was and avoid further humiliation. This man thought, “even if I can’t see, I will walk.” He probably tripped a few times along the way but he continued, for he had a goal. You can imagine as he bumped into the crowds, there would have been people that yelled abuse and told him to watch where he was going, yet he continued. He blocked out the noise of the world and remained on the path the Lord had paved. He could’ve stayed at the temple where he was comfortable. But where there is no risk, there is little reward, and had the man born blind man not chosen to take the risk, his story would not have been remembered for generations to come. Despite how the people saw him, there was something in him that knew he wasn’t the product of his parents’ sin; he was fearfully and wonderfully made and the glory of God was about to be revealed in him.

When he finally arrived to Siloam, he would have been tired, bruised even. Logic would tell him that washing his face would only get the mud off. Yet he washed and hoped. In our own lives, there are oftentimes that we cannot see, but we strive to imitate the man born blind, to wash and hope. When we cannot see, logic tells us to grumble, complain and become frustrated. We lose sight of the fact that God is in complete control.

In despair, we say to our Creator;

“Why are you letting me suffer? Why are you putting me through all this pain and anguish and hurt? Why couldn’t you just leave me where I was comfortable?”

I don’t always need to see the road ahead because the One I walk is the Creator of all. The story of Job explains this same concept in the most profound way. Job went through tribulation, unlike anyone has ever seen. He lost his children, his livestock, his wealth and his servants and was left with nothing. Through his suffering, he never cursed God. After 38 chapters of agony, he finally questions God and why He would allow him to suffer and why He would allow his closest friends to think that God was punishing him. God finally responds, but He doesn’t answer Job’s questions but instead asks some of His own.

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”(Job 38:4)

Had Job not been through enough? Is God not meant to heal him at this point, alleviate all his pains? But it was through God’s rebuke that Job was able to say, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).

Job had heard of God’s comfort before, but it was through his deepest despair that he felt God and he could see that He was sufficient for all his needs. This is what sustains us during times of suffering and it is through our suffering that we are given revelation of God, for it is enough to see Him.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). To truly exemplify this verse, we cannot look past the man born blind as he stumbled to the pool, being led by faith alone. We can only pray that on our own spiritual journeys, we can continue to walk, even when we cannot see. No matter the tribulation, we keep walking along the path, knowing that God is our eyes. If we hold on to our faith, no tribulation can take it away. This is our strength in all difficulties alike.

Faith is the one thing we can hold on to in this life. No matter what happens in my life, no matter what is taken away from me, if I walk by faith, nothing can harm me. All of it can be used as a catalyst to strengthen my faith. When I stop doubting and remember that my resting place is in the palms of the hands of the Maker of Heaven and Earth, nothing in this world can move me. Even though we cannot see, we are called to walk by faith and look for the glory of God at each new day.

Love by the Foot

Love by the Foot

by Michael Tadros

An ominous darkness is ushered in when the doctor comes back with the latest MRI results. After weeks of testing, the results all point to cancer that will not stop spreading. Yesterday the pancreas, today the liver, tomorrow the lungs. She gathers your mother and loved ones around the hospital bed and informs you it is time to start contemplating your end-of-life plans. She stumbles to say the words: “…a few days, maybe a week.”

What would that patient do in that situation? In the 1980s, psychologists at Skidmore College sought to discover how individuals would behave when given a fictional day and time of their death. In over 1,000 experiments, researchers found that people tended to cling harder to their cultural beliefs by boosting their sense of self-worth. Those individuals, with a hypothetical date and time of death in mind, tended to treat others more contemptuously and violently while caring to fulfil their own desires through nihilistic practices. They gravitated towards drinking, smoking, shopping, and eating in excess, while pushing other people away—sometimes, even their loved ones. The psychologists called this behaviour Terror Management Theory; death anxiety drives people to adopt a defensive mindset and behaviour that protects their own self-esteem.

Essentially most individuals, when armed with the knowledge that their time is limited, will want to conclude their time focusing on themselves and their “happiness.” What would you do after knowing your time on this earth is ending? Generally, no one knows when their final breath will be. Sure, as intellectuals we know the moment is coming, but not precisely when. Christ knew. He knew the exact moment He would be hanging on the Cross and committing His Spirit into the hands of the Father.

