Afraid To Be Free

Afraid To Be Free

By Fr Antonios Kaldas,

Originally seen on Fr Antonios Kaldas blog site, 8 October 2012

Most people take it for granted that each of us is free to choose in life. But some philosophers, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, claim that most people do not really want to be free. Choices have real consequences, and freedom brings with it responsibility. People do not want to be held responsible for the consequences of their actions. What if I make the wrong decision? What if the consequences are bad? I don’t want to be held to blame! I don’t want to feel guilty. And so, people seek ways to shift the responsibility on to someone or something else, whether they know they are doing this or not.

One famous way of doing this is “the devil made me do it”. But a more subtle way of shifting responsibility is to lay it upon God, or upon His representatives on earth. Sartre points out that when a person adopts a faith, they surrender some of their freedom. They surrender the freedom to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, for by subscribing to their faith’s moral code, that decision is taken out of their hands. Of course, each person is still free to choose whether to obey their faith’s moral code or not – they are still quite free and quite responsible in that sense, but they are no longer responsible for the content of the moral code itself.

Now I do not see this as a bad thing in itself. We humans are, after all, quite fallible, and we have a disturbing tendency to try to cheat to make life comfortable for ourselves. If there is a genuinely objective right and wrong in the world (as most people would agree there is), then we are much more likely to find it when God tells us what it is than when are left to work it out for ourselves. We are just far too prone to seeing things in ways that are convenient to us instead of seeing them as they really are.

But there is a variation on this that can be quite harmful and can do a lot of damage. That is, when we confuse the Truth of God for the teachings of men. All men are fallible, whoever they are. Jesus Himself criticised the scribes and Pharisees for teaching the precepts of men as if they were the commandments of God. Perhaps this too is a responsibility that each of us has, to do our best to distinguish between those moral laws that are of human origin and those that are divine. As a priest, it is incumbent upon me also to specify clearly to people when I am “quoting God” and when I am speaking off my own bat. There is a big difference between me encouraging someone to forgive someone who has hurt them and me encouraging someone to make a particular career choice I think suits them.

It is a sin to surrender your freedom to another human being. Just as we cannot say, “the devil made me do it”, neither will the excuse, “but I was just following orders” carry any weight. Few people today would excuse the foot soldiers responsible for carrying out the atrocities of Nazi Germany or Bosnia because they were “just following orders”. And yet, we humans appear to have a disturbing need to obey even the worst of orders. The famous experiments of Stanley Milgram last century are testimony to that horrible reality about us.

Yet this disturbing tendency seems to crop up in all aspects of life. For example, many employees are daily tested as to whether they will follow orders and do things they know or at least suspect deep down to be immoral. Students in a school playground are daily tested as to whether they will just follow the crowd or the popular kids instead of standing up for what they know to be right.

And it happens in Churches too. How many people in the Catholic Church were aware or suspicious of the terrible child abuse that is only now being gradually uncovered? Why did so many otherwise decent, compassionate and honest people remain silent about it? Quite simply, because they were told to, whether overtly or implicitly, by the hierarchy of the Church. And they surrendered their responsibility to these leaders. As a result of this silence, the abuse continued for far longer and spread far further than it should have.

There are practical reasons for accepting responsibility. Pastor Martin Niemoller was imprisoned for taking personal responsibility for speaking out against the Hitler regime. His chilling words illustrate one of these reasons:

 First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.

 As Christians, we cannot live alone. We do not have the luxury of saying, ‘it’s fine, so long as I am alright’. As the Desert Father said, ‘our life and death is with our brothers’. Anything that hurts another human being hurts me, for we all share the same image of God. As Christians, we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers. This is what divine love means. This is the love modelled by Jesus ‘who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross’ (Philippians 2:6-8).

Whether we like it or not, we are free. It was God who created us free. Free to help or ignore others in need. Free to stand silently while atrocities and injustices are perpetrated, or to speak against them, whatever the cost. And yes, we can try to surrender this freedom to make life a little less scary for ourselves, but the price for such a surrender is high, O so high! It is nothing less than our very humanity itself.

Original blog available at- http://www.frantonios.org.au/2012/10/08/afraid-to-be-free/

Loveable Self-Image

Loveable Self-Image

By Lilyan Andrews

Originally seen on Lilyan Andrews’ blog Lilies and Thorns, September 19, 2020.

Self-Image Definition: the way you think about yourself and your abilities or appearance.

