Acquiring the Mind of Christ — 20170108

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Acquiring the “mind” of Christ requires us to first develop the habit of prayer. If we are to start the task of prayer, we must immediately begin and not procrastinate. We should not be motivated by a lot of excitement or self praise, thinking that we are owed something great for our spiritual effort. It is our privilege and joy to converse with our God, being the purpose for which we were created.

It is imperative that we see personal and corporate prayer as two sides of the same coin. Corporate liturgical prayer (that which we do as a community) life in the Church feeds into and provides invaluable and essential shape for our interior life. Corporate prayer life can become dead and frozen without the inner attention and fire which personal prayer gives us. Inner life, if not well-grounded in the liturgical luife of the Church, can possibly lead us to delusion.

Today is the day of salvation, and we must never put off prayer for another time. Every moment is the moment to turn to the Lord, to thank the Lord for all His innumerable benefits, to beseech aid from on high, to repent and ask for forgiveness and to ask His blessing. The most essential part of prayer is the inner turning of the heart to the Lord.

The classic textbook definition of prayer given by St. Theophan the Recluse is “standing with the mind in the heart before the Lord.” It is imperative that, as we pray, our attention remains in our heart as much as possible. As the mind wanders, we simply bring it back to the heart and to the words of the prayer.

Another essential key to this new life of prayer is learning to listen to God. I believe that I have written about this before. God IS always speaking to us but we are often so busy monologuing with ourselves that we may not be able to hear Him. It is important that we not only approach prayer as union with God but also with a receptive listening heart, waiting on the Lord like the Prophet Samuel: “Yes, Lord, thy servant is listening.” This means that we cultivate silence and watchfulness in our prayer time so that it is not just filled with our requests; we make room to hear from the Lord His requests from us. However, He won’t always speak to us in the manner in which we might expect.

Quite often His responses come my way of “insights” or sudden thoughts that move us to do something.

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20170108

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In the Book of Genesis, we read that creation began when the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters. (Gen. 1:2) Throughout the Bible, water plays an important and a ‘mystical role’ in human existence and in man’s relationship with God the Creator. Water has the capacity to produce death, as recounted in the story of Noah and the ark; or to produce life, as noted in the story of Moses’ striking the rock in the desert to produce water for the Jews wandering in the desert. While the waters of the Red Sea parted to allow the Hebrews to pass over in safety (and thus preserve life), the same waters came rushing upon the Pharoah and his army drowning them.

In the New Testament, we see water becoming the means by which the Trinity was revealed during the Baptism of Jesus. In the Baptism of Jesus, the spiritual significance and potential of water as the source of life is again revealed and reaffirmed just as in Genesis. St. John Chrysostom said in a sermon on Theophany, “On this day Christ was baptized. Through His Baptism He sanctified the element of water. Therefore let us all draw of the water and store it in homes, because on this day the water is consecrated.”

The solemn blessing of water in our Church is ritually magnificent. For the blessing, the great prayer of Patriarch Sophronius is combined with ritualistic actions which convey great meaning to what is done.

It must be remembered that water, a symbol of life, is used in this ritual. Although we bless a container of water, its symbolism is what is important. The ritual in many areas is performed at lakes or rivers. There are four distinct ritual actions performed by the priest, each repeated three times to symbolize that they represent God’s power: a three-branch candle is plunged into the water; the priest breathes on the water; the priest parts the water with his right hand in the form of a cross; and he plunges his hand cross into the water. All of these actions indicate our belief that God’s power and life-force penetrate all matter and living things. He is the source of existence for all of creation.

If you listened closely to the prayer that the priest prayed during this ritual I am sure that you had to be moved by its magnificence. It truly expresses our belief that God is the source of all living things and creation. We bow to His great love.

CALLED TO HOLINESS — 20170108

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A real part of the call to holiness is a call to our personal recognition of God sharing His life with us. The call to holiness is a call to a deeper awareness and belief in the revelation that God has made to us about life and creation.

So the call to holiness requires that we attempt to find answers to several questions that we must ask of ourselves after real reflection. The questions are:

DO I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE:

  • life-force within me is indeed God’s own life-force which He is sharing with me and all other living things?
  • meaning and purpose of earthly life is to grow in the likeness of God as seen in the human person of Jesus?
  • love of God is directly connected to love of my neighbor?
  • Kingdom of God is here right now and not just something that becomes real after death? and challenges of life are not tests or punishments but rather opportunities for me to grow in my relationship with God?

