Fragments for Friday -- The Divine Liturgy - Introduction

Source: orthodoxartsjournal.org

 

"The divine liturgy is truly a heavenly service on earth, in which God himself, in a particular, immediate and most clear manner is present and dwells with men, for he himself is the invisible celebrant of the service; he is both the offerer and the offering. There is on earth nothing higher, greater, more holy, than the liturgy; nothing more solemn, nothing more life-giving."

- St. John of Kronstadt

Keeping the words of Fr. John of Kronstadt in mind, I am going to offer a "few" meditations in the upcoming weeks on the meaning and practice of the Divine Liturgy. As I wrote a bit earlier, we all face the "temptation" to experience the month of July as devoid of major ecclesial events. But every Liturgy is a major ecclesial event as Fr. John expresses above so powerfully.

This will hopefully further inform our new visitors, inquirers, etc. about the depth of meaning found in the Liturgy. I will remind everyone else at the outset that it could seem like we were merely reviewing what we already know for the most part. But in the Church to review means to renew - to renew our commitment to Christ, to the Church, and to our deepest possible experience that is offered to us in the Divine Liturgy. Renewal is an ongoing process that is essential in our relationship with God. In short, to review is to renew. 

+ The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as served and celebrated today, is the result of a long process of development. — From the apostolic "breaking of bread" to the ongoing experience of the Liturgy to this day, we find a remarkable continuity of meaning and experience. The Liturgy is identical with itself all through the history of the Church. We all experience the same presence of Christ and the reception of the Eucharist as did the earliest Christians in the apostolic Church. On that level the Liturgy is unchanging. Yet, there have been many changes, additions, embellishments and expansive elements in the outward form of the Liturgy. We are essentially serving a Byzantine-style Liturgy that did not reach its completed form until the late medieval period within the context of the Eastern Christian world, centered in Constantinople (now Istanbul). You can trace this development in a fine book by Hugh Wybreth on the Liturgy.

+ The very title of "Divine Liturgy" is deeply meaningful. — Liturgy is from the Gk. leitourgia meaning the "common action" or "common work" of the assembled people. This is just one more word from the realm of ancient Greek culture "baptized" by the Church to now refer to the assembly of the Christian faithful prepared to offer its "common action/work" of being the People of God and Body of Christ - the Church - in a given local setting. Liturgy is something that we do. There are no passive participants. By praying together with the prayers of the Liturgy and sealing those common prayers with our collective "amen," we are all doing something in common and communal. To come to church is "to liturgize" within the framework of the Liturgy.

+ The Liturgy is "divine" because it is ultimately from God. — We gather to worship the living God - the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Liturgy is about God before it is about us. This sense of the holiness of God pervades the Liturgy: "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Sabbaoth!" If we actualize the presence of Christ in the Liturgy, then Christ is the Gift of God to us and for us. We are thus working with God in the Liturgy as we prepare to encounter Christ in the Gospel and in the Eucharist.

+ We begin the Liturgy with the solemn doxology: "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Our destination is announced from the beginning. — The Kingdom of God is an already present reality that we perhaps most clearly perceive and experience precisely in the Liturgy. We "ascend" into the Kingdom in the Liturgy and from the heavenly banquet table we receive and partake of the the Lamb of God "slain before the foundation of the world." We thus anticipate the Kingdom that will come at the end of history here and now in the Liturgy. We even "remember" the "second and glorious coming" in the anamnesis.

+ St. John of Kronstadt has got it right: there is nothing comparable to the Liturgy for Orthodox Christians. — It is the heart and soul of parish life from which everything else flows outwardly into our lives and into the world as we carry it with us when we "depart in peace."

+ Upcoming meditations will concentrate on the first part of the Liturgy culminating with the reading of the Scriptures.

Monday Morning Meditation - July: A 'month-long spiritual desert'

Source: pixnio.com

Unless we find ourselves on an exciting vacation somewhere far from home, it seems that nothing can conceivably be more uneventful than a Monday morning in mid-July. The only “variety” offered seems to be found in the weather. Will it rain or will the sun shine? Will the blistering heat continue, or will we feel some relief?

At this point in the summer, we may have already been on vacation – which means that there isn’t much to look forward to—or we are awaiting an upcoming trip that at least fills us with some sense of anticipation and “escape.” Which poses a further question: are those carefully-planned vacations into which we invest so much time, energy, money – and even hope – always as rewarding, relaxing and renewing as anticipated? I suppose that can only be assessed once we have returned – hopefully as intact as when we departed!

Whatever the case may be, the following passage from the Scriptures may just inspire us to see beyond the tedium that leads to the forgetfulness of God: 

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed” (Heb 12:12-13).

Adding to our spiritual ennui is, admittedly, the fact that July is the most uneventful month of the year liturgically: no major fasts or feasts occur during this month. Basically, there is “only” the Liturgy on Sundays and the commemoration of a few well-known saints throughout the month. (And we will celebrate the Liturgy for the Prophet Elijah and St. Mary Magdalene later in the month - the 20th and 22nd). With vacationing parishioners, there can be a noticeable drop in church attendance. There may also be certain signs of “spiritual laziness” setting in (induced, perhaps, in part by the haziness of the weather) leading to that condition of spiritual torpor known in our spiritual literature as akedia = "lack of care" or "listlessness." 