The topic of self-image is a near and dear one to my heart. I’ve previously mentioned it in an earlier post about confidence, and as I promised in that post, here is more about it.

I recently asked people on my Instagram how they view their self-image, and here are some of the responses I got:

  • Not as I would like myself to be
  • As someone who has failed in life
  • A very broken work in progress
  • Too chubby not so smart

Do any of these sound familiar? We are always our own worst critic; quickly pointing out our flaws and failing to see how great we are. So how do we get out of that negative mentality?

The secret is to focus on the positives, and rewire how you look at the negatives. You also have to figure where these negative thoughts are coming from and how to overcome them.

So I am going to start out with giving you a little homework assignment. I want you to take a long look in the mirror and write down three things that you see that you love about yourself. The next day add more to that list, and the following day do the same thing, and keep going. If you hit a roadblock just ask your close friends or family what they like about you, and I bet their list is probably longer than yours.

Since this topic is about self-image, I’m talking about writing down physical attributes. Yes, your personality is wonderful too, but I hope you already know that (if you don’t, check out the other posts in this series). So if you love your hair, arms, eyes, smile or anything else, write that down, because too often when we look in the mirror the first things that jump out at us are our “flaws.” For example, if you don’t like your legs, that’s the first place your eyes will go when you look in the mirror. And here is an even bigger challenge. Ask yourself, “Why don’t I like my ______?” (you fill in the blank).

Is it because I see other girls that look better and it makes me feel less-than? Is it because I’ve been bullied to believe I am not beautiful enough or thin enough? Is it because I was told to dress a certain way to hide my femininity? Let’s explore these thoughts together.

Our self-image really takes a big hit when we compare ourselves to others. In the world of social media we can be bombarded with thousands of people who are picture-perfect. Please do yourself a huge favor and ignore the Instagram models. Do you know how long it takes them to look like that? I’d argue it takes a few hours to do full hair and makeup and pose for a hundred pictures until they get the perfect one. Not to mention the photo editing that follows. Trust me, the whole “woke up like this” thing is a myth. So if you find yourself feeling down after looking at those posts, it’s totally okay (and highly recommended) to unfollow them. You have full control over what fills your newsfeed. I suggest following people with a similar body type, who you can tell from the way they dress have similar values to you. That means their page isn’t full of bikini pictures and provocative poses.

Ladies, don’t let your self-worth be defined by the likes and how many fire emojis you get in the comments. Don’t you dare give people that much power over your self-confidence. Stop giving people on the internet or in real life any power over how you feel!

If you give an ear to people’s negative comments then you start believing their hurtful judgement. This is where you have to take things in one ear and out the other, which is easier said than done. Bullies exist and unfortunately sometimes they are unavoidable. They could be your classmates, or sadly even your family members. I write this with a heavy heart because I know it’s sometimes our own parents that are constantly putting us down about things like our weight. To that I say, if you are doing your best to be healthy and take care of your body then forget whatever anyone else says! But if you’re not, then what’s stopping you from taking care of your body like the temple it truly is?

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Our community sometimes doesn’t know how to properly teach us to love our bodies. The main message you might have heard growing up is to be modest and cover up. While there is a truth to that, this message might have been delivered and also taken the wrong way by some. I do believe that no one should be flaunting cleavage or wearing super tight clothing that shows just about everything. However, I don’t ever want you to believe that there is something wrong with your body or your curves that you need to go to extremes to hide them. Embrace your femininity in a healthy and God-fearing way.

I knew a girl in high school that would always tie sweaters around her waist to cover her backside. She was a little blessed in that area, and was so self-conscious about it that she felt the need to always hide it. She didn’t realize that God made her that way on purpose and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with being comfortable in her own skin. It’s not her fault that popular culture sometimes over-sexualizes a woman’s figure, and she was trying to be mindful not to draw the wrong kind of attention to herself.

Girls, God created Eve with all that beauty for a reason, and He doesn’t make mistakes. After all, we were created in His image. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27). You are the Lord’s handiwork, and to judge your appearance as anything less than beautiful is to deem God’s work as inadequate.

I totally believe in the idea of “look good, feel good, do good.” I’m all about healthy self-care. It’s totally fine to spend time on your hair, your outfit or your makeup if you choose, as long as your self-worth isn’t based on that. Because we all have bad hair days, and our self-love should not disappear on those days. Love yourself and be confident in yourself no matter what your outside appearance looks like. As long as you are following St. Peter’s advice in 1 Peter 3: 3-4 then you’re good. “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”

Candace Cameron Bure does a great job talking about this point in chapter five of her book “Kind is the New Classy.” She focuses on practicing healthy self-care and knowing that what’s on the inside is more important than what’s on the outside.

