St Peters Orthodox Church

One of the many themes of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is that the suffering of One makes way for the healing of the many. The more we consider the suffering of Christ, the more we see just how far Christ lowered Himself so that we may be raised up. One of the great revelations Christ has given His Church is this: anything Christ joined Himself to and took within Himself becomes a means of our salvation. As Christ suffers the deepest of human sufferings, He turns human suffering (something He never intended for humanity) on its head and makes it a means by which we can be healed and transformed.

The glorious Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the greatest examples of paradox. How could something so torturous be glorious? The Apostle St. Paul says "the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us it is the power of God unto salvation." St. Paul knew the paradox of the Cross. Tonight we look at the teachings of St. Cyprian regarding the depth of this paradox and how it reveals to us so clearly the full extent of the love of God for us all.

On Palm Sundays, there are two services joined together as one. On this day we have the Blessing of the Palms and the Gospel is read regarding Christ's entrance into Jerusalem to go to His Passion. And in the Mass of the day, one of the Passion Gospels is read. So we have something festive and something sorrowful all at once set before us. The Jews welcomed Jesus crying out Hosanna which means "save us." But they misunderstood the salvation Christ came to offer all, for it was not an earthly but an eternal salvation He came to grant to us all. But we know why He entered Jerusalem. So we do rejoice rightly. But at the same time, we cry out "save us" from humble hearts knowing our need for mercy; the mercy His blood would be shed to eternally pour over every one of us.

Today is Passion Sunday marking a significant turn toward the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The iconography and all images of our Lord Jesus Christ are hidden from us. Why would our Lord give us this prescription for the last two weeks of Lent? Today, as we consider this question, we find that it has everything to do with the true sense of remembrance by God's grace in His Church. There is something to be experienced in the hiddenness of our Lord and today we set ourselves to walk these final two weeks of Lents that we might encounter Him in His hiddenness.

If Adam's lament is the lament of every soul, we need help in discovering the powerful lament within us for God. We also need the help of God to redirect that lament to Him so that our souls may finally come to rest and enjoy His peace. Today we look at how the spiritual disciplines given to us by Christ in Lent help us to uncover our true lament. We also are exhorted to pray the Psalms. 65 of the Psalms are considered Psalms of lament. As we pray the Psalter, we receive help in redirecting and voicing our lament to God alone.

Today, in the testimony of Christ our God miraculously feeding the 5,000, we are reminded of what Christ can do with the little that we have to offer Him. And yet, even though what we have is little and always deficient, He invites us to join with Him in His wondrous works to sustain and fill many. Satan has us always focus on what we lack which leads us to spiritual paralysis denying ourselves the joy that comes to us when we are united with Him in His good works. Our Lord asks us to look upon Him and see that all He asks us is that we offer Him only what we have. He knows it is insufficient. He fills what we lack with His sufficiency. Thank God our salvation is not dependent on us, for we lack much. It is utterly dependent on us keeping ourselves joined to Him Who has everything.

When we think of Lent and repentance, we tend to think mainly about overcoming our sins and coming out of the ways of our fallenness. While this must be, with the help of the grace of God, a necessary part of repentance; it is truly only one aspect of the repentance through which Christ brings healing to the soul. Repentance is two motions all at once. It is the movement away from our fallenness. But it is also a movement of turning to God seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness. It is both/and, truly a putting off and putting on all at the same time. The Church Fathers teach us that we become that which we do. Today we seek to bring balance to our repentance as we step out to do the good works in Christ that are met with His grace and lend themselves to the healing and transformation of our souls.

Have you ever gone through a season of life where, no matter how faithful in prayer you remain, our Lord seems to be very distant from you? Or, have you been in a season of suffering where your prayers for mercy and relief seem to be met with silence? Journey with Christ long enough and you will encounter one or both of those experiences. Today we hear from the Gospel of St. Matthew15. A Canaanite woman comes to Jesus pleading with Him to release her daughter from demon possession. Her plea is met with silence and then with what would seem to be a rejection of her by our Lord. How does she respond to all of this? As we look at her response to the silence of the Lord, we see how we are to live in Christ when He seems both silent and distant.

In Holy Scripture, there were three who fasted for 40 days: Moses, Elijah, and Christ our God. And through each one's fast idolatry was cast down and destroyed or left behind. Today we look each of these to see Christ's great prescription of the 40-day fast of Lent which He sanctified and consecrated for us; that by His presence in our fast our idolatries might be cast down and overcome and we might ascend the mountain to behold Him.

Today Father James shares with us several texts: The Lament of Adam, Lamentation chapter 1, St. Nicolai Velimirovich "Prayers by the Lake" (prayers that aid us to love and pray for our enemies, and the Litany of Humility. As he goes through each, we discover meaningful ways in which we can experience a true change of personhood within ourselves to, by the help of God's grace, become more like our God.

