Coffee With Sister Vassa -- CHRIST’S FINAL WORD

 

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So the sisters (of Lazarus) sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (Jn 11: 1, 3-5) 

Jesus “loved” Lazarus and his two sisters, these simple people, not extolled for any special virtue in the Gospels. Just as He loves all of us, for whom He died on the Cross “ while we were still sinners” (Rom 5: 8). But when our Lord heard about Lazarus’s deadly illness, which was so dire that Martha and Mary sent Him word of it, He “ stayed two days longer in the place” where He was, not rushing over to Bethany to heal His good friend. The Son of God knew that Lazarus would die from this illness, but that his illness would, nonetheless, not be “ unto death.” Because death would not have the final word, concerning Lazarus. The “final word” was that of the life-giving Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who was to raise His beloved friend from the dead several days later, saying, “ Lazarus, come out!” 

Nor does death have “ the final word” concerning all of us, in the love of Christ. Because Christ has embraced us all, with His hands outstretched in His own “illness” on the Cross. But Christ’s suffering was “ not unto death,” just as Lazarus’s wasn’t, even though both Christ and Lazarus truly died a physical death. And so are our illnesses and suffering “ not unto death,” when we embrace His word, in love. Even “ while we are still sinners,” in our imperfections. 

So let me look death in the face today, and recognize that it no longer has “ the final word” in my life. It has been vanquished by the love and friendship of my Lord Jesus Christ, Who grants me His life-giving word, making me capable of the Resurrection of Life. O Lord, may Your word be my “ final word” today, that my “illness” not be unto death, even in my imperfections. Amen!  
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With a recent death in our parish, very timely words from Sister Vassa.

Lenten Meditation -- Sixth Wednesday of Great Lent

Source: smtbethpage.org/

To be sure, the extended fasts during Great Lent … are a time for turning inward through self-discipline and repentance to soften our heart, opening it for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. … But we do not and cannot refashion our own lives in relation to God apart from our relationships with other people. On the very first Monday of Great Lent, we are enjoined by Isaiah (1:16–17): “Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” This injunction and warning is repeated in Isaiah 58:6–7, which is read on the Wednesday of the sixth week of Great Lent: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness … to let the oppressed go free, to share bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house?”...

Great Lent, then, is a time in which we respond with humility and gratitude towards the compassion God shows to us and also aim to express that compassion in our dealings with others.

—Priest John D. Jones, Moved by Compassion: Exploring the Core of Orthodox Christian Life

Lenten Meditation -- Sixth Tuesday of Great Lent

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

“We know that the greater the love, the greater the sufferings of the soul,” said Staretz Silouan. The man to whom it has been given to feel Christ-like love is aware that such love moves the heart to wish everyone well, without exception. Such love is a life-giving fire. It is uncreated Light, and streams of energy beneficial for all mankind pour forth from him who possesses it. When it penetrates us it makes us Christ-like, and as it were naturally includes us in the sufferings of His love, which cannot bear to see man deprived of the highest good.

—St. Sophrony, On Prayer: Reflections of a Modern Saint

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These words of St. Sophrony are very valuable and timely today. We are currently being subjected - at least in "public discourse" - to a very aggressive and intolerant form of "Christianity," that does not "wish everyone well, without exception."  Rather, it detects "enemies" everywhere. When that happens there is a real shortage of compassion for the "other," and not the slighest care for those "deprived of the highest good." 

St. Sophrony is outlining the "Orthodox Way," and that is a "way" that can cause "the sufferings to the soul." It is a "way" that can only be cultivated through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, practiced with humility and our sense of being sinners redeemed by Christ on the Cross.

Coffee With Sister Vassa -- I AM THE DOOR

 

“I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn 10: 9-16)

We all need to “belong.” Why? Because we were made that way, to share in, and be part of, God’s Oneness and God’s “abundant” Life. It is both spiritually and psychologically tormenting for us, to feel shut out from Life, like puzzle-pieces that just don’t fit anywhere. Many people go through life feeling that way, or have felt that way, at some time or another.

Christ, the One Shepherd, is the “door” through Whom we, who were once outsiders and misfits, “enter” true Life, and become proper citizens of God’s world. Other, merely-human community-builders might offer us some sense of belonging, – like the high priests of the Internet, or our political party, or clan, or some social circle, etc. But none of these “hirelings” can “save” us, that is to say, make us “whole” within ourselves and with God’s world. Outside communion with Christ, we will find ourselves “scattered,” at the end of the day. Thank You, Lord, for laying Your life down for us, and claiming us as Your own, and nobody else’s. This Tuesday I hear Your voice, and take Your door, embracing the positive change with which you challenge me in this Lenten season, when you say: “ Repent! (Metanoeite! – in Greek, meaning “ Change your mind/your focus!“) For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.“ (Mt 4: 17)

Lenten Meditation -- St. Mary of Egypt

Source: uocofusa.org

In describing His coming Passion, Christ uses words which allude to the basis of our life in the Church right now: the cup which He is to drink and the baptism with which He is to be baptized.

Jesus promises that His disciples will also drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism, showing us the full significance of accepting baptism and participating in communion. These are not merely things we do when we come to Church. They should be the basic fabric of our lives, making our whole life a continual martyria—a witness to Christ in the service of others.

As an example of this, we have before us today St. Mary of Egypt, who, through her encounter with the Cross, totally changed her way of life by living in total repentance and penitence, until she also partook of the cup of salvation.

Let us pray that we also have the strength to respond to Christ, not to try and avoid His Cross, aspiring after whatever we hold to be glorious, but rather recognize it as the source of our life in Him.

—Archpriest John Behr, excerpt from sermon for the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt in The Cross Stands While the World Turns