As I was able to get away this week for a couple of days and spend some time walking on the beach with Matushka and little 4-legged Emma, we watched the tide roll in and the tide roll out. The sea is in constant motion and change occurs every second before our eyes. On one walk as we reversed our direction and headed back to our beach access point, I happened to notice that the footprints we had made just minutes before were now fading into the erasable force of nature. James, the brother of our Lord reminds us: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)
Our time here and now is so ever short! Every aspect of our very existence in this life will be erased over time, maybe not in ten years but a hundred, or maybe a thousand. Books written, buildings built and dedicated to a memory of someone, everything will fade away by the tides of time except one, how have we loved? Love transcends time. It is passed down generationally and neighborly. St. Paul instructs us: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13)
Life is certainly not a walk on the beach every day. There are many struggles we face as we exist. And then there some worldly folks that seem to have great success and very little health issues and struggles. St. Theophylact describes them this way: “We see that many of the wicked are healthy and energetic, and pass their days happily. But their lack of sufferings in this life becomes the grounds for even greater punishment in the next life. Saint Paul makes this clear when he writes, “But when we are judged by the Lord, meaning, in this life, we are chastened, that we should not be condemned with the world, that is, in the next life.” [I Cor. 11-32] (From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Johnby Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria)
And on this Sunday’s scripture readings we repeatedly hear stories of great healings that occurred and are recorded in the bible for our guidance and hope in the resurrection. From a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed for 8 years, to St. Tabitha who had recently reposed and restored to life, and then to the Gospel of John to the Sheep Pool where a man stricken with infirmity for 38 years was healed. But what we also hear and are reminded of are some of the suffering we endure in the flesh! Some of us in this time struggle with health and mental issues and we long for healing.
There are two types of healings that can happen for us, of the dust and of the soul! We just celebrated the greatest joy of all of life with the resurrection of our Lord. Listen to the words of the Serbian theologian Archimandrite Justin Popovic: “Only the Lord Christ stands as the Conqueror of death and the Giver of life. In this lies His exceptionally greatness. Our faith is faith in the Resurrection of the Lord Christ and in our own resurrection. Christ is risen, which means that we are all risen! He is risen in order to give us Life Eternal, in order to ensure us victory over death, this only true victory in this world. All other victories are just mockeries. Millions of people perish – for what? Why do people perish today? Not for the reason for which they were created, not for Life Eternal, but for earthly, corruptible, simple, negligible things.” (Archimandrite Justin (Popovic) on the Sunday of the Paralytic at the Ćelije convent, 1978)
Life is simply too short to waste away on this world and its death. Love one another with the Light of Christ! And may the Great Physician give us what is necessary for our salvation! Christ is Risen!!!
Fr. Gabriel Weller 5-11-2025
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