Make the effort...Jesus is merciful

Out of labor comes health, out of sweat salvation. Beware lest, from your wish to keep certain obligations, you break your obligation to God.  Do not sink back.  There is salvation; there is amendment.  The doors are not yet shut; the Bridegroom hears.  Make the effort.  Jesus is merciful, the Kingdom is at hand. 

On cleaning the whole cup

Even when your body does nothing, sin can be active in your mind.  When your soul inwardly repulses the evil one’s attack by means of prayer, attention, remembrance of death, godly sorrow and mourning, the body, too, takes its share of holiness, having acquired freedom from evil actions.  This is what the Lord meant by saying that someone who cleans the outside of the cup has not cleansed it inside, but clean the inside and the whole cup will be clean (ct. Matt 23:25-26). 

On admittance to the marriage feast

People who trust solely in the apparent righteousness of the outward way of their life are like the foolish virgins (cf. Mt. 25:1-12), who did indeed preserve their outward virginity, yet in spite of this were not admitted to the marriage-feast; they also had some oil in their vessels, that is, they possessed some virtues and external achievements and some gifts of grace, so that their lamps remained alight for a certain time. But because of negligence, ignorance and laziness they were not provident, and did not pay careful attention to the hidden swarm of passions energized within them by the evil spirits. 

Pray and petition in behalf of recently abducted bishops

 

 

From the desk of a brother in Christ, Fr. Deacon Nicholas B: 
(printed with permission)

 

As you are aware, the suffering of our fellow Christians in Syria has come to the forefront of our minds because of the kidnapping of Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, the blood brother of the Patriarch of Antioch, and his brother Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo. I wanted to share a wonderful resource for following the events there - Notes on Arab Orthodoxy. I've been so touched by the courage and faith of the posts (especially given the context of Holy Week), that I wanted to share some profound quotes and the link with all of you - both for edification and also for prayers for those who will not be able to celebrate the services because of these tragic events.   

 

First, a letter from the Patriarch of Antioch, John X:

"Therefore I call on everyone, faithful and clergy, to approach Palm Sunday with a new spirit, remembering the Passion of our Lord and connecting it with what we are living today. Let the Resurrection occur in every human heart, as the Lord has raised Lazarus from the dead. Let us work to have Christ triumphantly enter into the world's heart through our service and ministry, as He entered victoriously to Jerusalem."

From Father Younes Younes:

"It slipped their [referring to the kidnappers'] minds that there is someone who preceded them in their sin and dared to conspire against the Good Shepherd and to crucify the Lord of Glory. He thought that the affair would end with a stone rolled over the door of the tomb. Did those who kidnapped Sayyedna Paul and Sayyedna Youhanna not learn that the Shepherd was struck but the sheep were not scattered, since they were established on the rock of faith? That the Shepherd was crucified and His Church was born from His pierced side? That the Shepherd was buried, but rose victorious over death?

And one more, from Archimandrite Touma Bitar:

Now, we pray to God that He safely return the two bishops. This comforts, strengthens, and makes firm, especially the faltering among us! But let us pray to God first of all that He strengthen the two bishops, wherever they are, to make them perfectly firm in faith and in bearing witness to Christ the Lord, and that He repel from them the snares, so that they will not grow weak. This is part of the battle that is not against flesh and blood, because "our struggle... is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12)...  

 

All three of these posts are beautiful and inspiring, and I highly recommend visiting the website and reading them in their entirety. There is an online petition to the White House if you would like to participate in signing here. You can see the statement of the Assembly of Bishops to Secretary of State, John Kerry, here.

Please continue your prayers for the two hierarchs and for their flocks and all those suffering on behalf of the Faith.

Focusing on Holy Monday & Tuesday

On the All-Comely Joseph as a type of Christ
http://otftd.blogspot.com/2012/04/joseph-all-comely.html

On the Wise and Foolish Virgins

http://otftd.blogspot.com/2012/04/on-wise-and-foolish-virgins.html

 



Negligence in one's holy calling

He who has been counted worthy of the heavenly calling, and by this calling has been sanctified, if he grows negligent in it, although washed becomes defiled: counting the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a profane thing and despising the Spirit of grace, (Heb 10:29), he hears the words, Friend, how came you to be here without a wedding garment?  For the banquet of the saints is spotless and pure; for many are called, but few chosen, (Mat 22:12). 

