In the spirit of the season we emphasize our practice of forgiveness, forgiveness even for those folks who let us down, again and again. Fr. John Moses, of blessed memory, used to encourage us not to have expectations of people, which would alleviate some of those “let downs”. Fr. John wrote: “Wouldn’t it be great if I quit expecting things from people? My expectations are based on my own ego, needs and desires. It makes me angry when people don’t act or behave the way I expect them to behave. Well, who made me God that I should have such expectations?” (https://holymyrrh.org/blogs/archpriest-john-ramblings-of-a-redneck-priest/camping-out?_pos=2&_sid=7bb7e03bb&_ss=r)
Well at the same time it is hard to forget those basic instructive words: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matt 5:37) Well people forget, things come up, we get distracted, we sometimes tend to bite off a little more than we can chew and so on and so on. On the other hand, I am always in awe of the dedicated friends who put forth such an effort to place the paralytic man at the feet of Christ, despite the size of the crowd, despite needing to rip a whole in the roof and lower this man down as we heard in the Gospel reading this morning. (Mark 2:1-12) We all need friends like that! What a successful let down!
But on this great Sunday of lent we celebrate another triumph of Orthodoxy. Last Sunday we paraded around with our Holy Icons denouncing the attempts of those wanting to redefine the church and its understanding of God becoming man and sanctifying matter. And on this Sunday we celebrate a second triumph of Orthodoxy in the acceptance in the true theology of St. John Palamas directing our attention to the image of God that is rooted in each and every one of us and we are called to be in union with our Creator through prayer and following His commandments.
St. Gregory Palamas and the monks of Mt. Athos said that theology is not primarily an intellectual exercise. Theology is, at its essence, Prayer. Theology is knowing God who has revealed Himself not simply by us understanding Him through the use of our intellect, but by Him showing His face to us. St. Gregory Palamas said that this invitation to know God is through the heart from the deepest depths of our being. We open our heart to this knowledge as we practice the prayer of the heart through the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner”! I tend t be a little more inclusive and say “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us a sinner!”
This past Wednesday at the Liturgy of the Personified Gifts we heard the words: “The Light of Christ enlighteneth all.” We thank St. Gregory for his unceasing prayer and ascetic struggle to help us all to understand that we may be truly illumined by the light of the Resurrection. In his teachings, he made a comparison between God and the sun. The sun has its rays, God has His energies (among them, grace and light). By His energies, God creates, sustains, and governs the universe. By His energies, He transforms creation and deifies it, that is, He fills the new creation with His energies as water fills a sponge. These actions or energies of God are the true revelation of God Himself to humanity. So God is incomprehensible and unknowable in His nature or essence, but knowable in His energies. It is through His actions out of His love to the whole creation that God enters into a direct and immediate relationship with mankind, a personal confrontation between creature and Creator.
And if we open our little ole creature hearts as we earnestly seek to be closer to God, we practice repentance. Repentance is not an exercise of our feelings, repentance is not a one-time occasion, and it is not simply regret or guilt. Bishop Ignaty Brianchaninov left us the following precise instruction: "In order to live spiritually and draw breath from grace, we must continually exhale the ashes of sin." We sin almost as constantly as we breathe, if not in our deeds, then in our thoughts and feelings. It is therefore essential to continually cleanse our souls. Saint Theophan the Recluse instructs us: “If you have sinned, acknowledge the sin and repent. God will forgive the sin and once again give you a new heart…and a new spirit (Ez. 36:26). There is no other way: Either do not sin, or repent.”(St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation) Repentance is the awareness that with God’s love, despite all our filthiness, we can become illumined. You just have to get connected to the Source!
I’ll end with these words of wisdom from St. John of Karpathos:“My brethren, do all that is in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall, but, if you do fall, get up again at once, and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times, because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise up again at each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death. For it is written: ‘If a righteous man falls seven times,’ that is, repeatedly throughout his life, ‘seven times shall he rise again’ [Proverbs 24:16].” (St. John of Karpathos, From the collection of letters to monks in India)
Glory to Thee who has shone forth the Light!
Fr. Gabriel Weller 3-16-2025
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