Knowing that, then, what did He do before He “breathed His last?” (Mark 15:37). Like a lamb, “He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). In front of the scourging and the shame of spitting, “He gave no answer” (Matthew 27:12). Not only did He deny Himself, He took it one step further—the opposite of what individuals normally do in their final hours—He loved. He forgave (Luke 23:24). He took care of His mother and His disciple (John 12:26). He comforted His children who were in tears (Luke 23:28). He was a peacemaker between two kings previously at enmity with each other (Luke 23:12). He healed the ear of one who came to capture Him (Luke 22:51). He even “instituted for us a great mystery” which is, “the partaking of His flesh in bread and wine” (Liturgy of St. Basil the Great).

But He did not stop there. With less than 24 hours remaining in the flesh, Christ washed feet (Liturgy of St Gregory). Why would He, who has the heavens as His throne and the earth as His footstool (Isaiah 66:1), stoop so low in His final moments? The Church teaches us that after washing and drying their feet, He gave His disciples “the ordinance of love and humility, and the remembrance of [His] love for mankind.” (Liturgy of the Waters for Covenant Thursday)

It was a lesson never witnessed before! The Master explained to them “if I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example” (John 13:14-15). By becoming a servant, the Master set a standard for His servants on how to love each other. Not a superficial love centered on the self, but a love that befits how the Master loves us—wholeheartedly, even to the point of death.

Should I not be humbled in front of Him who suffered on my behalf and reciprocate that same love towards my brothers? Rather than being grounded in egotistical practices, I ought to love because He first loved me. Rather than boosting my own self-interest, I ought to wash my brother’s feet because He first accepted to wash mine. As Abba Shenouda the Archimandrite teaches, “We ought to fear Him who poured the water in a bowl and washed the feet of His disciples with His impeccable hands. Let us present Him with good deeds that deserve this great modesty which He carried out for our sake.” (Homily by St. Shenouda the Archimandrite on Covenant Thursday)

The only gesture I can present to Him that is deserving of His great modesty is my love towards my neighbour; a true and faultless love that is completed when I bend down and show my brother the love Christ showed me.

Regardless of whether it is my last few days on earth or I have a lifetime to go, in the realities of my day-to-day life, my Christ-washed feet must be a mirror of the love He first showed me, as “the One who created the world never stops loving His creation, even when that creation does not return His love” (P. Meyendrof, 2019).

Now that I am washed by Christ, my feet are no longer mine, but rather they are “feet that preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15). Instead of pouring water into a bowl, I should be pouring good deeds of love towards my neighbor, as St. John Chrysostom said, “your Master loved those who hated Him…emulate Him” (St John Chrysostom). I can imitate Christ by making every encounter with my neighbour an encounter with their Master as “theology is most convincing, palpable, and best told in the lives of those who lived theology in the truest sense of that word, as an encounter with God” (Fr Daniel Fanous, 2019) When God encountered me, He loved me by washing my feet, likewise, my encounter with you must also be of love, one foot at a time.

Lord Teach Us to Pray Part 3

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Part 3

by Andrew Boutros

We talked about the meaning of prayer and how to pray, so now I’d like to focus on enjoying prayer. We mentioned before that prayer is heart to heart conversation between you & God which requires examining the condition of our hearts and setting intentions and then in all simplicity ask God to teach us how to pray.

Fr. Goettmann, an Orthodox priest, said in his book ‘The Spiritual wisdom and practices of early Christianity’: “We first ‘do’ exercise then we become exercise; we say prayers, but we must eventually become prayer. We go to liturgy but our whole being is called to become liturgical and daily life is meant to be a celebration.” This is the depth that Christ desires for us to experience. This is the life that Christ wants us to live. Christ doesn’t want us to be just performers as we are in so many aspects in our lives instead, He desires that we experience HIM in our day to day routine until He becomes the center of our lives. Christ’s aim is that we don’t just ‘do’ spiritual exercise or ‘pray’ few prayers or ‘go’ to liturgical services but that we become one with Him through all these means that He left us.

In John chapter 17, Christ was praying for His father for this unity to happen, He said“ I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.”

The Church fathers in their wisdom have arranged so many prayers for us and left us with treasures to teach us how to take the first steps in our spiritual lives and how to go deeper with Christ. The first day in school is always tough, the first day at a new job is always weird, the first day in any new journey isn’t always comfortable but we take it anyway. So, the Church fathers teach us saying, “Sometime you must take the first uncertain steps if you wish at all to draw near to God. Don’t be anxious about your clumsy beginning; don’t yield to shyness and uncertainty, and the mocking laugher of enemies who try to persuade you that you are behaving ridiculously & that the whole thing is only a child of fantasy and meaningless.” Just pray for strength, get the guidance you need from your spiritual guide and father of confession and take that step. Don’t lend your ear to the devil trying to put you down.

