Mt 17:14-23
In today’s Gospel, Belief is mentioned. So we come back to the question: “What do you believe?” The Orthodox Christian answer to this question is found in our confession, or statement of faith that is the Nicene Creed. This confession of faith begins with the very words that we need to speak, “I believe…” and then continues to concisely and briefly express what it is that we believe in. “I believe…” in One God … the Father…the Son…and Holy Spirit.. “I believe…” that God is Almighty…Creator…Maker of all things. “I believe…” that God took on human flesh, He became man and dwelt among us. “I believe…” that He lived in this world, that He revealed Himself (that is God) to us, inasmuch as we can comprehend Him; that out of His love for us He sacrificed Himself, died and rose again, defeating death by death so that we might be restored into communion with Him. “I believe…” that the Holy Spirit moves in this world and dwells within us uniting us to God. “I believe…” that God has given to us the Church, the sacraments, the hope in the Resurrection and life of the world to come that we might live in union and communion with Him. This is what I believe.
And so we should, every day, reaffirm our belief, proclaim each day in our prayer rule, this statement of what I do believe. So that it saturates our awareness and becomes an integral part of all we do and every choice we make.
But our belief in this is weak, and so we say with the father, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” And this is the way of faith in God. By our own strength, our own will, or our own reasoning we cannot truly believe – we can only begin to believe. To truly believe we need God’s help, we need His grace, we need His Holy Spirit, living and abiding with us and in us. With God’s help, we can act on this belief, order our lives on this Truth and live “by faith” in what we believe, what we know to be true.
Now we come to the next profound moment in the Gospel reading. The disciples came to Jesus and asked why they could not cast out this demon. Jesus answered that it was because of their unbelief, for they had begun to take their belief for granted and had not nurtured their faith, so that it might continue to grow in them. Then He gave to them the prescription for strengthening their belief and for living “by faith”. He prescribed for them “prayer and fasting” and so He prescribes this same remedy for us.
St Nicolai Velimirovic tells us, “Fasting and prayer are two pillars of faith; two living fires that burn up the evil spirits. Through fasting, all bodily passions are calmed and destroyed, especially immorality; through prayer, all other passions of soul, heart and mind are calmed and destroyed … By fasting, the vessels of body and soul are cleansed of their filthy contents of worldly passions and vices. By prayer, the grace of the Holy Spirit is drawn down into the empty, cleansed vessel.”
These are two basic activities and tools of living by faith, fasting, which breaks down and removes the rubbish of sin in us, and prayer, which fills the now cleansed and empty soul with the grace of God. If then, we do truly believe, and if then, we live according to that faith, then the two most important activities that we have are fasting and prayer.
As Christians we are called to live “by faith”. That is, we are called first to believe, and then to act according to that belief. Our belief is summarized for us in the Symbol of Faith, the Creed, and we should recite it every day. The Creed should become the basis of our decisions, the foundation of all our reasoning and the governing force of all our desires. We should say the Creed with great attention and with force – meaning every sentence, every phrase, every word.
We say the Creed as part of the Divine Liturgy, but do not limit it to this once a week event – say it every day in the morning to set the tone of your day and again in the evening, during your prayers, to cement that belief in your mind and heart, as you lay down to sleep.
Having answered the question “What do I believe” now you continue to the next question, “How do I live according to that belief?” Here we take up the primary tools of our faith, fasting, not only abstinence from certain foods on certain days, but rather the continual abstinence of self-denial and moderation in all things that are the hallmarks of a righteous life. and prayer, not just a regular prayer rule, but living each moment in the awareness of the presence of God within you and drawing from Him continually, the flow of grace, by placing yourself in harmony with the Holy Spirit. Fasting and prayer: these are the primary tools of our life of faith and it is by this that you will be able to live “by faith”, to work out your salvation, to live in harmony with God, enjoying even in this life, a persistent communion with Him.
Remember, Christ is still King!
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