On that instagram question I mentioned in the beginning, I also got some good answers. Some people wrote:

  • His daughter
  • Beautiful
  • Priceless; my “price tag” is the blood of Christ
  • Resilient and confident… wasn’t always like this actually

These are the kind of answers I want you to have when you think about your self-image. Confidence doesn’t just show up overnight, it is something you work on, struggle with and conquer by the grace of God. And if you ever need any encouragement, I’m always a message away!

(c) Lilyan Andrews (2020). Loveable Self-Image by Lilyan Andrews. Available at: https://www.liliesandthorns.com/post/lovable-self-image

Intentional Self-Love

Intentional Self-Love

By Lilyan Andrews

Originally posted on Lilyan Andrews’ blog Lilies and Thorns, Sept 5, 2020.

Self-Love Definition: Love of self: an appreciation of one’s own worth or virtue.

It looks like this title caught your attention and you’re here to read more about it. Awesome. Now tell me, what thoughts or feelings did that title evoke in you? Are you struggling with self-love? Or do you have a good sense of self-love and want to grow it even more? Or is this a foreign concept that you’ve never heard of?

Whatever your answer is, please allow me to walk you through why I think self-love is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. And how it is the foundation of every other relationship in your life.

God is the Source of All Love

Let’s start with where to get this self-love from. God Himself is the epitome of love. So where else would we find love other than the source himself? God proved His ultimate love for us by sending His Son to die on our behalf, so that we may be reunited with Him. His love for us is everlasting and unconditional. When Christ died for mankind on the cross, He did not only die for everyone, but especially just for you. I know that can be a hard concept for us to wrap our minds around, but it’s a foundational concept we must understand. His love for each of us is personal and special.

God loves you and therefore you should love yourself. If the most perfect Being loves you to the point of death, then why in the world would you not also love yourself? What is holding you back from diving straight into loving yourself? Is it the thought and shame of your past mistakes?

Forgiving Yourself is Essential for Loving Yourself

If your sins are hindering you from self-love, you need to know that this is from Satan and not from God. Because once you’ve repented and confessed, your sins are erased and you’re as good as new. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Satan has a way of making us feel worthless and unlovable, and that’s total (for a lack of a better word) garbage. Ladies, forgive yourself. If the Almighty Judge has already forgiven you, why are you still punishing yourself? Lift your head up high and walk confidently knowing that forgiveness renews all, and from that you can start or continue on the path of self-love.

Let’s take the Samaritan woman as an example. When God’s love touched her, she could not contain her joy. She ran to the town people and told them about Christ. “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ ” (John 4:39). Here is a woman who went to draw water from the well at the most undesirable time so she would not run into anyone. She was embarrassed about her lifestyle, and when the Lord asked her about her husband she didn’t give him the whole story. But through His gentle and loving way she found forgiveness and was made new. There is no doubt that her self-love and love for God grew tremendously through that experience.

Love Yourself so You Can Love Others

There is a great Ted Talk I listened to about self-love (if you can’t already tell from last week’s post, I love Ted Talks). In it the speaker says, “Once you decide to love who you are, you can then take that love that you have for yourself and spread it to other people. Because without that self-love you limit your ability to pour into the loves of other people and add value to them.” I’m going to take that idea a step further and say that on top of self-love you need to be also filled with God’s love.

God is the source of all good things. From Him we learn what true love looks like. And as human beings we long to receive love and give love. But in order to give love you must draw that love from Him. We cannot give what we do not have.

How many relationships in your life are depending on love? Maybe it’s love to your parents, siblings, friends, or – if applicable to you – a spouse. All those people need love from you, but you can run dry if you are not filled with love for yourself and love for God.

So here is a simple breakdown:

  1. Love God
  2. Love Yourself
  3. Love Others

Before I got into a relationship with my husband I was at a place where I was very comfortable with who I was as a person. I wasn’t looking for someone to complete me. God was already doing that for me. I struggled a lot to get to a place where I fully loved myself, but thank God I made it there somehow. And because of that I could give love and receive love in a healthy way. Self-love is instrumental in any serious relationship.