Father Seraphim El Baramousy said “Those who take the first step toward a life with God, wearing the garment of repentance, must be diligent to hasten their repentance whenever they fall, and not give heed to the murmurings of the devil who wants to make them indulge in sin.” By the way no one is expecting you to go from 0 to 100 in a day or a week or a month in your prayer life because our church teaches us to do everything with moderation. Even when Christ was with his disciples for 3 years, they couldn’t attain the highest merits in their spiritual lives. We saw some of the disciples fall asleep multiple times in the garden of Gethsemane when Christ instructed them not to. I’m only mentioning this so you can have reasonable expectations and logical steps to consider when you are building your prayer life in accordance to the guidance you take from your father of confession.

Your father of confessions is a crucial tool in guiding along the path of spiritual growth through prayer. St. Nikon of Optina explains the role of the spiritual guide saying “The spiritual father only shows the way, like a signpost, but we have to traverse it ourselves. If the spiritual father shows the way and the disciple doesn’t move himself, then he won’t get anywhere and will rot near the signpost.” Build trust with your father of confession and spiritual guide so you can share with him/her what’s on your heart and he/she are able to navigate you wisely in your spiritual life so you can achieve unity with Christ.

Finally, “prayer by its nature is communion and union of man with God” as St. Ignatius Brianchaninov said and this is what you & I should be aiming for.

Lord Teach Us to Pray Part 2

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Part 2

by Andrew Boutros

What is prayer?

Prayer in its simplest form is heart to heart conversation between you & God. It’s easier said than done, right? If it’s just that easy than why are we all struggling to pray? Why are so many people having hard time listening to God speak back to them? Why do we all feel at many points in our lives that our prayers hit the ceiling and come back to us empty?

There are so many reasons why we experience this in our spiritual lives, but I will only cover a few in this blog. If we believe and agree that prayer in its simplest form is a HEART to HEART conversation between us and God than we ought to diagnose the condition of our hearts first. Imagine with me, you are driving your car on the freeway and you see a light in your dashboard indicating that you need to adjust your tires, it’s called the pressure warning light. You have two choices, either you continue your journey and postpone it, or you exit from the freeway to the nearest gas station to adjust your tires. The choice is yours & yours alone! There are signs that you can look for in your life that will indicate the condition of your heart and prayer is one of the signs that will show that to you.

St. Mark the Ascetic said, “We should often, if not daily, examine our souls and repent of the sins that we find there.” Examining the conditions of our hearts is an essential first step in learning how to pray. If I don’t know what’s blocking me internally from listening or talking to God, then I am likely to give up on prayer and in turn, give up on God after only a few attempts.

St Basil the Great also said “One cannot approach the knowledge of the Truth with a disturbed heart. Therefore, we must try to avoid everything that disturbs our heart, that causes forgetfulness, excitement, or passion that awakens unrest.”

Second step that we need to do so we can learn how to pray is to define the why, to set intentions. The German philosopher Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” This concept is true in so many aspects in our lives especially our spiritual lives, if we go to church Sunday mornings aimlessly with no purpose then we won’t benefit much of the readings, prayers, and communion.

If we stand in prayer aimlessly with no purpose then we won’t enjoy, benefit and experience the peace that God has for us. The disciples went to Jesus one day after he finished His prayers and told Him “Lord, teach us to pray.” Titus of Bostra, a Christian Theologian commented on this request saying, “The disciples having seen a new way of life, desire a new form of prayer, since there were several prayers to be found in the Old Testament.” St. Gregory of Nyssa also commented on this request saying, “He unfolds the teaching of prayer to his disciples who wisely desire the knowledge of prayer, directing them how they out to beseech God to hear them.” When you go in to pray with the purpose and intention of connecting with God and enjoying His presence, you will benefit 100% more than going into prayer aimlessly or because prayer became some sort of routine for you.

After you examine the condition of your heart and set intentions ,the next step is to ask God to teach you how to pray exactly as the disciples did. It’s a simple step yet we struggle to do it. One of the early church fathers instructs us saying “prayer is action. To pray is to be highly effective, it’s be speaking a foreign language that one learns it, and by praying one learns to pray.” So, stand in front of God and tell Him “Lord I’m clueless, Lord Jesus I’m lost, I tried before and failed and have no desire, motive or passion to pray anymore. Can you please teach me how to pray? Can you teach me how to enjoy being in your presence? Can you open my eyes to the blessings you have for me? Teach me Lord how to love you and how to fall in love with you. Teach me Lord to how abide in you.”

