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Dear Parish Faithful,
GREAT LENT - Day Fifteen
"Here below we are not exempt from temptations. For Scripture says, 'May you who think that you stand take heed lest you fall' [I Cor. 10:12]. We sail on in darkness. The psalmist calls our life a sea and the sea is either full of rocks, or very rough, or else it is calm. We are like those who sail on a calm sea, and seculars are like those on a rough sea. We always set our course by the Sun of Righteousness, but it can often happen that the secular is saved in tempest and darkness, for he keeps watch as he ought, while we go to the bottom through negligence, although we are on a calm sea, because we have let go our the guidance of righteousness."
- Amma Syncletica
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We continue to hear the wise voice of Amma Syncletica, one of the most renowned of the Desert Mothers. Comparing life to a sea voyage was very prevalent in the world of late antiquity, and Christians used this image to describe the journey of life toward the Kingdom of God. The journey could be calm or stormy, depending upon both exterior and interior circumstances in life. During the Arian controversy of the fourth c., St. Basil famously described the Church as if engaged in a sea battle in the darkness of night, when one could barely distinguish between a friendly or enemy ship. The Church is meant to be the ark of salvation which can survive, by the grace of God, even in a catastrophic flood, as it remained intact after the "storm" of the Arian heresy had "battered" it mercilessly.
Amma Syncletica, in her words above, makes a rather typical comparison between those on a calm sea - either a believer or, more specifically, those who have withdrawn to the desert away from the tumultuous world; and those on a rough sea ("seculars") - either a non-believer or even a Christian caught in that same tumultuous world. However, the fine twist that Amma Syncletica offers is that "we/us" can be shipwrecked by a lack of vigilance; while the "secular" can maintain the necessary vigilance and care to complete the journey successfully. There is no room for complacency and self-righteousness (the publican and the pharisee). There are no guarantees and nothing is automatic. As the unknown author the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote: "How shall we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3)
Amma Syncletica, in her words above, makes a rather typical comparison between those on a calm sea - either a believer or, more specifically, those who have withdrawn to the desert away from the tumultuous world; and those on a rough sea ("seculars") - either a non-believer or even a Christian caught in that same tumultuous world. However, the fine twist that Amma Syncletica offers is that "we/us" can be shipwrecked by a lack of vigilance; while the "secular" can maintain the necessary vigilance and care to complete the journey successfully. There is no room for complacency and self-righteousness (the publican and the pharisee). There are no guarantees and nothing is automatic. As the unknown author the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote: "How shall we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3)