An issue that can occur when we lack self-love is trying to find it in an unhealthy way. Some people lack that self-love and place such a heavy burden on the close people in their life to fill that hole for them. Or in their search for love, they can compromise themselves and their values just to get the attention they so desperately want. If you are struggling with this I pray that your eyes are open to see your true worth, and you fall so deeply in love with God and yourself that you are no longer tempted by false love from others.

Self-Love is Key

Loving yourself means you are in control of your own joy. You recognize that God’s love is the first and foremost love that you need, and that you actually already have it! You’re working on loving Him and getting to know Him. Once you’re filled with self-love fueled by His love, you can now love others. That self-love is such an important foundation for everything else in your life.

Practical Tip

I love to write things down. I’ve started getting into the habit of writing letters, especially when I’m super zealous, to myself to open at a future time. The letters are usually titled, “Open When You Need Encouragement,” “Open When You Feeling Like Quitting,” and “Open When You Need a Reminder that You are Enough.” I’ve recently added one titled, “Open When You’re Lacking Self-Love.” I encourage you to do the same. Your letter has to be personal to you, write about your struggles and your motivations for overcoming them. Keep that letter around and read it when you need a little boost of positivity.

(c) Lilyan Andrews (2020). Intentional Self-Love by Lilyan Andrews. Available at https://www.liliesandthorns.com/post/intentional-self-love

Unconditional Self-Worth

Unconditional Self-Worth

By Lilyan Andrews

Original post by Lilyan Andrews at Lilies and Thorns blog site, August 28, 2020

Self-Worth Definition: A sense of one’s own value as a human being.

You might be wondering what is the difference between self-worth and self-esteem. I’d like to share this great Ted Talk with you all about self-worth. The speaker defines the difference as the following:

“Self Esteem is derived from our abilities, accomplishments, social positions and things we believe we can achieve. We can bolster our self-esteem by improving our skills or performance, and our self-esteem goes up and down depending on how we are doing in various aspects in our lives. In contrast, unconditional self-worth is distinct from our abilities and accomplishments. It’s not about comparing ourselves to others. It’s not something we can have more or less of. Unconditional self-worth is the sense that you deserve to be alive, to be loved and cared for, to take up space.”

Unconditional self-worth is not tied to anything you have done or have not done, it’s not based on any condition. It is not founded on your social standing, your career, your marital status, your good or bad deeds, your purity, etc. Your self-worth is knowing that you are a daughter of the King of kings. Period.

You are worthy because you are a child of God! Worthy of an extremely rewarding and fulfilling life that leads you to eternal glory.

You might be thinking that you’re not worthy because of your past mistakes or imperfections. I have news for you: no one is perfect, we are all sinners. St. Paul even says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). All our past, current, and future sins did not stop Christ from dying for us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). We are so valuable, that it was none other than the precious blood of Christ that was able to redeem us. If the almighty God Himself sees a worth in us and loves us to the point of death, then how dare we not see that worth in ourselves?!

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I lose sight of my self-worth when I sin over and over again. Especially when I was younger and thought that my self-worth was equivalent to my purity. So every time I fell into temptation and defied my purity I felt like I was worthless. Maybe it was an idea I got from cultural teachings, but it was an incorrect teaching indeed. God’s love for me is never affected by my sins. No matter what I have done, He always wants me to repent and turn back to Him. Don’t be so worried over your “reputation” or what people think of you. God’s grace has a beautiful and mysterious way of covering up your flaws and allowing people to see the good in you. I wish I could give you exact examples of how He has done this in my life, but that would be too personal for this blog, so just trust me on this one.

Next time you question your self-worth, remember how valuable you are as a child of God. Remember that you are only human, and humans sin and make mistakes, but that never takes away from your worth or disqualifies you from being His child. It’s only when you reject Him and His Holy Spirit that you detach yourselves from the source of life and lose sight of your true worth.

If we really understood our self-worth it would help us fight our demons. Especially the temptation of looking for love and validation from the wrong people. How many times do we find ourselves in an unhealthy relationship because we are looking for attention and trying to bandage the deep wounds we have of thinking we are not good enough? Ladies, this is such a dangerous thing we have to be careful not to fall into. (This post has more on this temptation).

I know how hard it can be in this day in age to see how valuable and worthy we really are. When the world is bombarding us with messages of how thin we need to look and how perfect we need to act, it can be challenging to see beyond that. We’re mistaken if we tie our self-worth to anything outwardly.