July, therefore, is something of a month-long stretch of desert, for we celebrated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul at the end of June and await the major Feasts of the Transfiguration and Dormition in August within the context of the two-week fast from August 1-14.

Of course, we never want to find ourselves saying that there is “only” the Liturgy on Sunday mornings. The word “only” is hopelessly inadequate when applied to the Lord’s Day celebration of the Eucharist! 

“Only” implies “uneventful.” Yet, every Liturgy is the actualization of the Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and our participation in that mystery. And every Liturgy is simultaneously the actualization of the Pentecostal mystery of the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit: "Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here offered." 

At every Liturgy we proclaim and bless the presence and power of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are praying to and praising the Holy Trinity together with the angels and the saints. We are in direct communion with God and one another in the Liturgy. This means that every Liturgy is “eventful” in a manner that we can barely comprehend!

If, indeed, the summer proves to be something of a spiritual drought, then we can only thank God for the weekly liturgical cycle that begins and culminates with the Divine Liturgy on the Lord’s Day so that we can recover and renew our genuine humanity that has been created, redeemed and transformed “in Christ.” 

To speak of our life “in Christ” on the communal level we believe that at every Liturgy, we anticipate the messianic banquet where and when “many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The heavenly manna, or the “Bread from heaven” that we receive by the grace of God, strengthens us in the somewhat outward and inward “desert-like” conditions of the world around or within us.

On a more interior level, we may one day make the wonderful discovery that we need not travel far away geographically in order to embark upon a life-transforming journey. In the Prologue to his book The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware relates the following anecdote.

“One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of the fourth-century Egypt, Saint Sarapion the Sidonite, traveled once on pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lives always in one small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life – for he was himself a great wanderer – Sarapion called on her and asked: ‘Why are you sitting here?’ To this she replied: ‘I am not sitting, I am on a journey'.”

Admittedly, this will not work well with the children! But at one point in our lives, we need desperately to make that discovery of our interior depths wherein we find a point of stillness that will further still our excessive restlessness that endlessly pushes us “outward” rather than “inward.” In one of my favorite sentences in The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Kallistos puts it this way: 

“We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity.”

“Vacations” are one thing, and “journeys” (or pilgrimages) another. The packaging and planning of the former make them much more predictable that the limitless possibilities of the latter. So, as we plan our outward vacations by plane or car, we need make provisions for the interior journeys into the greater space of our hearts through “faith, hope and love,” as well as through the practices of prayer and fasting, so as to remain attentive to the “still voice of God” that gives direction and meaning to our lives. Be that as it may, we pray that God will bless us on both forms of travel!

250th Anniversary of our Nation

Source: pixnio.com

 "Celebrating the ideals of the Declaration of Independence is hard if you don’t believe in them."

- Anne Applebaum

'We draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world."

- Ronald Reagan

The Fourth of July this year is the 250th anniversary of our country. "Only" a quarter of a millennium, but still a significant number of years for the "American Experiment" to take root, grow and inspire other nations, as well as evoke a healthy patriotism in our own minds. Yet, there is no contradiction with having pride in one's country and its achievements, while at the same time acknowledging any historical "sins" that only serve to undermine the basic principles that make our country "great" among the nations of the world. As responsible and patriotic citizens, our collective role is to  vigilantly promote, protect and preserve these basic principles - especially our democracy - with moral and ethical integrity. 

However, I would further add: Democracy is not a religion and the Constitution is not sacred scripture. Yet, both allow for a maximum of freedom (not license) in a pluralistic society that from the beginning has not sanctioned one church or religion over another. It is important that we respect those with whom we disagree, even on such basic issues as to how we understand God and what we believe and claim with certainty as divine revelation. I firmly believe that the Gospel can withstand any form of indifference, criticism or rejection, coming from any conceivable source. We will leave all  judgment in the hands of the God who is love.

All in all, I look forward to celebrating our 250th anniversary and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and hope and pray that those ideals can withstand any challenge that threatens them. Our future and that of our children and grandchildren depend upon that. 

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The Holy Synod of Bishops has issued a statement on the 250th Anniversary of our nation's existence. There is also a "Service of Thanksgiving for the Well-being of our Nation" that has been created for that celebration. We will pray a portion of that service on Sunday during the Divine Liturgy. The link below will take you to both:

https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/orthodox-church-in-america-publishes-service-of-thanksgiving-for-the-well-being-of-the-nation

A Guest Reflection

 

Source: prayerrope.co

Kevin Rains here offers a very creative and reading of last Sunday's Gospel reading (Matt. 8:5-13). With insight - not artiface - he finds a liturgical/eucharistic dimension to the healing of the centurion's servant. Please read through this carefully:

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Most Orthodox Christians have said the words hundreds of times without noticing: “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Originally these were not the Church’s words. They are a Roman soldier’s words - lifted verbatim from Matthew 8:8 and placed at the most sacred threshold of the Divine Liturgy, the moment right before we receive Holy Communion.