Jesus says in Matthew 6, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The reality for us all is that God is not entirely the treasure of our hearts. Throughout our days we give in to the many temptations and distractions of this world. The good news is, our Lord has always known this would be our human struggle. We are given the season of Lent to, as the God through the Prophet Joel spoke in Joel 2, "Turn to me with all your heart; with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness." Lent and its spiritual disciplines are the grace-filled path to return to the Lord our God; that He might become more and more the treasure within our hearts.

We are told in Hebrews 4 that, since we have a High Priest Who is compassionate toward us, we should come boldly before His throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. When the blind man near Jericho cried out loud for mercy, Jesus was attracted to Him in His weakness. It is hard for us to consider that our Savior is attracted to our weaknesses when we cry out for help and mercy; that He is not repulsed by them. Let the lie be put to death that He is anything else. From the Incarnation until He comes again, we are in the age where He sits upon the throne of grace and mercy to save us. Let us come boldly that we might receive what He longs to give.

The word ontological, when used regarding theology, has everything to do with the nature of God Himself. For us, that word encapsulates all that has been revealed by God to His Church regarding Who He is and how we understand Him. Since we are created in His image to grow in His likeness, we also use the word ontological to understand the truly created human person by God; in other words, how we see our most true selves. Today we consider the truth revealed to us that the only way that we become ontologically our more true person is to receive the very revelation of God. For it is that revelation that transforms us entirely healing our lives.

In our Gospel reading from St. Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Soils. In this parable, our Lord lists three reasons for the unhealthy soil in our soul in which the seed of our new life given through Him cannot grow. While we all have each type of unhealthy soil within our souls, today we focus on the first type that our Lord mentions; the hard and unyielding soil. Lent is a season in which we yoke ourselves to Christ so that the hard and fallow ground may be churned up. Underneath the hard ground, the rocks, and the thorns we discover that which is most natural to the human creation; the very real and pure hunger and thirst for God.

Today is Septuagesima Sunday, the beginning of our three-week preparation for Lent. We are asked today to consider a question. What is the true priority, the true degree of urgency, that we place on the care and healing of our souls? In truth, throughout this life, our urgency waxes and wanes. We simply allow ourselves to be derailed by distractions. Today, by a few parables told by our Lord as well as the words of St. Paul, we are reminded of the sense of urgency with which to open our hearts to Christ; that He may heal, mend, and transform our lives. This is the season to refocus and to be re-centered regarding things most important.

Charismata is a word that means gift. It is easier to see repentance and humility as as gifts from God when seen correctly. But despair, a gift from God? Yes! Anyone who follows Christ will go through a season or seasons in their lives when it feels like God is no longer present or anywhere near to us. But where can God go if He is in all things at all times? This despair is better understood as our awareness of the presence of God diminishing. But it is in those times, as a gift from God, that our faith can most grow very strong. Today we look at this gift of despair and how we should walk with God in those times.

Three words that Jesus utters in St. Matthew 11 give us the framework for our salvation. He says, "Come to me." Come to me you who are wearied with the sufferings of the daily round of life. Come to me you who are beaten down trying to be righteous in your own strength. He says, "Take my yoke upon you...and you will find rest for your souls." Take a yoke upon yourself and find rest? Once again, the wisdom of Christ in the Kingdom of God confounds the wise. Today we consider what it means to take up His yoke and come to Him that He may exchange our heavy burdens for His rest and refreshment for our soul.

Tonight we celebrate Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch. The life and testimony of this blessed Apostle should give us great hope. St. Peter failed and fell many times including his denial of the Lord He loved dearly. He would fall, weep tears of repentance, cry out to the Lord to help him, and the Lord in His great love and mercy would stretch out His arm and lift the Apostle up again. This is the life of repentance unto salvation. And through his blessed vessel, the Lord Jesus Christ would continue His ministry to the salvation of many.

It is important to know ourselves and our current spiritual limitations. If we do not know these limitations, we fail to understand our clear starting place. Not knowing our measure, in this way, can cause us to either strive to do too much spiritually which results in perceived failures; or, it leads us to never make attempts at spiritual growth and healing. When we know precisely our limitations, we can be encouraged that we truly have a starting place. The spiritual journey is step by step rather than great leap by great leap. When we know our measure, we can begin a journey with Christ that will avail to true spiritual growth and healing by the experience of our Lord.

In our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 18, St. Peter asks Jesus, "How many times must I forgive my brother?" Jesus answer was seventy times seven. Today we look find that the meaning of the number our Lord gives equates to the full extent of the mercy of God. The more we consider the mercy that God is, the more we should be in wonder and awe knowing that this profound mercy is constantly directed at our lives. If we will just open a part of our soul, it will flood in. Those who experience the mercy and forgiveness of Christ in their own lives find it much easier to give mercy to their offenders and be freed from harboring unforgiveness to those who have offended us.