Our God is a God of hearts and He sees beyond the surface. “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). So instead of spending so much time obsessing over our physical attributes, let’s focus on our hearts.There is a great book I read a long time ago that talks about how the heart matters more than anything else in all creation, and the beauty behind how God designed women. Check out “Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul” by John and Stasi Eldredge if you are looking for a deeper understanding on this subject.

Girls, you have to know that you are enough! Repeat that as many times as you need to in order to engrave it in your mind. “I am enough!” You don’t need to add anything to yourself to be good enough. Of course you should still pursue your dreams and goals, but whether you achieve them or not, you are still enough. Adia Gooden says in the Ted Talk, “Cultivate unconditional self-worth by shedding the belief that you are not good enough.”

Let us all pray for each other and encourage each other to get to know Him more, because that’s the only way we get to understand our true self-worth. See yourself through His eyes! Work on seeing and believing you are worthy, unconditionally.

(c) Lilyan Andrews. Unconditional Self-Worth by Lilyan Andrews. Lilies and Thorns Blog site. Available at https://www.liliesandthorns.com/post/unconditional-self-worth

Cracked Hearts and Open Arms

Cracked Hearts and Open Arms

By Bethany Kaldas

‘But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.’

Luke 6:35-36

One of the hardest things in life is to love and not be loved in return—or perhaps even worse, to love and be mistreated in return. I’m not mainly speaking in a romantic sense (in fact, to take this in a romantic sense may be quite unwise)—this goes far deeper than that. A parent who does everything he can to show love to his child and yet gets nothing but angst and rebellion and spite in return goes through just as much, if not more, agony as the unrequited lover. A servant may feel the darkest despair when she pours her whole heart and soul out to reach the young girl who is straying from Christ, only to have the girl fight back like she’s the enemy. You may do everything you can to hold on to a dear friend, but sometimes they still walk away.

I’ve heard it said occasionally, within the Church, that it is better to guard your heart against the world, not to love anyone or anything too much, because nothing here lasts. There is some truth to that—though, perhaps, not the way it first seems. But you can see why the idea seems to make sense, right? People quarrel, they leave, they change from being caring to being cold, they can turn against you on the slightest provocation. Even if none of this happens, everyone dies eventually. Even pets, even places, even inanimate objects are unlikely to outlast your affections. You’ll be burned in the end.

The truth is, no matter how much effort you put into a relationship—of any kind—and even if you do everything right, there is no such thing as a safe love. There is a way in which pain and love are inseparable. You must have open arms to love, and it is when your arms are open that you are at your most vulnerable.

So why go through with it? If open arms mean broken hearts, then wouldn’t it be better to always keep your guards up? Why would you ever let anyone in? Who could possibly be worth it?

‘There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.’

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

If you live in constant fear of death, you will never live at all. If you only love when you are certain your heart will not be wounded, you will never love at all. Love of any kind is the inevitable risk of being broken apart.

‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces muchgrain.’

John 12:24

A grain doesn’t just need to be buried to live—it also needs to be cracked open. You can’t walk out of a tomb before the stone has been rolled away, no matter how exhausting and painful that process is, no matter how much the sunlight burns your eyes. And it will burn. Love is a leap. Love is a risk.

‘The leap of faith always means loving without expecting to be loved in return, giving without wanting to receive, inviting without hoping to be invited, holding without asking to be held. And every time I make a little leap, I catch a glimpse of the One who runs out to me and invites me into his joy, the joy in which I can find not only myself, but also my brothers and sisters. Thus the disciplines of trust and gratitude reveal the God who searches for me, burning with desire to take away all my resentments and complaints and to let me sit at his side at the heavenly banquet.’

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Return of the Prodigal Son

Love is not safe. Your heart will be broken. But there is One who broke His heart for you first. A Love that shone so bright, not from the safety of a throne as you know it, but hung in agony from a cross, pierced by nails and thorns. His heart broke so that all the cracks in yours, so small by comparison, can shine with the light of His.

Love’s as hard as nails,
Love is nails:
Blunt, thick, hammered through
The medial nerves of One Who, having made us,
Knew The thing He had done,
Seeing what all that is
Our cross, and His

C. S. Lewis, Love’s Warm as Tears

Believe it or not (and people are very unlikely to ever say this to you out loud in actual words) but everyone—even the most stubborn, arrogant, irritating people you know—has a cracked heart. Everyone wants to be loved, even if they don’t always act like they care. Love is never wasted, but they may sting you. When they see the cracks in your heart they might strike. After all, that is what we did to Him.