These are some of the important questions that each of us must find answers to if we are to grow in holiness. The call to holiness is a call to fully become the person God intended when He created you – to become a true child of God.

Our religion is not a bunch of silly superstitions or notions. It is based on the belief that God, in His great love for us, became a human person Himself, in the Person of His Son, to help us understand how to live in order to truly become His child and to achieve the fullness of life. Of course He leaves it up to us. He does not force us to do anything. He only reveals His love for us and shows us the way to live in order to achieve the goal of salvation – true knowledge of who God is, who our neighbors are, who we are and the meaning and purpose of life. We, however, have free will and so the choice is ours. What is your choice?

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20170108

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I have been sharing in this article the “sacramental” power of the Word of God, the Gospels. It is our tradition that the Gospel Book remains at all times on the Throne (i.e., altar). In the very beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the Word of God is invisible to us, yet it is ever present. This symbolizes how the Word was hidden from us during the period of the Old Covenant. After the Great Litany, the Gospel Book is brought solemnly from the altar area (i.e., the sanctuary) and carried through the midst of the assembly of believers. This is to symbolize the Word coming into the world. It is carried through the Assembly to symbolically lead believers back to God. The procession with the Gospel Book comes from the area of the church which represents heaven, carried through the nave, which represents the present world of faith, only to once again enter into the altar area. God came in His Word, His Son, to lead us back to Him – to His Kingdom. The Gospel Book is then once again enthroned on the Throne, there only to await the time when it is proclaimed to the Assembly.

However enriching the Gospel reading or sermon about the reading may be, revelation of the divine Word remains incomplete before celebration of the Eucharistic mystery. As in the experience of the disciples at Emmaus, the gathered community only “perceives” the full revelation, it only opens its eyes to a true understanding and acceptance of the divine word, through a personal and intimate communion in the divine gifts of Christ’s Body and Blood. The Liturgy of the Word thus comes to fulfillment in and through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Mystery of Mysteries that alone has the power to transform the Word from a message about Jesus into a participation in His divine life.

This I believe is a very important point. The power of the Word of God, that is the Gospel, only become real when we have a real and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Hopefully the reception of Communion, that is the Body and Blood of Christ, makes this transformation real in our lives. It is only when we truly feel one with Jesus Christ that we can come to really come to understand the Gospel – that is the Word of God.

The necessity of such a “eucharistic fulfillment” of the Word compels us to make ourselves worthy to receive Holy Communion. This requires that we find ways to “prepare” ourselves for the worthy reception of Communion.

A Lot to Think About

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20170108

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In the last installment of this article, I began sharing a brief introduction to the Fathers of the Church. If you have been reading my Bulletin, I know that you have repeated read my references to the Fathers of the Church. I’d like to share some information about who they are since they are the foundation of Tradition.

The idea of preserving and faithfully passing on the apostolic teachings concerning the meaning of Jesus is clearly evident in the era of the Trinitarian and Christological controversies. Bishops who faithfully preserved and protected the conciliar decisions of the key councils such as Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Chalcedon (451) received the title “father”. The church considered these Christian leaders worthy of special honor and regard for preserving the true catholic and orthodox teaching during times marked by severe testing and also occasional persecution.

Vincent of Lerins describes the fathers of the church as people who “each in his own time and place” remained “in the unity of communion and the faith” and were “accepted as approved masters.” Vincent argues that “whatsoever these may be found to have held, with one mind and one consent, ought to be accounted the true and catholic doctrine of the Church, without any doubt or scruple.”

In addition, four key criteria are often employed to determine whether a particular Christian teacher qualifies as a father of the church. These are the four key criteria.

ANTIQUITY. A father lived and ministered from roughly the close of the first century (ca. 96) to the time of John of Damascus (750).

HOLINESS OF LIFE. Holiness we do not meant to mean perfection, as though the fathers were angels in human form. Most were intensely human and struggled with the same shortcomings and temptations common to humanity.

TRUE DOCTRINE. Since the fathers were true teachers of the church, two key points pertain here. First, a father must have left behind a body of teaching, however, small it might be. Second, this teaching must line up with apostolic tradition.

CHURCH APPROVAL.

The Church itself must identify and approve the teachings and lives of those who would receive the title Church Father. No one can claim the title for himself. Some highly significant early Christian writers failed to receive this title from the Church because of doubtful orthodoxy.

Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20170101

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On this first day of the New Year we remember not only Jesus Christ’s initiation into Judaism and the conferral of His name but also the death of one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers, St. Basil the Great. Our readings for this weekend, which are taken from the second letter to Paul to Timothy and his letter to the Colossians as well as the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel and the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The passage from second Timothy conveys Paul’s thoughts on the reward for fidelity to faith in Jesus Christ and the passage from Mark’s Gospel recounts John the Baptizer advising his followers that one greater than he would be coming, namely Jesus, the Christ.

The passage from Colossians conveys Paul’s thoughts on the sovereign role of Christ. He states that our commitment to Christ is analogous to being circumcised in Him. Paul writes this:

In Christ the fullness of deity resides in bodily form. Yours is a share of this fullness, in him who is the head of every principality and power. You were also circumcised in him, not with the circumcision administered by hand but with Christ’s circumcision which strips off the carnal body completely.

The passage from Luke’s Gospel actually shares the historical event of Christ being named and then sharing another event in the Lord’s life, namely Him being found by His parents in the Temple when he was twelve. So what message can we glean from these very different readings.

It seemed to me that a common theme in all of these readings is commitment! Even the story of John the Baptizer presented at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel is all about commitment and recognition of Jesus Christ as our sovereign Lord. A real commitment to attempting to live like Jesus truly leads to our finding the true meaning and purpose of life.

Commitment to following God’s way of living leads to finding why we are here on earth. I believe this can truly be said of St. Basil the Great. He gave himself completely and totally to imitating Jesus Christ. He made a real commitment to the Gospel of Jesus and gained fullness of life.

We have been initiated into the Christian faith just as Jesus was initiated into the faith of His earthly parents. His commitment to living God’s way resulted in Him doing the will of God. So too are we called to do the will of God. We can accomplish this by living as Jesus lived.

Let us imitate Jesus!

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20170101

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When last I shared information about the Ladder of St. John Climacus, it was about his Step 28 which is PRAYER. This step has several different sections and is one of the more lengthy Steps on his ladder. I last briefly shared thoughts about Spoken Prayer.

John suggests that the most helpful way to learn to pray through the services of the Church is with a prayer book. Such books give us a structure for prayer. They show us that the Eastern Church typically concludes prayers with expressing honor and praise to the Holy Trinity Who we call Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even our prayers of supplication to the Mother of God and the saints traditionally are concluded in this manner.

Praying through prayer books is not the only form of spoken prayer. While these help us to pray as an Eastern Christian, we often find that such prayer can be dry: we end up reciting prayers without meaning them or understanding them. Certainly we should persist in saying these prayers. For the more accustomed we grow to using them, the easier it will be for these prayers to become our own and to be carried into the second stage of prayer: mental prayer.

But in addition to using set prayers, we can pray in our own words. Such prayer is by no means unacceptable. On the contrary, our own words can be the most powerful prayers of all.

Our prayers should be simple. Christ Himself warns us about verbosity and saying too much inprayer. Matthew quotes Jesus saying: “When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do”. Why? Because “your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Notwithstanding the above, it is not easy to spend more than a few moments in prayer with limited words. So when we are beginning to learn how to pray, we should limit our spontaneous prayers. More to follow.

The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20170101

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During this holy time, our worship is filled with special prayers that convey the meaning of what we celebrate. In today’s Tropar for our Christ-feast, we pray:

O Jesus, enthroned on high together with Your eternal Father and Divine Spirit, You condescended to be born on earth of a maiden and virgin mother. And on the eighth day You were circumcised. Praised be Your plan of salvation! Praised by Your condescension, O Lord! You alone love mankind.

We need to pause and think about what we pray. We believe that indeed God has a plan for our salvation. He has, through the circumstances of our lives, allowed us to be initiated into the Christian faith – belief in the great love that our Creator-God has for us. We believe that His love is so great that He came into our world to help us actualize the potential within us to become like Him, as He is known in the Person of Jesus.

The true meaning and purpose of our lives is to share the fullness of God’s own life. We were created in His image and have the ability, if we truly cooperate with God, to grow in His likeness. As we grow in His likeness we grow in our awareness of how very much our Creator-God loves us. To know we are loved unconditionally is perhaps the most profound of all possible human feelings. It gives us the strength and courage to meet all of life’s challenges.

On this day we also pray this second Tropar.