But that is only the beginning.

The entire shape of the Liturgy mirrors the centurion’s movement. When the deacon cries “Wisdom! Let us attend” before the Gospel, the congregation is standing attentively, silently - that is the centurion’s posture exactly. We are gathered for one reason: to receive the commanding word of One with exousia, divine authority over all things. “Only speak the word.”

Every Kyrie eleison - Lord have mercy - is the same cry that every supplicant in Matthew 8 makes with empty hands. The leper. The centurion. The Syrophoenician woman. The Liturgy is structured around this posture of approaching the unapproachable with nothing to offer but need and trust.

Then there is verse 11, which Jesus speaks over the centurion’s faith: “Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”Every Divine Liturgy is that prophecy fulfilled. We - mostly (or all?) Gentiles, outsiders, those coming from east and west - are precisely those Jesus saw when he marveled at a Roman soldier’s faith.

And at the end: “Go in peace” echoes “Go; let it be done.” Sent out having received.

The whole movement is there. Approach. Unworthiness. The commanding word. Healing. Sending.

The centurion’s encounter with Christ mirrors the structure that we follow in every liturgy. From two thousand years ago! And we walk that same path every Sunday.

Monday Morning Meditation - The Apostles Peter & Paul - The Greatest and Most Righteous Pillars of the Church

 

Source: theorthodoxchurch.info

“During their earthly lives, all the saints are an incentive to virtue for those who hear and see them with understanding, for they are human icons of excellence, animated pillars of goodness, and living books, which teach us the way to better things.” (Homily on Saints Peter and Paul by St. Gregory Palamas)

Today we celebrate and commemorate the two great Apostles Peter and Paul. Their martyrdom in Rome is a very well-attested historical event, happening probably between the years 64-68 A.D. under the Roman emperor Nero. This is considered within the Church to be such a great Feast that it is preceded by a prescribed time of fasting, a practice only reserved otherwise for the great Feasts of the Lord (Nativity and Pascha) and the Mother of God (Dormition). This both stresses the historical greatness of these two apostles, the accomplishments of their respective ministries, their martyric ends, and the very ministry and role of an apostle in proclaiming the Gospel to the world in fulfillment of the Lord’s command to preach the Good News to “all nations.” (MATT. 28:16-20) Indeed, St. Clement of Rome in his First Epistle, referred to Sts. Peter and Paul as “the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church].” On careful reflection, it is not simply pious rhetoric that informs some of the hymns chanted in their honor during this Feast:

What spiritual songs shall we sing for Peter and Paul? They have silenced the sharp tongues of the godless. They are awesome swords of the Spirit. They are the adornment of Rome; They have nourished the whole world with the Word of God. They are the living tablets of the New Testament written by the hand of God; Christ who has great mercy, has exalted them in Zion. (Great Vespers)

In the New Testament, fourteen of the Epistles are traditionally attributed to St. Paul and two are attributed to St. Peter. While the entire Acts of the Apostles is basically devoted to recording some of the major events in the history of these two apostles “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (ACTS. 1:8) It may not be wholly accurate to refer to Sts. Peter and Paul as the apostles, respectively, “to the circumcised” (the Jews) and the “uncircumcised” (the Gentiles) – for St. Peter preached to the Gentiles and St. Paul to the Jews) – but this is a way of capturing the fullness of their combined ministries so that Jews and Gentiles would be united in the one Body of Christ in fulfillment of God’s design.

At Great Vespers of this Feast, three New Testament readings are prescribed, all from St. Peter’s first Epistle. We hear from the magnificent opening of I Peter, and this passage profoundly presents the essence of the Gospel as proclaimed in the apostolic age of the Church’s foundation, by the “prince of the apostles.” For those who have not heard or read this passage recently, a good portion of it deserves to be recorded here so as “to make your day:”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious that gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.(I PET. 1:3-9)

In this passage, St. Peter reminds us that from the beginning the Gospel bestowed upon on Christians a “living hope” that was based on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. All New Testament writers establish Christian hope on the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (In his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul did not want his early converts to be “without hope” like their pagan neighbors, thus attesting to how important hope is for the believing Christian). The Apostle Peter was not offering yet another philosophy, but proclaiming the activity of God – “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” – within the realm of human history; that is that God has acted decisively on our behalf by overcoming death itself through the resurrection of Jesus. He then describes our “inheritance” in heaven in strikingly powerful images, emphasizing the eternal and unassailable reality of heaven – “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” This is in sharp contrast to life as we now know it in this world, for all created things are perishable, subject to defilement and destined to fade away. The Apostle Paul confirms this also by saying that “the form of this world is fading away.” (I COR. 7:31) “Guarded by faith,” we await a salvation that will be “revealed in the last time,” meaning the Parousia and end of time.

Yet, the apostle knows that this gift cannot be lightly received and treated. It will only come after “various trials” that are inevitable in a fallen world. In this instance, St. Peter was most likely referring to persecution as this had already broken out against the earliest Christians. However, suffering comes in other forms. These trials will test the “genuineness”of our faith, purifying it if we emerge from these tribulations purged like gold “tested by fire.” All of this is true even though we have not seen nor “see” Jesus even now. This is true of all of Christ’s disciples through the ages, called by Jesus Himself “blessed” by believing though not actually having seen Him (JN. 20:29).