When you open your heart, when you love knowing it might break you, that is when you see Him. That is when you become like Him. He died, not that you might remain safe in the tomb, but that you might meet Him beyond it. There’s no light in that tomb, no breath, no life. Life awaits you beyond the walls you’ve put around your heart. He awaits you still. For all the cracks you’ve put in His heart, all the nails in His hands, still He awaits you with arms open.

God has given you a heart, and although cracks run through it, however deep, however wide, He has filled it with His love. Let that love shine through the fractures in your own heart to theirs. Show them what it means to be loved regardless. He’s shown you that you’re worth it—take that risk. Show them they are too.

‘We love Him because He first loved us.’

1 John 4:19

Upside Down Kingdom

Upside Down Kingdom

By Monica

Originally seen on Becoming Fully Alive blog site, March 21, 2016

‘Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man take pity on him…’ St John Chrysostom
As Orthodox believers are called to practice what we believe. If Orthodoxy means the ‘correct belief’ than Orthopraxy means ‘correct practice.’ This correct practice involves preaching by using our hands to serve. It means clearing the stench of economic division with the air of reconciliation. It means doing more than theorising. It means acknowledging the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and walking humbly – and boldly – into the thick darkness, so that we might proclaim freedom to the captives, and demand justice for the oppressed.

The thing about social justice is that it’s not “elsewhere,” it is here and it is a part of us. It is healing the wounds that we have created in the body of Christ. It is breaking every barrier that stops us being gathered together into the arms of Christ.

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

Would you do honour to Christ’s body? Neglect Him not when naked; do not while here you honour Him with silken garments, neglect Him perishing without of cold and nakedness. For He that said, “This is my body,” and by His word confirmed the fact, This same said, “You saw me hungered, and fed me not;” and, “Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me (Matthew 25:42- 45).” For this indeed needs not coverings, but a pure soul; but that requires much attention.
-St. John Chrysostom Homily 50 on Matthew

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), the rich man saw poverty and suffering around him, but he chose apathy. Maybe, he, like the priest who passed by the man in the story of the good Samaritan, was on his way to church or some service. Busying himself, he forgets to act justly. He forgets he is made for justice. Maybe in serving at the table of the Lord, we have forgotten to serve the table of the poor.

“When His table indeed is full of golden cups, but He perishes with hunger? First fill Him, being a hungered, and then abundantly deck out His table also. Do you make Him a cup of gold, while you give Him not a cup of cold water? And what is the profit? Do you furnish His table with cloths bespangled with gold, while to Himself you afford not even the necessary covering? And what good comes of it? For tell me, should you see one at a loss for necessary food, and omit appeasing his hunger, while you first overlaid his table with silver; would he indeed thank you, and not rather be indignant?” -St John Chrysostom, Homily 50 Matthew

The thing about social justice is that it is forgotten. We forget that working towards social justice is what it means to celebrate the liturgy on the streets.
When seeking the kingdom of heaven, let us remember that in the parable of the pearl, the pearl was not found in the clouds but amongst the dirt, hidden under rocks and soil (Matthew 13: 45-46). It takes getting your hands dirty to get it out; hidden behind the poor, the broken, the marginalised.

Do you desire greatness this lent, and in your spiritual life?

Jesus redefined it:

“he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.” (Luke 22:26-27)

We serve a God of an upside-down Kingdom where the meek will inherit, where those who serve are greater than those who sit on thrones, there is strength through weakness, exaltation through humility, receiving through giving, freedom from servitude.

Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loosen 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.
Isaiah 58:6

O Lord Jesus,
Let your upside-down kingdom come
Help us fast from injustice
Keep our eyes wide open to suffering
Help us flee from apathy

This post is dedicated to a friend in Jordan

Original blog available at- https://becomingfullyalive.com/upside-down-kingdom/

19 Covid-19 Blessings

19 Covid-19 Blessings

By Fr Antonios Kaldas

Originally seen on Fr Antonios Kaldas blog site, 24 March 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has hit, and our lives have changed dramatically; possibly in some ways, permanently. The dark side of the pandemic no doubt fills your screens and devices for large chunks of the day, so here, I want to highlight the brighter side. “Every cloud has a silver lining” is a hackneyed cliché, yet no less true for that. And of course, the Christian lives according to the foundational principle that good is always ultimately stronger than evil. We find this principle all over the Bible—here is a small sample:

 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy,
for though I have fallen, yet will I arise,
because even if I should sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me (Micah 7:8).

