My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
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SOBERING WORDS UPON MOVING TO A NEW HOUSE, TO A NEW JOB AND TO NEW MINISTRIES
By Father Seraphim, Aldea
Saint Cuthbert, an early Celtic Saint, used to pray standing in the sea. When he stepped out, the sea otters would dry his feet with their fur.
"The more I examine myself, the more I see that a life devoted to constructing and organizing, a life which produces positive results and which succeeds, is not my vocation, even though, out of obedience, I could work in this direction and even obtain certain results. What attracts me is a vocation of loss-a life which would given itself freely without any apparent positive result, for the result would be known to God alone; in brief, to lose oneself in order to find oneself" (Father Lev Gillet).
The one thing that sets the Saints apart from the rest of us is their struggle to remain entirely obedient to Christ. There is no bargaining in their mind, no negotiating Christ's teaching, no diluting His words to the point where they lose the strength to open for us the path of salvation.
Most of us receive the word of God with caution, and we immediately start turning it on all sides until we reach a compromise that works for us.
Most of us fear the word of God. All we truly want is something that looks like His word enough to make us feel good about ourselves, enough to make us have the appearance of Christians, but not to the extent that we could lose control over our lives.
One can go through life either in obedience to Christ or in obedience to one's will. The challenge and choices of this world are simple and clear if we obey Christ's word - we need to love, we need to forgive, we need to help. Ultimately, we need to allow the world to crucify us for His name and become True followers of the Crucified One. These are His words, and this is the way of the Saints.
Things only seem complicated when our brain gets in the way. Things only seem unclear when we begin negotiating Christ's word, looking for a human version of it which does not lead to the Cross. Unfortunately, we always succeed. Unfortunately, we have the frightening ability to reduce Christ's teaching to something that excludes the Cross. The danger, though, is that without the Cross there can be no Resurrection either.
The Saints are not like that. The Saints do not build an idol of their earthly lives. They have no vision of a perfect life here, no vision of a perfect self in this world. They remain faithful to Christ and His word, and allow nothing of this world to come between them and their God.
Looks at Saint Cuthbert. Look at his faith, the faith of a young man who spent his nights into the cold waters of the North Sea, so he may control his mind and his body in prayer. Look at his obedience to his true calling -- a hermit at heart, he left everything behind to be obedient to Christ. A man alone on his island, but carrying the world and its Creator in his heart.
Through his prayers, may we also be given the faith to obey Christ's naked word, not our own tamed version of it. "
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Fr. George