The strength of this experience is beautifully expressed by St. Peter when he confidently states that we “rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.” This is almost embarrassing when we admit dragging ourselves to church or praying as if constrained under a heavy obligation or a “religious duty” that takes us away from more “interesting” activities! A joyless Christianity is completely foreign to the New Testament. As is a “second place” (or “third” or fourth,” etc.) Christianity in the priorities of our lives. The intended “outcome” of all this is “the salvation of your souls.” Is this why every liturgical service that begins with the Great Litany has us praying to the Lord in the first full petition, for the “peace from above and for the salvation of our souls?” There is nothing “selfish” in seeking or accepting the “salvation of our souls.” This is the gift of God that is intended for all. In the assurance of this gift, we can work more steadfastly on behalf of others, and share what God has done on our behalf.

The Apostles Peter and Paul are truly “Rivers of wisdom and upholders of the Cross!” They exemplified the later teaching of St. Ignatius of Antioch of the mystery of Christ that conveys “life in death.” For they died as martyrs but are eternally alive in Christ. We can now read their epistles and their lives as “living books which teach us the way to better things” as St. Gregory Palamas said of them. We seek their prayers as we strive to be worthy of the title of “Christian.”

Apostles Fast Meditation

The whole person that I am is indeed a sinner. My innermost, God-given beauty only barely shines through, distorted as I am by my enslavement to passions, to my will, and my need for gratification.

Only in giving myself over to God can I hope to attain my freedom. Only then will my inner self shine. Only then will I be fully alive to the Glory of God. Then, too, I will know this “self” that I must care for diligently, with love and appropriate discipline.

—Dr. Peter Bouteneff, How to Be a Sinner

A Short Reflection

Source: athoniteusa.com

Where would we like members of the Orthodox Church in America to be in the next five years? We hope that we will be able to bring our Lord Jesus Christ's wisdom, compassion, and generous salvation to a world where prideful cruelty, intransigent debates, and fueled divisions - even in the name of Christianity - are now often the norm. We hope we will be able to look upon each person first and foremost as an image of God, to bear the burden of each soul's difficult spiritual journey and earthy necessities, as Christ the Good Shepherd bears ours. In 1937 Mother Maria said that the condition of the world no longer permits us Orthodox the luxury of preoccupation with peripheral issues" "Perhaps in the past, but not today".

From the Document: Defining our Moment, presented by a group of Seminary graduated with long histories of serving the OCA to the All-American Council in 2025 (My signature was attached to this document).

Fragments for Friday

 

Source: sthermansoca.org

"And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray." (MATT. 14:23)

According to St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus walked upon the sea and subdued the wind that was threatening to capsize the boat of the disciples (MATT. 14:22-33), after he had fed the multitude of five thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread (MATT. 14:13-21). Therefore, these "mighty acts" of the Lord are linked together both chronologically and geographically according to the evangelist. But what may link these events together on a much deeper level is the evangelist's "note" that in between the feeding of the multitudes and the walking upon the sea, Jesus first withdrew in order to pray "by himself." In fact, it appears that Jesus spent a great deal of time in this instance alone and in prayer, for "when evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves..." (14:23-24). Jesus is sustained and strengthened by prayer. The Lord prayed (and fasted) in the desert before He began His earthly ministry; He prayed during His ministry, as recorded here; and He prayed with particular intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prepared to complete and fulfill His earthly ministry by voluntarily ascending the Cross. Prayer was essential to Christ.

Perhaps we need to understand this as a "great mystery," for the Lord who prayed we believe to be the eternal Son of God incarnate! In His Person are united the divine and human natures "without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation." His sinless human nature is "deified" in the Incarnation. And that same human nature was transformed "from glory to glory" during the unfolding of His life and totally "perfected" and eternally glorified - through suffering! - in the resurrection and ascension following the crucifixion. Often, we understand the practice of prayer as our "communication" with God in order to discern God's will for our lives. (We also thank God in our prayer, intercede for others, or express our distress as lamentation before God in the form of prayer).

However, communication must be seen as an inadequate term for describing Christ's experience when praying to His heavenly Father. There are no indications that Christ did not know the will of God at all times. On the contrary, His every word and deed were in direct fulfillment of the will of God: "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me." (JN. 6:38) This is so because the Lord's "natural" human will was in full union with the will of His heavenly Father. Jesus did not waver, vacillate, or "guess" when fulfilling the will of God (as we do so painfully often). In the theological language of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, the human will of Christ always followed and never resisted or opposed His divine will; both wills -the human and divine - being united in His one Person of the Son of God incarnate. Of course, Christ also thanked His heavenly Father in His prayer, interceded for others, and expressed His distress or lamentation, as in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross. Ultimately, though, we must speak of His prayer as communion with God. In a recent letter, Fr. John Breck wrote the following to me in relation to this subject of Jesus praying:

What occurred in Jesus' times of intense, more focused prayer (we can imagine that he was constantly at prayer to some degree) can't be discerned or described. His prayer was unique. Yet because our prayer in the Spirit is really "God praying to God," the same can be said with regard to Jesus' prayer: the Second Person, if you will, prays to the First Person of the Holy Trinity, a mystery we can only share in and experience insofar as we invite and allow the Spirit to pray within us. Prayer, accordingly, is essentially Trinitarian.