And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

Not that I speak in regard to need,
for I have learned in whatever state I am,
to be content:
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I have learned
both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:11–13).

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

 What matters in life is not that bad things happen to us. What really matters is what we make of the things that happen to us, good or bad. It was bad that Christ was crucified, but He turned it into the most stunning act of self-sacrificial love by humbly accepting it and even praying for the ones who put Him to death, and then defeating death by His resurrection. Merely complaining about our troubles diminishes us as human beings and makes us passive victims. Accepting the situation and using it to transform ourselves for the better makes us victors, just like Christ.

So, in that spirit, here are 19 blessings we might derive from the curse of the Covid-19 pandemic.

  1. Practical Love.
    The suspension of many of your normal activities is actually an opportunity to show self-sacrificial love for the vulnerable, the weak, the sick, and the elderly in a very practical way. Do you have elderly neighbours? Please take every precaution around them, but see if they need anything. Share supplies with them, or at least share a smile and the knowledge that someone cares. Ring someone who is lonely and help them feel a little less alone. Who else around you could do with a little love?
  2. Learn to live again.
    The Roman politician and philosopher Seneca once wrote, “While we’re waiting to live, life passes us by”(Letters to Lucilius, I.1). Don’t wait to live anymore. Actually live, now, in the present. Go for walks in a park. Ride your bike around. Look at sunrises and sunsets. Work in the garden. Rediscover the beauty of nature.
  3. Reconnect.
    Especially with those at home. Lately, even if they’re in the same room, families are often in very different electronic worlds. Rediscover the comfort of conversation. Share ideas and experiences, hopes and fears. Feel again that you are not alone. And if you live alone, connect with others by phone or internet. Listen to their voices and see their facial expressions. When we look upon another’s face, we look upon the face of Christ.

  4. Exercise, cook, eat well.
    If you have more time on your hands, use some of it to look after the gift of the body that God gave you. Take the time to prepare a healthy meal instead of junk food. Share the cooking experience with the loving God who created the food you are preparing and gave you the senses with which to appreciate and enjoy it. You don’t need a gym to do push ups and sit ups. Who needs weights when you can lift your pet dog (always obtain the dog’s permission first).
  5. Catch up.
    Instead of sitting around binge-watching, get up and look around the house. Get all those jobs done that you’ve been putting off forever. The great desert fathers all understood the emotional, physical, and spiritual value of manual labour. Work up a sweat, and enjoy the satisfaction of achieving something, however small. And what about all those books you’ve been to get around to reading one day. That day has finally come!
  6. Learn something.
    Use this time to enrich your life and become a more interesting, well-rounded person. Take an online course in water painting or playing the guitar or quantum physics. Read some Plato. Carve a wren out of a bar of soap. Write a poem. Be creative. The world is an interesting place.
  7. See life differently.
    We pause our usual lives against the background of a potentially fatal disease. This is a time to appreciate how fleeting life is and all the things in it we normally think so permanent. Gain a more eternal perspective.
  8. Gratitude.
    The suspension of public liturgies and access to Holy Communion starkly makes you realise just what a huge blessing unrestricted access is. When we read of Churches being closed in centuries past it seems so far away, but now we know ourselves just what that feels like. And if you happen to still be alive and mostly healthy, appreciate just how fragile that gift of health is and thankful for it every moment. Having personally once experienced two weeks of unremitting agonising pain from a kidney stone and its consequences, I can never again do something as simple as go to the bathroom without profound gratitude. Every day, God showers a thousand times more good things upon us than the few bad things He allows, but you often don’t appreciate what you have until you lose it.
  9. A More Sacramental Life.
    Being deprived of liturgy is forcing us all to understand the nature of the sacraments—and the Eucharist in particular—much better. In brief, the Eucharistic Liturgy doesn’t finish when the priest says, “Go in peace…” In fact, he adds, “The Lord be with you.” There’s a reason. You’re not leaving the building alone—you are carrying Christ out into the world. You are now the Body of Christ—His hands and His lips, doing His work and speaking His words. No suspension of prayers at Church stops us from continuing this very important part of the liturgy.
  10. Quiet Time.
    Remember how often you thought, I wish I had more time to pray and read my Bible? Guess what … Now you have time to really I mean, real focus and relationship without distraction, without hurry. Savour the presence of God.
  11. (Re)Discover Your Bible.
    As the man Jesus is the Word of God in human flesh, the Bible is the Word of God in human language. Nothing can stop you from opening your heart and becoming one with Him through this written Word. And if you find it hard to benefit from reading, dig out (or purchase) that cool book you heard about that will help you engage with your Bible more fully (my suggestion: “Scripture in Tradition” by John Breck).
  12. Reflection and re-evaluation of our direction in life.
    Do I have to do all the things I’ve been doing / own all the things I own / go to all the places I go to / say all the words I say? What really matters?