A sermon for Palm Sunday

by Nick Brown
http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/resources/sermons/brown_palm_sunday.htm

 

Throughout the entire history of the known world, men have conquered other men. Rulers have conquered cities. Emperors have conquered entire nations. At times, Kings have strived to conquer the entire world. But there remains one uncharted territory that has eluded men of power all throughout history. This unconquered territory is the human heart, and its sole conqueror is Christ the king.

Today we celebrate together one of the great feasts of the Church calendar — the feast of Palm Sunday. Today we gather together to celebrate Christ’s entry into the city of Jerusalem. Today we celebrate Christ as the king who enters our own personal Jerusalem — our hearts. Today’s feast day is a momentary feast of joy and celebration, because tonight we begin the final leg of our journey towards Pascha. Our mood changes from one of joy this morning to one of solemnity, almost of sorrow this evening as we lead up to the great sacrifice that Christ performed for us on the cross.

The feast of Palm Sunday has been celebrated in our Church since the earliest days of Christianity, but the use of Palms in connection with religious celebrations goes all the way back to Old Testament times. Oddly enough Palm trees did not grow around the city of Jerusalem, and people would often buy imported Palms for religious celebrations, in particular The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated at the temple in Jerusalem. The Palm branch was used as a visual tool proclaiming the sovereignty of God as the true king of the Israelites.

With the expectation of the Messiah, and the events of Christ’s ministry on earth, word travelled quickly around Judea that Jesus was the one whom the prophets had spoken about and whom everyone was expecting. Yesterday Christ performed a miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead, the miracle that foreshadowed his glorious resurrection next Sunday. Now everyone is convinced that this is the Messiah-king who will save the Israelites. And Christ fulfils the prophecy of Zachariah, entering Jerusalem on a donkey. All of Israel is preparing to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and Christ enters also as the salvific king who will save Israel not from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, but from the curse of death through His own death and resurrection.

For Orthodox Christians around the world, we celebrate these events as they happened not only in the past, but as they also happen today. We celebrate Christ as the king who enters our hearts, our own personal Jerusalem. But is Christ able to enter? Is there room in our hearts for Christ to rule as king? Often the doors of our hearts are locked. Often Christ is unable to enter because there is already another king of the heart — ourselves. And how do we solve this problem of trying to let Christ in? How do we instill within ourselves the one thing that is missing- God?

The answer is to surrender. Surrender to the will of God. Surrender your life to the one who gave you life. We are constantly bound and held captive by the temporal things of this life. We are prisoners of our own selves, of this world, of our careers, of money, of the politicians who rule over us, we are even slaves to our own passions. The only way to find peace, to find true happiness, to experience true love is to surrender yourself to God, to make Him your king, to live in total communion with Him. And the way in which we turn our hearts from the kingdom of the self into the kingdom of God is through constant daily prayer, reflection, and meditation, frequent Holy Communion, frequent Confession, reading and understanding the Scriptures. So many people complain that they can’t find time to come to Church, they can’t find time to pray and read the Scriptures, they can’t find time to fast, or go to Confession and Holy Communion. The reason they don’t have time is that they are slaves to their own selves, to their own will. If we don’t have time for God, then why on earth should God have any time for us? But God always has time for us. He is constantly knocking at the door to our hearts, to our lives and asking to come in. Some of the Church Fathers go so far as to liken God to a crazed lover who constantly seeks to be with the one that He loves — us, and who would do absolutely anything to be with the people that He loves.

Today, as we receive our Palm branches at the end of the Divine Liturgy, let us take them to our homes and place them somewhere where we can always see them. Let the Palms remind us that Christ is the king of our families, that Christ is the king of our hearts, that Christ is the only true answer to happiness and meaning in our lives. And if we do proclaim Christ as our king, let us try and make time for Him in our daily life, let us be reminded that He is the one with whom we will be spending eternity. Let us be reminded that our careers, our education, our finances, our homes, all of the basic material needs in our lives are only temporary. Let us prioritise and place Christ the king as the primary concern in our lives. It is only when we have done this that we will find true peace and happiness in such a confused and complex world. Amen.

From Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George, Brisbane QLD