Start small and seek help and watch what God will do in your life and with your life. St. Theophan the Recluse said “Nothing comes without effort. The help of God is always ready and always near but is given only to those who seek and work, and only to those seekers who are after putting all their powers to test, cry out their whole heart ‘Lord help us.’”

Lord Teach Us To Pray Part 1

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Part 1

by Andrew Boutros

On a random Tuesday in July, 2011, I received a phone call from my dad telling me to book a flight and go to Kenya. I had no idea where Kenya was on the map nor what people do in Kenya. But I decided to go with the idea since I love traveling, little did I know that this mission trip would be the first of many more trips and would be a new milestone in my relationship with God.

I was 19 years old in my junior year of college with no major, no purpose and no goals in life. I landed in Kenya August 11^th, 2011 not knowing anyone or anything about mission work. The first two days were extremely rough for me since the schedule I had to follow was a very rigorous one. Waking up at 7am to do my quiet time (reading the Bible), then prayer then Bible study followed by breakfast for 45 minutes. Then we would go out and preach and do outreach from 10 am to 4 pm, come back have lunch then two hours of free time followed by prayers, Bible study and a small prayer meeting before we sleep!

That was way too much for me since I didn’t have a lot of knowledge or any knowledge about the Bible at that time and my prayer life was on hold during the first two years of college. I had so many questions about the Bible and God, but I was never given a satisfying answer, so I was just Christian by name more of an agnostic, believing that God exits but having no relationship whatsoever with Him.

On August 13^th, 2011 I had my first very fight with God, I was so mad because I felt so useless in the first 2 days in my mission trip, everyone around me seemed to know what they were doing or what to preach EXCEPT me, they had a different kind of joy and zeal for Christ. So, that night I prayed and told Him “God I want this kind of joy that they have, I want you to change my life because I’m sick of the life I’ve been living. Lastly God, if you allowed this change to happen in me, I want people to see Christ in me the rest of my life.”

The 20 days that I spent in Kenya after that became very different and marked the beginning of a new phase and a new lifestyle. The change that happened in me was more of a mindset change that eventually led to my behaviors to be changed. I started waking up early to do my quiet time and ask questions if I didn’t understand anything. I started praying very small prayers asking Him to teach me how to preach, how to read His word, how to talk to Him, and how to maintain this joy. By the end of the 23 days I spent there He made it clear for me that this is the new lifestyle He wanted me to live. BUT it all started with that very first fight with God, that one prayer on August 13^th, 2011. God literally held my hands as a Father holds his child’s hand and taught me how to talk to Him, how to listen to Him, and how to follow Him one step at a time. I never understood the meaning of praying the Agpya prayers, I used to be always distracted during liturgy because I never understood the depth or the meaning of the prayer, but He taught me slowly and carefully.

Sometimes the starting point can be overwhelming. What do I say when I stand in prayer? What do I do for 2 hours at the liturgy? We need to understand the difference between all these various types of prayers and the different levels of prayers as well. The church fathers explain to us that there are three levels of prayers;

Prayers of the mouth
Prayers of the min
Prayers of the heart.

Prayers of the mouth are the first level of prayer where we recite the words of prayers without understanding the words, experiencing the depth, or meditating on it. This is the level we all start with when we are learning how to pray, you could be at church and just reciting the hymns with the congregation but not necessarily understanding every word that you say.

The second level of prayer is the prayer of the mind where you step up the game and start meditating on the words you are saying. You are stopping at some words during your prayer time and meditating on these words even if it’s for few minutes.

Then the last level of prayer is the prayer of the heart where you let your mouth, mind, and heart be fully engaged while praying. So, you move from the memorization or recitation level to experiencing more depth and warmth in prayer that you forget yourself, you forget your own needs and requests and you are fully immersed in God’s heart.

Throughout our spiritual journey here on earth we typically fluctuate between the three levels, but our aim should always be the prayer of the heart where every part of us is fully occupied with Jesus. If we understand the different levels of prayers and set it as our aim to reach the prayer of the heart, then it eases our way to understand and practice the different types of prayers.

The two main types of prayers are the formal prayers and the conversational prayers. The formal prayers are the prayers that the church has set for us to reach this union with God such as the liturgical prayers and the Agpya prayers. While the conversational prayers are the heart to heart prayers that you say to God anytime. One analogy that will make it easier to understand these levels and types of prayers and makes it application easy is the seed and tree analogy. If you want to plant a tree, it all starts by throwing a seed in the ground. You need to have patience, right amount of sun light, good soil, right quantity of water every day, and someone to take care of it. So remember that when you start developing your prayer life God will take you through the same journey this tiny seed goes through until it becomes a huge tree that becomes a shelter to many birds and you too will grow a become a giant in the faith and will be a shelter to many people and guide them to Christ. Your heart is the ground and you already have the seed in your heart so pray today that He starts the development process in your heart so you can reach this union with Him.

