THANK YOU

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I would offer a special word of thanks to all who have so generously supported the two special, spiritual communities I serve; all who took the time to offer me Christmas greetings; all who donated flowers to enhance our worship spaces; all who supported our community outreach activities; all who assisted in any way to make our services special and beautiful; and all who have come repeatedly and prayed together with me. It is my sincere hope that, in some way, my efforts have helped you on your life’s journey.

Many, Many Thanks

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Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20161218

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On the last weekend before the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, the Church remembers all the Holy Ancestors of Christ in the flesh. Only two Gospels, namely Matthew and Luke, include any information about the infancy of Jesus. They both include a genealogy. These genealogies are not parallel, nor are there parallels elsewhere in their Gospels. It is difficult to reconcile some of the details in the accounts of Matthew and Luke. The absence of an infancy narrative in Mark suggests very strongly that these narratives did not exist in the earliest form of the Christian traditions about Jesus and that various traditions about the infancy were formed later. Matthew’s version of the traditions is greatly affected by the use of Old Testament texts. Theological imagination and symbolism also play a very large part in the composition of the infancy narratives. The reason why they both included a genealogy was to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the term of the history of salvation that was begun with the promises to Abraham.

Our Epistle reading is taken from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. It expresses the faith of the Ancients. Paul clearly defines faith as “confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” This is truly a wonderful definition, especially as we prepare to celebrate our belief that our God actually became incarnate in the Person of Jesus and, like all humans, came into time and history by being born as a human.

The “incarnation” of God as a human being is, truly, a wondrous miracle. It clearly expresses our belief that we are connected to God in an intimate and special manner.

As we think about this miracle we realize that it clearly expresses a truth not only about God but also about humankind. It says that God created us by sharing His very life-force with us and that we are created in His image. It also says that He has created us with the potential to also become in His likeness, as seen in the Person of Jesus. How can we say that? We can say that because He created us with FREE WILL and the ability to choose how we live.

Because Jesus is truly and fully a human like us, God revealed that we have the power to live like Jesus lived. It is all a matter of choice! If we choose to live like Jesus, we discover the fullness of life.

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20161218

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The next feasts to be considered, as we trace the development of our Church feasts, are the THEOPHANY and the NATIVITY.

The Cyrillian Feasts were not the only ones which owed their beginnings to Arianism. Just as the Council of Constantinople signaled the defeat of Arianism and helped rapidly disseminate the Cyrillian Group, it also seems to have encouraged the general adoption in the East of two other feasts concerned with the nature of Christ: the Theophany and the Nativity.

The Theophany is a feast of the “manifestation” of Christ and has at various times commemorated his birth, his baptism, the adoration of the Magi and the miracle at the marriage feast of Cana. There was originally only one feast that included all the Theophanies of God in the world.

The feast celebrating Christ’s birth and was originally observed locally by at least the third century. The Nativity of Christ, the only one among the twelve Great Feasts which was of Western origin, was being celebrated in Rome by 354 but was probably observed locally elsewhere in the West before this date. The Christian feast of the Nativity coincided with the pagan festival of Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birth of the Invincible Sun. The cult of the Invincible Sun had sprung up before the time of Constantine who personally as-sociated himself with the deity, but it was only during his reign that it began to become officially accepted in the West. The Christian Feast of the Nativity celebrates the birth of Christ, who possesses full humanity and full divinity and who is co-eternal with the Father. Its observance on the festival of Natalis Solis Invicti no doubt drove home the point of Christ’s divinity, the birth itself indicating his humanity.