Your voice resounds throughout the world which has accepted the lessons so well taught by you. You have given explanation of divine truths. You have clarified the nature of created things. You have made a rule of life for men. By your royal priesthood, O venerable Father Basil, intercede with Christ to save our souls.

We offer yet a third special prayer this day in the honor of the Mother of God. We pray:

In You, O Woman Full of Grace, the angelic choirs and the human race – all creation – rejoices. O Sanctified Temple, Mystical Paradise, and Glory of Virgins, He, Who is our God from before all ages, took flesh from you and became a child. He made your womb a throne, and greater than the heavens. In you, O Woman Full of Grace, all creation rejoices. All praise be to you.

If you didn’t reflect on these prayers during the Liturgy, why not take time now to do so.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church – 20170101

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In the last issue of this article, I began a presentation of the questions that the Church pondered in seven basic theological areas. The Fathers answers to the questions in each of these seven areas have formed the foundation of the theology that our Church embraces. I presented the first four areas and the questions in each. The last three areas are:

  • The question of humanity: What is a human being? What does the Scripture mean when it states that human beings have been created in the image of God? How and to what extend has sin affected and infected human nature?
  • The question of the church: What is the church? How is the church related to Christ? What is the church’s task on earth? How does one enter the church? What are the church’s marks? How is the life of the church nourished and strengthened? What are the dangers the church can expect to encounter in its mission and ministry on earth?
  • The question of the future: What will happen in the future? When will Christ return? What is the resurrection of the dead? What will occur at the last judgment?

Using these seven areas and the questions that are a part of them, I would like to begin sharing how the “Fathers” of the Church” struggled to find answers to all the questions that these areas raised.

I would first, however, like to present some ideas about who we consider the Fathers of the Church. The idea of a “father in the faith” has a rich and fruitful background in the Bible and in the ancient world. Paul, for example, describes himself as a “father” to the members of the Corinthian congregation, distinguishing the role of a father from that of a mere guardian. The term father also occurred in rabbinic, Cynic and Pythagorean circles. Early Christian writers such as Clement of Rome, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria all employ the term. Irenaeus speaks, not only of the student as one “who has received the teaching from another’s mouth” as a son, but also of one’s instructor as a “father.” A father in the faith, then, is someone who is familiar with the teachings concerning the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and can be trusted to hand on faithfully and correctly the tradition that he himself has already received. Rootedness in the gospel and indeed trustworthiness of character are non- negotiable in the life of a father. There were also trusted mothers in the faith.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Our Faith — 20170101

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In this article I have been exploring the ideas of our “Fathers in the Faith” with regard to the Eastern Church’s ideas about the role of Christ as our Savior. If Athanasius and Cyril, by defending the divinity of Christ and the unity of his being, provided Christian spirituality with its essential basis, their names and their messages remained somewhat controversial even after their deaths. One of the major reasons for the bitter theological debates that followed was that zealous followers of the two great masters tended to freeze their doctrines into verbal formulas. These were accepted literally and out of the context provided by the spiritual experience of the catholic (meaning universal and not the western Church) tradition and the theology of the masters themselves. The struggle of Athanasius centered on the Nicaean creed and, in particular, the Greek term homoousios (which means consubstantial), used in that creed to affirm the common divine “essence” or “substance” of the Father and the Son. But the same term was used by Sabellians or modalists, who indeed interpreted “consubstantiality” as incompatible with the Trinitarian revelation of God. For Sabellians, to say that the Father and the Son are of “one essence” meant that God was not three persons, but a unique essence with only three aspects or “modes” of manifestation. Thus, the Nicaean and Athanasian formulation of the Christian experience – true as it was in its opposition to Arianism – needed further terminological and conceptual elaboration. Indeed Athanasius and the Fathers realized that all words have nuances and they were extremely careful to find the exact words to express what they, and therefore we Christians believe about God. In the Trinity there are, according to our belief, three distinct and complete Persons and the Son and the Spirit and not just different and unique manifestations of the One Father-Creator.

Indeed the needed elaboration was provided by the Cappadocian fathers with their doctrine of the three divine hypostases, or really distinct persons. It did not imply any disavowal of Athanasius but actually a more sophisticated and nuanced use of Greek philosophical terms. Indeed the Cappadocians – truly better versed than Athanasius in ancient Greek thought – were more successful than he was in showing the incompatibility between biblical trinitarianism and Greek philosophical categories!