Magnifying the Lord

Magnifying the Lord

Transcribed sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Reference: Luke 1:39-56

Throughout the Coptic month of Kiahk, the church prepares us for the upcoming Nativity. After Archangel Gabriel announces to St Mary the birth of Christ, he tells her that Elizabeth, her cousin, will also conceive. Immediately, St Mary visits Elizabeth to help her through the final stages of her pregnancy.

There is much that could be said of a pregnant woman that rushes to the aid of another with no consideration of her own comfort. Elizabeth greets her saying, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

We now see that the first person that recognised Christ incarnate was a woman; Elizabeth. Mary responds and says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercies on those who fear.”

What does it mean to magnify the Lord? How can any one of us make God smaller or larger? Origen contemplates on this saying,

Now if the Lord could neither receive increase or decrease, what is this that Mary speaks of, My soul magnifies the Lord? But if I consider that the Lord our Saviour is the image of the invisible God, and that the soul is created according to His image, so as to be an image of an image, then I shall see plainly, that as after the manner of those who are accustomed to paint images, each one of us forming his soul after the image of Christ, makes it great or little, base or noble, after the likeness of the original; so when I have made my soul great in thought, word, and deed, the image of God is made great, and the Lord Himself, whose image it is, is magnified in my soul.

If you look at the early icons of creation, you find that Christ, the Word of God, is creating while casting breath into man. When you look into the face of Adam, it is identical to the face of Christ. Adam is created as an image of God. As such, we are called for Christ to dwell in us.

The words of St Mary are testament to the image of Christ becoming perfectly clear in her soul that she reveals Christ. My soul magnifies the Lord when Christ is in focus. God so loved the world that He fashioned for Himself a dwelling place in the heart of man. God creates men in the image of Christ so that Christ could be in us, and transform us.

How was St Mary able to magnify the Lord? “For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” God looked upon her humility and magnified Himself in her lowliness. What she then sees in her own soul is remarkable as she says, “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him.”

God’s mercy is a form of healing. The word “fear” is often misunderstood. We know that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18), but there is another kind of fear. The Greek translation in this case is phobia, which is to flee from something. This translation of fear is only found one other time in the Bible (Revelation 11), and again, used to reveal God’s mercy. The Lord’s mercy brings healing, and salvation. In this sense, it means to recognize or to perceive the dignity of God.

When I stand before Him, I realize I am a creature and He is my Creator. When I stand before Him, I cannot possibly be mighty, sitting on my own throne. I see myself relative to His greatness. I cannot possibly be rich, or proud, or stuck in the imagination of my own heart, when I am before the living God. God could not respect the dignity in any of these cases as they do not need, nor strive, for mercy, and thus could not magnify the Lord beyond the magnification of their own egos. St Anthony the Great once said, “know yourself, and you will know God.” If we truly knew ourselves and our weakness, we would know to stand in desperate need for God.

It is impossible for us to recognise our need for a Saviour if we don’t first see that we cannot attain salvation on our own. It is impossible for a physician to heal someone that doesn’t think that they are sick. It is impossible for me to magnify Christ in my soul if I don’t first see that I need Him.

An extremely wise professor went to a monk and said, “I would love to learn from you, teach me about wisdom.”

The monk sits down and heats up some water to make tea for them both. He begins to pour the tea and tea begins to rise until the cup is full, but he doesn’t stop pouring even when it is overflowing and burns the hand of the professor holding the cup. The professor tries to stop him saying, “What are you doing? You’re getting hot tea everywhere.”

The monk responds, “And this exactly why I can’t teach you anything. You cannot fill what is already full.”

This is exactly what St Mary is saying. How can one who is mighty on their own throne bow before the throne of God? Or how can the rich beg for any more than they have? Their souls are so full that there is no place for Christ to dwell. For Christ to increase, we must decrease. We can’t magnify Him in our souls when our souls are full of ourselves. This is why Christ loves the humble, for the humble are searching for Him that they may be filled with His mercy. To those who were full of themselves, Christ was almost indifferent. To those that were humble, His heart was moved to compassion for their sakes, for in their humility, their soul magnified the Lord.

Let us strive to be transparent, to recognise our need, and to come to Him desperately so that He may fill us with every good thing. May we learn to strive for the contrary positives that St Mary puts forth so that we are exalted when we are lowly, filled when we are hungry, and helped when we remember His mercies.