The Shepherd's Staff Newsletter for Great Lent 2018 is now available featuring: Metropolitan's Message & Calendar; News from the Metropolis, MEFGOX, Philoptochos, Youth Office; an article by Fr. Ciprian Streza; and the complete 2017 Friends of the Metropolis list of donors.
Today's reading: Psalms 72-76 (73-77) "For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Psalm 72/73:3 How easy it is to be envious of those who have gained many worldly goods, even if they have done so through unjust means! We see that this is a great struggle, and even brought David near to despairing of living an upright life. "All in vain have I kept my heart clean... when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task." (verses 13 & 16). Yet, he comes to the important realization that all of the earthly prestige and power which he beheld was not worth envying after all. "I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end." (verse 17) Solomon, David's son who is known for being one of the wisest men to ever live, was later to write, "Be not envious of evil men... for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble." (Proverbs 24:1-2) St. Nikolai Velimirovich has this to say about the envy of the wicked: "Does the physician envy the sick person? He does not envy him. Neither does the righteous one envy the sinner. If you do not know whether you are righteous examine your heart: do you envy the sinner? If you envy the sinner then you are not righteous; if you do not envy the sinner, then rejoice, O righteous one of God. The sick person can envy the healthy one, but the healthy person does not envy the sick person. Neither does the righteous envy the sinner. A physician recognizes a fatal illness of his patient and, knowing that, he pities him but does not envy him. The righteous one recognizes the sickness of sin, horrifying and deadly, and does not envy the sinner but pities him. O good and compassionate Lord, uproot envy from our hearts and implant love. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen” + St. Nikolai Velimirovich, June 23 Homily, Prologue of Ohrid Today's reading: Psalms 68-71 (69-72) "With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD will I come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone." (Psalm 70/71:14) Lent is full of the potential for many blessings. Equally present however, are the various pitfalls associated with departing from the path that leads to those blessings. Fasting is a great example. It may be of great assistance on our spiritual journey, but we are all aware of the difficulties of keeping the fast and the temptation to throw in the towel after a week or so. Yet, giving up and discouragement are not the only dangers of which we must be aware when it comes to fasting. Precisely because fasting can be so difficult, we may start to exult in a sense of self-accomplishment if we are able to keep the fast well. Fasting may quickly become about keeping up appearances, about displaying our own righteousness rather than something done to the glory of God's righteousness. We may even be susceptible to falling into both of these traps within the span of one Great Lent! We may succumb to pride one week only to give up during the week that follows. Then the pendulum may swing right back to where it started! Abba Dortheus of Gaza has this to say about fasting: "When one fasts through vanity or thinking that he is achieving something especially virtuous, he fasts foolishly and soon begins to criticize others and to consider himself something great. A man who fasts wisely…wins purity and comes to humility…and proves himself a skillful builder." What do you do to avoid these extremes, and remember the true purpose of the fast?
Today's reading: Psalms 58-63 (59-64) Psalm 62 (63), another one of the Psalms read during every Orthros service, is the ultimate example of the desire for God. In this prayer, we see that David thirsted for God (vs. 1), that he valued the love of God even above his own life (vs. 3). Do we love God in this way? A recent saint of our Church, St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, said many beautiful things about desiring God. In the book, Wounded by Love, which contains a biography of St. Porphyrios and many of his collected sayings, he offers many valuable lessons on this important topic. "If you are in love, you can live amid the hustle and bustle of the city centre and not be aware that you are in the city centre. You see neither cars nor people nor anything else. Within yourself you are with the person you love. You experience her, you take delight in her, she inspires you. Are these things not true? Imagine that the person you love is Christ. Christ is in your mind, Christ is in your heart, Christ is in your whole being, Christ is everywhere. … One thing is our aim — love for Christ, for the Church, for our neighbour. Love, worship of, and craving for God, the union with Christ and with the Church is Paradise on earth." This is a beautiful passage, but many times we simply don't find ourselves in this situation. We can't always honestly echo the prayer of David, saying to God, "Your steadfast love is better than life." Maybe we're at a place where we don't desire God, but we want to desire God. St. Porphyrios himself felt similarly. He recognized the truth of 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us," and trusted that whatever efforts he made would be magnified by the love of God. "As for myself, poor soul…what can I say… I’m very weak. I haven’t managed to love Christ so very fervently and for my soul to long for Him. I feel that I have a very long way to go. I haven’t arrived at where I want to be; I don’t experience this love. But I’m not discouraged. I trust in the love of god." |
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