  13. Serenity.
    We all needed desperately to slow down. Now you have to. Make the most of it. Spend some time in the garden looking at the flowers and the little birdies. Warm yourself in the sunlight. Lie on your back at night and watch the stars twinkle at you across the vastness of empty space. Remember that you are part of big, beautiful universe suffused with the love of its Creator. Oh, and make sure you leave your smart phone behind when you do this.
  14. Being and Doing.
    While all these activities are useful, we all need some time where we stop doing stuff. Learn the value of being rather than always being invested in doing. Spend some time simply being part of the beautiful natural world all around us, or better still, simply being in the presence of the God in whom “we live and move and have our being”. As the St John Saba said, “Silence the lips that the heart may speak. Silence the heart that the Spirit may speak”.
  15. The world is recovering.
    Studies are showing that pollution has fallen dramatically across the world (maybe we should always live like this?) People have been forced to realise that we can all live quite happily with less. Governments have miraculously found huge amounts of money to make people’s lives better. Now isn’t that interesting…
  16. Unity.
    So many trends across the world recently have tended to divide people from each other and turn them into enemies to some degree. Now, even the most selfish of people is making sacrifices to save others (and themselves of course). Disease does not recognise national borders, nor does it discriminate according to race. We are slowly realising that we are all in this together, that whatever hurts one of us hurts us all, and that we need each other.
  17. Bringing out the good in people.
    Sure, there have been some awful cases of selfish behaviour, but there has also been some startlingly noble behaviour too. It is said that a crisis does not mould your character, it reveals it. But I think that our choices now do also mould that character which has been revealed. We are all works in progress. Now is the time to seek what is best and most noble in you and nurture and express it, and consciously make it your character.
  18. Truth matters again.
    A kind of unreality was growing among us in recent years. Fewer and fewer people cared about reality, preferring instead to live in their own little bubble world of convenience. But now reality is biting, and biting hard. You cannot dismiss this pandemic as a conspiracy or a beat up. You cannot invent reasons why you don’t have to follow the rules that are keeping people safe. This is a crash course in the dire consequences of not seeking truth.
  19. Humour.
    Difficult times often bring out the creativity and humour in people that was buried under humdrum responsibilities and busyness. Humour reminds us that God created us to be happy, and creates bonds between us as human beings. My final plea from the heart: please laugh at your dad’s dad jokes. It’s in the 10 Commandments. Look it up.

No doubt, there are many other blessings to be found, if we care to look for them. This horrible pandemic has the potential to churn out many blessings. And to a large extent, that is going to depend on how each one of us deals with it.

Original blog available at- http://www.frantonios.org.au/2020/03/24/19-covid-19-blessings/#more-913

Repentance and Confession

Repentance and Confession

Prayer

O’ Holy Father, who awaits the return of sinners, You promised that You are always ready to accept a repent heart. Look now upon my humble and miserable soul that was lost in the valleys of disobedience. I have tasted the bitterness of misery for too long when I strayed from You.

Now I come back to You to be purified, accept and do not reject me, for when You look at me with mercy and compassion, I will be cleansed and saved. If you turn away, I shall perish. Grant me O Lord, Your blessing to strengthen my will to come closer to You in faith and hope, to confess my sins and detest returning to them.

May Your Holy Spirit remind me not to stray. May You enlighten my heart so I can see the graveness of my sins and negligence and have the will to obey Your commandments and live for the Glory of Your Holy Name. Amen.

Repentance and Confession

Repentance and Confession

Quote

“Is our repentance driven from fear, Or out of sadness that we broke the heart of One who love us?”

Bishop Kallistos Ware

“Are you sad because you sinned, or because you saddened God’s heart? Is all you think about how to be rid of the punishment of sin, or do you desire to restore the love and relationship between you and God?”

Pope Shenouda III