Whatever is human, apart from sin, is assumed by the Word of God who became man. The Lord was not a "ghost" as the frightened and amazed disciples first thought when they beheld Jesus coming to them across the water. To be human is to be in union with God - that is our "natural" state. And if prayer creates and sustains our relationship with God, then to be fully human is to pray. Since Christ was fully human, He prayed. "In the beginning," it was perfectly natural for human beings made "in the image and likeness of God" to nourish their bodies with food and drink. And it was natural for those human beings to nourish their souls through prayer. As the Last Adam, Christ perfectly exemplifies this natural state of humanity. The mysterious relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ is somehow revealed precisely here in the Lord's practice of prayer as communion with God.

I wrote recently about being too busy not to pray. We must find the time regardless of the "cost," because the only thing we cannot afford not to do is to pray. Each person must "be alone" in prayer with some kind of regularity, as the Lord was alone in prayer as recorded in the Gospels. We must make the time. Jesus would withdraw from the affairs of the world, at least temporarily, in order to strengthen - perhaps even "energize" - His human nature through the communion of prayer. Regardless of our ability or inability to fully explain Christ's prayer life as it presents itself before us in the Gospels, we know one thing for certain: we need to pray in order to be fully human.

Apostles Fast Meditation

Source: pmb.ox.ac.uk

Christ our God has loved His own to the uttermost. Because of love He created the world, because of love He took up our broken humanity into Himself and made it His own. Because of love He identified Himself with all our distress. Because of love He offered Himself as a sacrifice, choosing at Gethsemane to go voluntarily to His Passion: “I lay down My life for My sheep. … No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” (Jn. 10:15, 18).

It was willing love, not exterior compulsion, that brought Jesus to His death. At His agony in the garden and at His Crucifixion the forces of darkness assail Him with all their violence, but they cannot change His compassion into hatred; they cannot prevent His love from continuing to be itself.

—Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way

Midweek Morning Meditation -- Too Busy Not To Pray

Source: prayerrope.co

While looking through a catalogue recently from a Christian publishing company, I came across a rather intriguing title: Too Busy Not to Pray. I say intriguing because this is a theme that I think about often and one that I have raised with others before. Read that title again carefully, because it does not say Too Busy to Pray, but precisely Too Busy Not to Pray. 

Either title could serve as an invitation to a book that assumedly addresses the contemporary Christian’s struggle to maintain a regular prayer life amidst his or her busy schedule. However, the title as it stands captures the urgency of the issue much more effectively. I would express that urgency in the following manner: If we are indeed “too busy,” then the only way that we can prevent our lives from spinning out of control—or of losing a God-directed orientation or reducing prayer to moments of danger and stress—is for the “busy person” to be ever-vigilant about praying with regularity to guard such spiritual catastrophes from occurring.

We always need to pray with regularity—“pray without ceasing” [1 Thessalonians 5:17]. But it strikes me that the busier we are, the more urgent it becomes for us to pray. In other words, the busy person cannot afford not to pray. Busy people indeed need the nourishment of prayer. Otherwise, the spiritual dangers are immense. 

The “business” of our lives make us too busy to ... do what? We are certainly not “too busy” to socialize, to seek entertainment, pleasure and diversion—all necessary to one degree or another because of the pressures of work and other responsibilities. And these diversions are layered onto lives that already feel the strain of “multi-tasking” the endless activities that keep our children educated, developing, healthily-preoccupied, etc. (A social commentator recently wrote that mothers have been reduced to the roles of domestic caretakers and chauffeurs. And we still read such nonsense that actually questions  the very “need” of fathers?). Therefore, most people carefully construct their schedules so that these extra social and diversionary activities are not terribly neglected. We can cast this under the rubrics of “leisure time” or “recreational time.” (This all gets a bit sloppy when we go further and speak of “vegging out”). It is the careful, calculated and natural integration of such activities into our lives that leaves us with the overwhelming certainty that we are “too busy.” And “too busy” leaves us “too tired.”

And at that point, we just may be. 

The question then arises again, now with a certain persistence: to busy to ... do what? To pray, to read the Scriptures, to assist a needy neighbor, to visit someone who really needs a visit, or even to call someone we know who is lonely? We are “too busy” to integrate the life of the Church into our lives beyond Sunday mornings. We are “too busy” for Vespers, Bible Studies, Feast Days, etc. Perhaps, finally, we are “too busy” for God! How often do we postpone our relationship with God until we have more time? “If only my life would slow down a bit, then I could turn my attention to God, beyond the perfunctory rushed prayer of my busy, daily life—if I even get to it.”