The introduction of the Nativity into the East from Rome seems to have been quite deliberate and closely coordinated with Theodosius’ anti-Arian policy. It first appeared in the East at Constantinople and Antioch around 385 – that is after the Council of Constantinople and Theodosius’ order that all Christians profess the faith of the Bishop of Rome. Constantinople was currently undergoing forcible conversion from Arianism to the true faith expressed by the Councils by Theodosius and Patriarch Meletius of Antioch, who was exiled for his faith by the Arianizing emperor Constantius II, was made president of the Council by Theodosius. Thus the Nativity Feast’s early appearance in Constantinople and Antioch rather than some other cities is indicative of their part in a larger scheme. More to follow

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20161218

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The 28th Step on John’s Ladder, which is PRAYER, provides us with a similar structure for prayer: “Heartfelt thanksgiving should have first place in our book of prayer. Next should be confession and genuine contrition of soul. After that should come our request to the universal King. This method of prayer is best”. This is a general guideline. There are, however, many forms of prayer. The attitude of prayer, however, is the same for all. Some talk and deal with God as with a friend and master, lifting their praises and their requests to Him not for themselves but for others. Some look for greater spiritual treasures. Some seek help to accomplish personal transformation.

There are also different “forms” of prayer. One of the greatest teachers of prayer, St. Theophan the Recluse, identified three different forms, even though he referred to them as stages or levels. The three forms are (1) spoken prayer, (2) mental prayer and (3) prayer of the heart. Even though each form is higher than the last, even the lowest form of prayer never disappears from the spiritual life of even the most advanced practitioners of prayer. Each form has a place in our lives. I would like to share some thoughts about each of these forms of prayer.

Prayers that are considered SPOKEN PRAYERS are those that we typically find in prayer books. I have referred to them as “formula prayers” – prayers written be someone else or those presented by the Church, such as the Psalms, which, as many may know, appear in almost all of our services. They are a good place to begin learning how to pray. One of the problems, however with the Psalms, is that we must remember that they were written for the Chosen People and, at times, are difficult to understand as Christians. Also, the psalms are not only prayers but also prophecies.

More to follow

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20161218

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The next thing that must be considered is Jesus AS the WORD. The Logos-doctrine of the fourth Gospel, which is John’s Gospel, represents the summit of New Testament Christology. Here the power of the divine Word is revealed in all its fullness: He is Creator and Redeemer, the Judge in the time to come and the sacrificial Lamb, the High Priest and the servant of servants. Paradoxically – or rather, in the language of the Church Fathers, “antinomically” (i.e., the structural makeup of Jesus)

His power is revealed through self-abasement, suffering and death, just as those who assume His ministry of reconciliation will be called to manifest their strength through weakness. It is this antinomy that reveals the true nature of the Word: the Word of God is a Person, a divine hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, who becomes incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Word becomes flesh; therein alone lies His power to assume human life and to raise it to an eternal, glorified order of existence.

In authentic Christian experience, the Word comes to its fullest expression within a sacramental context. Whether proclaimed through Scripture reading and preaching, or sung in the form of antiphons and dogmatic hymns, the Word of God is primarily communicated – expressed and received – by the ecclesial act of celebration, and, in particular, celebration of the Eucharistic mystery. So what I am saying is that the Word of God truly becomes present to us in the act of celebrating the Eucharist. Why? Because it makes Him present to us in a real way and it also repeats the pri-mary act of His entire life, namely offering His own life back to the Father in real Thanksgiving for the gift of human life. As we repeat what He did, we too join with Him in offering real Thanksgiving to the Father for the gift of life. This is the focus of our celebration of the Divine Liturgy – to join with Jesus in offering to God our lives in thanksgiving for the gift of life.

The Sacred Scriptures for a great part of our celebration. All the texts of the Divine Liturgy are Scripture based. The Word of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, is truly made present to us in our Eucharistic celebration.

As the resurrection appearance at Emmaus indicates, the first generation of Christians situated proclamation of the Word in an ecclesial-liturgical setting. The risen Lord draws near to two of His disciples and inquires as to the subject of their conversation. That happens in the Divine Liturgy.