Is this dilemma unavoidable and irresolvable? Of course not. Every Christian who does face—or face-up—to this dilemma must search his or her heart and ask, “how is it that I am ‘too busy’ to pray?” Whatever honest answers we come up with, I am convinced that we, indeed, are too busy not to pray.

Coming to the Orthodox Church

Source: wikipedia.org

The following is from one of our current inquirers taking our Catechetical Class, and getting prepared to become a catechumen, and then enter the Church. Our potential catechumens are required to write an essay in answer to the question: Why Do I Desire to Enter the Orthodox Church? I found this essay most encouraging, and here are some of the key paragraphs from the essay that I would like to share with the parish.

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Orthodoxy has challenged the way I think about Jesus Christ and the significance of His death and resurrection. It has challenged me to pursue transformation of the heart and to strive to reflect Christ in my actions toward others. While my previous faith tradition emphasized Christ’s death as payment for our sins, I have come to appreciate the Orthodox understanding that Christ came to conquer death and restore humanity to communion with God. This understanding has strengthened my belief that God is loving and merciful rather than merely legalistic.

The people I have met at Christ the Savior have been kind, welcoming, and caring in ways I had not previously experienced. The prayers of the Church have also enriched my spiritual life. Their beauty and repetition have helped me develop greater consistency in prayer, especially during times when I struggle to find words of my own. Through all of these experiences, Orthodoxy has strengthened my faith in ways I never expected.

I truly believe that the Orthodox Church is the Church founded by Christ and preserved through the Apostles. I desire to participate fully in the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church, and I am committed to continuing to grow in faith, repentance, and service. While I recognize that struggles ... may at times affect my attendance, I remain committed to my spiritual growth through prayer, participation in parish life whenever possible.

Apostles Fast Meditation

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

When the Spirit of God descends upon a man and overshadows him with the fullness of His outpouring, then his soul overflows with a joy not to be described, for the Holy Spirit turns to joy whatever He touches. The kingdom of heaven is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Acquire inward peace, and thousands around you will find their salvation.

—St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Seraphim of Sarov concerning the Aim of the Christian Life

Fragments for Friday

Source: orthodoxwitness.org

The  passage below is from Fr, Roman Braga. Presvytera and I knew him fairly well through the years. He led a retreat here in our parish in the early 1990's. I served at his funeral, and I was convinced that I participated in the burial of a saint. In fact, his glorification/canonization is now being studied by a committee appointed for that purpose, and the sense is that he will eventually be added to the list of saints venerated by the Church. May it be so!

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"Orthodoxy is to find Christ in ourselves. You became Orthodox. You didn't find Orthodoxy individually. If you think that you came just by yourself to Orthodoxy, you are still Protestant. Orthodoxy is the experience of persons in God, not of individuals.
First of all, you came back to Church, and don't think that you're saved without thinking about others. In an organism, as St. Paul says, if you cut off your little finger, the whole organism is suffering. The same thing, salvation is communal; it's not individual.

And you come to the Orthodox Church in America, not to become Syrians, not to become Romanians, not to become Russians or Bulgarians. Be yourself, American. Otherwise, God doesn't accept your experience, because you have a tradition, you have a background that is given by God. God made me to be born in the Carpathian Mountains; I cannot be other. For me, Orthodoxy is the experience of the Romanian peoples in the Church. We come into the church, not as isolated individuals; we come with our families, with our nation, with our culture. Sanctify and transfigure your culture. There are many good things in this country. Be good patriots."

-- Blessed Father Roman Braga, transcribed excerpt from Fr. Roman Braga speaking in 1995 at St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church, Franklin, TN

Apostles Fast Meditation

Source: legacyicons.com

When we let the flesh have its own will in everything, and it exceeds its proper bounds and rises up against the soul, then it destroys and corrupts everything. This is not owing to its own nature, but because it is out of proportion … And what hope of salvation is there left, if it is impossible for one who is bad to become good? This is not what he says.

How else would Paul have become such as he was? How would the penitent thief, or Manasses, or the Ninevites—or how would David, after falling, have recovered himself? How would Peter after the denial have raised himself up? (1 Cor. 5:5). How could the man who had lived in fornication have been enlisted among Christ’s fold? (2 Cor. 2:6–11). How could the Galatians who had “fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4) have regained their former dignity?

What he says, then, is not that it is impossible for a man who is wicked to become good, but that it is impossible for one who continues wicked to be subject to God. Yet for a man to be changed, and so become good, and subject to Him, is easy … It cannot but be that where the Spirit is, there Christ is also. For wheresoever one Person of the Trinity is, there the whole Trinity is present. For it is undivided in Itself, and has a most entire Oneness.

—St. John Chrysostom, Homily XIII on Romans VII

Apostles Fast Meditation

In order to be able to see anything, the eye needs light. In order to see truths about God, ourselves, the world, we require light of another kind. The “enlightenment” of our minds depends on God. As the 20th-century monastic elder Sophrony tells us, “To apprehend sin in oneself is a spiritual act, impossible without grace, without the drawing near to us of divine Light. …”

Divine Light and the insight that it brings is a matter of gift; it is grace. My access to it doesn’t depend entirely on me. I can’t will it into existence. For that matter, I can’t save myself, I can’t have faith purely out of my own intellectual acumen. I can’t become virtuous purely out of my own willpower; I can’t come to a right understanding of myself and my sinfulness on my own. God grants these gifts.

I have to seek divine Light, and cooperate with it. I have to earnestly desire it. I have to pray about it and pray for it.

—Dr. Peter Bouteneff, How to Be a Sinner

Apostles Fast Meditation - Holy Apostle Jude, the brother of the Lord

Source: legacyicons.com

How, if He is not risen but is dead, does He stop and drive out and cast down those false gods said by the unbelievers to be alive and the demons they worship? For where Christ and His faith are named, there all idolatry is purged away, every deceit of demons refuted and no demon endures the name but fleeing, only hearing it, disappears. This is not the work of one dead, but of one alive, and especially of God. …

For if it is true that one dead can effect nothing, but the Savior effects such great things every day—drawing to piety, persuading to virtue, teaching about immortality, leading to a desire for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring power against death, showing Himself to each.

—St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation

Apostles Fast Meditation

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

God is indivisible in Himself. When He comes, He comes wholly, as He is in His eternal Being. We do not contain Him. He reveals Himself to us at the “point” where we knock: “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Lk. 11:9). He speaks in brief dicta but life is not long enough to uncover their full content.

Reverently we sense His Fatherhood, His clemency. We see that He hungers to communicate to us His eternal life; to have us attain the perfection of His Son, who is the equal mold of the Father. Incomprehensible is His design for us. From “nothing” He creates gods like Himself. And our whole being bows before Him—not in dread before the stern Master but in humble love for the Father.

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

Midweek Morning Meditation

Source: wikipedia.org

"The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room." - Blaise Pascal Recently, we chanted an Akathist Hymn to "Jesus - Light to Those in Darkness." It was written by Fr. Lawrence Farley. There is a great deal of theological/spiritual reflection found in any given Akathist Hymn, but this passage from Ikos Six caught my attention: The joy of Paschal processions around the House of God remains a distant memory, O Lord, and my soul is in despair ... Pascha was really not that long ago, actually as recent as April 12. However, the question remains as posed in Ikos Six: Is it already a "distant memory?" The point is surely not being made that we will or should maintain that "paschal exaltation" that many of the faithful have experienced - if only for a moment or two - on the "night brighter than the day." We know that that will pass. But does the whole paschal mystery, the vision of life sustained by the remarkable and saving events of the divine oikonimia - Incarnation, Redemptive Death, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord - recede into a well-worn religious compartment of our mind that is far less real than the events of our daily life that impinge upon us in a relentless and almost merciless urgency? What happens so quickly with the "joy of the Paschal procession?"  Yet, even if does quickly recede, the Ikos seems far too dramatic in its claim that our "soul is in despair..." We have developed great tools of adaptation to our environment to avoid something so calamitous as a "soul in despair." And one of those tools is simply a capacity and a desire to be constantly distracted. One event (Pascha?) - no matter how significant - is replaced by another event before the first event is fully absorbed, or so it seems. An unexpressed question is often: What's next? I would like to bring up the whole issue of how distraction relieves us of any such deeper and mindful reflection. To do so, I am turning to a book that I am currently reading, a kind of intellectual biography of the great French mathematician and religious philosopher, Blaise Pascal, author of the well-known Pensees. The author  of his biography - Graham Tomlin - clearly an "expert" on Pascal, even entitled Ch. 11, "Distracting Ourselves to Death." As a seventeenth century philosopher, a time that what we call the "modern world" was coming into existence, Pascal had a great deal of insight into the "human condition," and he already knew how we avoid the deeper dimensions of life through the enticements of distraction. Graham Tomlin, who subtitled his book "The Man Who Made the Modern World," begins with an opening paragraph that updates Pascal's thoughts on distraction by giving the topic a contemporary ring: "We live in an age of distraction. The gadgets in our pockets offer us ceaseless entertainment and instant gratification. At any moment when the slightest shadow of boredom flits across our minds, or when we feel slightly awkward in public, we can whip out our phones, trawl through social media posts, watch an endless stream of videos featuring all kinds of trivia or catch up on events that may be happening anywhere around the world. Even when we might decide to put aside our phones, there is the TV, radio, the internet, podcasts, a constant stream of messages and news about sport, politics or culture to fill every silent moment and to make sure that we are never left to the devices and desires or our hearts." (p. 245) Ah, our iPhones! They may just be best described by the terms St. John Klimakos used to capture our relationship to our own human body: friend and enemy. Or, is that "frenemy?" So, we are caught up in this need to be distracted, but the short term effect of being entertained has its own steep price to pay. As Pascal himself writes:  "The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion. And yet it is the greatest of our miseries. For it is above all which prevents us thinking about ourselves and leads us imperceptibly to destruction. Diversion passes our time and brings us imperceptibly to our death." Perhaps a bit "heavy" for an early morning meditation. Yet, if Pascal's thoughts have the ring of truth to them; if, indeed, we are "distracting ourselves to death," then maybe our "soul is in despair," without our even knowing it!  We will close with a well-known statement of Pascal's that can redirect us away to some extent from the distractions that have such a hold on our minds, hearts and souls: "The immortality of the soul is something of such importance to us, affecting us so deeply, that one must have lost all feeling not to care about knowing the facts of the matter." Certainly, as the Lord said: There is one thing needful!