CALLED TO HOLINESS — 20161218

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It is only after a person has truly developed a real habit of prayer, can he then begin to develop a habit of mind, that is a Jesus way of thinking about and reacting to life events. A habit of mind deals with a person’s attitudes and ideas about life, others and self. These are a little more difficult to develop since most people don’t even realize the attitudes or ideas that they have. They are typically in a person’s unconscious and truly control a person’s reactions to life. Among these unconscious thoughts are prejudices, bigotries and judgments that a person has about life, others and self of which they are unaware.

Most people view themselves as not bigoted or prejudiced. And yet, when you listen closely, quite frequently you hear things that support the idea that a person is a bigot.

So in deal with attitudes of the mind, a person has to truly attempt to assess what their thoughts are about life, others and themselves. For example, there are many people who feel that they are not worthy of God’s love. This, of course, is a fallacy since God’s love is not dependent upon us. He unconditionally loves all of us regardless of how we behave. He cannot not love us. We are His creation and He continuously shares His life with us out of love. You can only imagine what this thought of unworthiness does to a person. It skews all of life’s experiences. It makes it impossible for a person to grow in the likeness of Jesus! It makes it impossible for us to have a true and genuine relationship with God.

The prayer habit that has been developed can truly assist a person in truly assessing their attitudes of mind and then finding ways to change them.

The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20161218

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Mystical Supper

After we commemorate the Mother of God and the various different kinds of saints, we pause to remember those who have departed that have been a part of our lives. I cannot stress how important I believe this is. Each time we come to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, we should remember those we know who have died as well as the living. If you have celebrated the Divine Liturgy with me, you know that I always pause and invite you to “call to mind the memories” of those you know who have died. I is my greatest hope that this happens. In most parishes this is not said aloud and the congregation is not invited to personally remember the deceased. I cannot encourage you enough to always pray for those who have made a transition to a new life.

After our remembrance of the deceased, we again pray for the hierarch of our Church. The Liturgy actually allows for the remembrance of the hierarchy four different time.

Once we have remembered the hierarchy, we are called to remember the “living” persons that we personally know and love. The prayer introducing this remembrance asks God to remember those “who bear offerings and perform good deeds in Your [God’s] holy churches and those who remember the poor.”

After our remembrance of the living, the priest offers this simple but very moving prayer: “And grant that we, with one voice and one heart, may glorify and praise Your most honored and sublime name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever”. All present respond with AMEN which means that this expresses their sentiments – that they are truly in agreement with this statement.

It should be noted that this sequence in the Divine Liturgy reminds us that we are joined with all other Christians, living and dead, in the worship of God. It also reminds us that what we do during the Divine Liturgy is simultaneously being done in God’s Kingdom where everything exists in the “Present Moment”.

The Anaphora is then brought to an end with a priestly blessing which is meant to expressed God’s blessing on what we have prayed, believed and ritualized. The blessing is expressed in a statement: “May the mercies of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ” be with us who have, through our ritual, “actively remembered” all that God has done for us through the Persona of His Son, Jesus, the Christ.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20161218

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I would continue the thought I started in the last issue of the Bulletin about the surprise Christ gave to the early Christian community with His Ascension back to heaven. In truth, the early post-resurrection Christian community thought the story had reached its conclusion with Christ’s resurrection. It was, of course, only beginning. There was work to be done, a witness to be proclaimed, and those left behind would inaugurate that work and witness. Moreover, the early Christian generations would play a key role in witnessing to, incarnating and interpreting the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Though Christ was physically leaving, he promised the disciples that He would soon return to them through the Spirit, the Spirit who would empower them for ministry and form, them into Christ’s body on earth, the church.

Again, layers of questions present themselves. Who is this Holy Spirit who will infill and energize the church? How is the Holy Spirit related to Christ and to the Father? Are Father, Son and Spirit simply different manifestations of one divine being, or is the Father distinct from the Son, and the Son from the Spirit? If these distinctions exist, exactly who is the Holy Spirit? What is the Spirit’s work and mission? And what of the witnessing community Jesus predicts the Spirit will form, infill, power and direct? How can the church, made up of sinful human beings, still be called by the apostle Paul Christ’s “body”, the fullness of him who fills all in all”? In short, what is the church?