Apostles Fast Meditation

 A healthy approach to yourself as sinner depends upon knowing something of God’s mercy. Without faith and trust in God—as merciful and loving beyond measure—our self-condemnation would be impossible to bear. It would be self-destructive. And there is no clearer portrait of God than the crucified Christ, who has voluntarily surrendered everything for us. The cross—the limitless self-giving, voluntary co-suffering that it represents, the extent of love and mercy that it conveys—reveals to us what it is to be God.

—Dr. Peter Bouteneff, How to Be a Sinner

Monday Morning Meditation

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 ***I recently shared this older meditation of mine with our catechetical class, hoping thought it would resonate with them as they journey to the Orthodox Church. I wrote to our catechumens: I realize that you are at the moment unable to participate in the fulness of the Liturgy, but hopefully this will further deepen your anticipation. My point, by the way, is not to simply criticize other forms of worship, but to reveal the sustaining power of the Liturgy throughout the centuries to the present day. 

And I have received a few requests to share the remarkable description of the Liturgy imbedded below, from Fr. Calivas, that I read in church yesterday during the homily.

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If you recall from yesterday, I forwarded an article in which the leaders of the successful Willow Creek "mega-church" acknowledged the failure of the "turnstile" approach of filling up a vast auditorium with thousands of souls, but ultimately leaving those thirsty souls program-saturated but spiritually empty. A good part of this failure must be the lightweight "worship" that is offered in the "sanctuary," but which may dangerously approximate "religious entertainment," rather than genuine liturgy. The hazards of "worship by committee" - subject to marketing and consumer trends that feel the need to be "audience-friendly" - are now being subject to a more careful scrutiny apparently, and seen to be wanting to an alarming degree. In all of this you sense a strong desire to appear relevant. Yet, what becomes irrelevant more quickly than the relevant? You only wear yourself out trying to keep up ...

Liturgy is organic, that is it grows and develops naturally through the historical life of the Church, maintaining enough sense of timelessness and changelessness that protects it from contemporary trends and fads. Thus, the pervasive sense of holiness and transcendence that characterizes even an aesthetically-poor celebration of the Liturgy. This is the gift of Tradition, the guarantor of continuity throughout the centuries. We are spared from having to "make it up" as we go along. Therefore, "Byzantine" as it may be, the Divine Liturgy is always "relevant!" 

That is simply a few introductory thoughts to what I consider a densely wonderful and profound description of the Divine Liturgy provided below by Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas. As a liturgical scholar, but more importantly, as a priest and celebrant of the Liturgy, Fr. Alkiviadis brings together many of the sacred strands of liturgical experience that organically unite in the Liturgy, thus providing us with a short, but very memorable mediation on the Church's core act of worship:

"In this present age between the two comings of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Divine Liturgy is always the messianic banquet, the meal of the Kingdom, the time and place in which the heavenly joins and mingles with the earthly. The Eucharist initiates humankind, nature, and time into the mystery of the uncreated Trinity. The Divine Liturgy is not some sacred drama or a mere representation of the past events. It constitutes the very presence of God's embracing love, which purifies, enlightens, perfects and deifies (2 PET. 1:4) all those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (REV. 19:9), all who through baptism and chrismation have been incorporated into the Church and have become Christ-bearers and Spirit-bearers. In the Divine Liturgy we do not commemorate one or another isolated event of sacred history. We celebrate, in joy and thanksgiving, the whole mystery of the divine economy, from creation to the incarnation, especially, in the words of the Divine Liturgy, "the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at the right hand, and the second and glorious coming." Thus, in experiencing the risen and reigning Christ in the Divine Liturgy, the past, present and the future of the history of salvation are lived as one reality." (ASPECTS OF ORTHODOX WORSHIP)

That is more than enough for any given Sunday morning! Not only is there nothing wanting, but the fullness and plenitude of divine grace and truth are present whenever we assemble as the Church to celebrate the Liturgy. We prepare for the Liturgy and then the Liturgy prepares us for our return to the world "in peace" - "the peace of God which passes all understanding."(PHIL. 4:7) When we return to the world of every day experience, we then enter the time of the "liturgy after the liturgy." This is the living out of our lives based upon the nourishment we received at the messianic banquet, the "meal of the kingdom" as described above. We are not returning to "profane time," but to life itself, all of which is potentially permeated with God's loving presence. At any point in history, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church can be "mega" or mini." Whatever its historical circumstances, as the anticipation of the Kingdom which is to come, the Church is a source of unfailing spiritual nourishment. Any hunger on our part is self-generated and based upon our refusal to eat from the Tree of Life. That "food" comes to us in various forms - the Eucharist, the Scripture, prayer, etc. If we ever feel spiritually starved, perhaps our priorities need to be re-examined.