As the early church pondered these questions, its thinking coalesced around central theological areas:

– The question of authority: To what should the church look for its guiding authority? What is the relation between Scripture and the apostolic tradition, and how do these two relate to one another in the formation of doctrine?

-The question of the Trinity: Is Christ genuinely Divine? If so, how is the divinity of Christ to be understood in relationship to the Father and the Spirit?

-The question of the incarnation: What is the relationship between Christ’s deity and His humanity? If Jesus was truly divine, was he also truly human? How can He simultaneously be both?

-The question of Christ’s work: How has Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection overcome sin and introduced the life of the age to come into this present evil age?

There are still three more basic questions that I shall share in the next issue of this article.

Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20161211

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This weekend is one of two that prepare us for the feast of the Nativity of Christ – the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus. It is called the weekend of the Forefathers of Christ according to the flesh. The Patriarch Abraham is commemorated since it was to him that God’s promise was first given – given some two thousand years before Christ and when Abraham was seventy-five years of age, according to Tradition. We pray today:

Through faith, O Christ, You justified the Patriarchs, for through them You made a commitment to a church with gentiles. These Saints are glorified because from them descends the Virgin who gave You birth. Through their prayers, O Christ our God, have mercy on us.

Our first reading is taken from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In this letter he urges the Colossians and us to “put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator’. This is the same call that Christ gives us. Let us, as we prepare to celebrate these feasts, grow in our knowledge of the revelation God has given us through His incarnation as a hu-man being. If we do, we will strive to grow in our “likeness” of Jesus, God’s revelation of how human beings should live in order to achieve the purpose and meaning of their lives.

Our second reading, taken from Luke’s Gospel, retells the parable of the dinner party that all invited guests refused to attend. It is meant to remind us that, like Abraham, we have been invited to embrace a certain way of living.

For us Christians, the way of living that we are called to embrace is that modeled by the Person of Jesus. God doesn’t force us to embrace the Jesus-way-of-living, but has shown us that this particular way of living will help us to spiritually grow. That is the primary purpose of this present earthly life – to spiritually grow so that we will be more like Jesus – be a child of our Heavenly Father.

We can accept the invitation given to us to become like Jesus and fulfill the purpose and meaning of our lives, or we can reject it. If we do refuse, we are the ones who loose what God has promised awaits us in the next life. It’s our choice.

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20161211

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Step 28 on John’s Ladder is PRAYER. Prayer is by nature, according to St. John, a dialog and a union of man with God. Its effect is to hold the world together. It achieves a reconciliation with God. It is a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against affliction. Prayer is future gladness, action without end, wellspring of virtues, source of grace, hidden progress, food for the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an axe against despair, sorrow done away with and hope demonstrated.

For most Christians, prayer is something we do at certain times of day, and it is an important part of Christian life. But for the saints, prayer is not merely a part of life, it IS their life: it imbues their very being and is present in every action.

Many think of prayer as “speaking to God,” but as St. John points out, prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue.

So how can we learn to converse with God? In other words, how can we learn to pray? This is not a strange question to ask. When Christ’s disciples asked Him to “teach us to pray,” as John also taught his disciples, He respond with the prayer, Our Fa-ther.

Ever since then, the Lord’s Prayer has held a central place in Christian worship. This prayer teachers us to pray not only be giving us words to say, but by showing us how we should approach the act of prayer and how and what we should pray for:

Praise and Adoration

“Hallowed be Thy Name”

Hope and Expectation

“Your Kingdom come”

The Acceptance of God’s Will

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Praying Only for Our Common Needs

“Give is this day our daily bread”

Praying for forgiveness

“And forgive us our sins as we forgive others”

Praying for Help

“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”