Fragments for Friday

 

Source: blessedmart.com

Dear Parish Faithful, The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble;  they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 89/90) I just read an essay entitled, "The Longevity Revolution," by Jonathan Rauch. Actually it is an extended book review of two books: Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age, by James Chappel; and The Longevity Imperative: How to Build a Healthier and More Productive Society to Support Our Longer Lives, by Andrew Scott. (Rather cumbersome titles!). These books are raising the issue of just how inadequate our current system is for dealing with aging Americans who are living longer and healthier lives. I am not going into those details. If anyone would like a copy of this essay, please let me know, and I will provide one. My interest at the moment is more focused. At the end of this detailed review, Rauch reminds that we have created "the big conceptual categories of childhood, adolescence, middle age, and old age;" and that these categories are "too deeply rooted to toss aside." He then argues: "We could use a new category, one reflecting the fact that longevity is inserting one, two, or even three decades between middle age and old age." And he offered the following new category: "late adulthood," an already existing category associated with prominent sociologists and psychologists working in this field. He summarizes this expertise, by the following description: " ... the notion of late adulthood captures the reality of a new stage of life, in which people are neither fully retired nor conventionally employed - a phase when people can seek new pursuits, take "not so hard" jobs, and give back to their communities, their families, and their God." Well, now it gets interesting, for Rauch will offer his quite positive estimation/description of this "late adulthood." I will let you make your own assessment of "late adulthood," especially for those who are over the age of 50, for Rauch claims that "most of what people think they know about life after 50 is wrong." He then goes on to correct this perceived wrong notion, by saying: "Aging, per se (as distinct from sickness and frailty) is not a process of uniform decline. It brings gains, too: greater equanimity, more emotional resilience ... and a heightened appreciation of life's blessings. Partly for that reason, the late decades of life are, on average, not the saddest, but the happiest. Contrary to popular belief, aging does not bring mental stagnation. Older people can learn and create, although their style of learning and creativity are different than in younger years. Emotional development and maturation continue right through the end of life. And aging can bring wisdom - the ability to rise above self-centered viewpoints, master turbulent emotions, and solve life's problems - a boon not only to the wise but to everyone around them." "Late adulthood ... is a time of reorientation and relaunch, a time when zero-sum goals such as social competition and personal ambition yield to positive-sum pursuits such as building community and nurturing relationships." This is all well and good for those not troubled by "sickness and frailty." Perhaps we are living within the tension between the sober words of the psalmist concerning our life-span's "toil and trouble; they are soon gone and we fly away," and the positive note struck in the above concerning the "gains" of late adulthood.

Reflections on the Sanctity of Life

Dear Parish Faithful,

"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4)

 

This coming Sunday, January 24, is designated as Sanctity of Life Sunday within the Orthodox Church in America. For that reason I am including here some links to meditations/reflections that I have written over the years on the issue of abortion. There is a good deal of overlap in terms of the overall content, but each one touches on a certain aspect of the "abortion problem" that may lend it a certain singularity; and many have some fine quotations from other prominent thinkers. They are also "dated" in that there are references to more immediate events that are now not as relevant. But I am simply passing them on in their original form. Please feel free to look them over as we continue to affirm the Sanctity of Life.

Two Statements on 'Sanctity of Life'

Sanctity of Life: Embracing the Christian Ideal

Total Cost of Abortion - The Salvo Article

Orthodox Liturgical Tradition Values Life in the Womb

Life: “The most sublime expression of God’s creative activity”

Fr. Steven

Orthodox Liturgical Tradition Values Life in the Womb

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Today, September 23, we commemorate the Conception of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord. St. John is the only figure in the New Testament besides Christ whose conception and nativity are related in detail (Lk. 1). This indicates the importance of St. John in the the work of salvation in the world. He is the true "friend of the bridegoom."

A point concerning this commemoration is that a new, unique and unrepeatable human person began to exist precisely at the moment of his conception. Human life - the psychosomatic unity of soul and body - is a continuum that starts at conception and continues through the grave and beyond into the Kingdom of God.

The scriptures reveal that life begins at conception when it tells us that the unborn John "leaped for joy" in the womb of his mother Elizabeth when the Theotokos visited her six months into her childbearing (Luke 1:39-45). St. John's destiny and vocation were chosen by God prior to his conception and started when he was conceived. He needed the time and nurturing to grow into that destiny and vocation.

The beginning of human life at conception is a truth that demands recognition in a world and society that has legalized abortion. (It is also a truth that has received absolute affirmation within the scientific community). We employ the fallible logic that declares that if something is legal then it is automatically "right."

The higher moral law declares that life is sacred. The Church witnesses to this truth to a world that has lost its moral and ethical bearings about this most basic fact of life. Every child ever conceived is a child of God with a purpose and destiny decreed for him or her by God.

The celebration of the Conception of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord (September 23); the Conception of the Theotokos (December 9); and the Incarnation of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (March 25), remind us about the sanctity of life. Thus, it is our liturgical tradition that firmly values life in the womb. These festal commemorations declare that life is from God and they compel us to stand firmly in defense of the goodness and sanctity of life.

The conception of St. John is related in the Gospel According to St. Luke (1:5-25). This passage can be found on our parish webpage, together with other readings appointed for today:

https://www.christthesavioroca.org/todaysreadingssaints

There is also a summary from the OCA's webpage:

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/09/23/102703-conception-of-the-honorable-glorious-prophet-forerunner-and-bapt

 

'On the cross, death is crucified...'

Dear Parish Faithful,

GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY - A reflection

"Holy Friday is the day of the Cross, yet without meaning that it is a day of mourning. Mankind crucifies the God-man. It is evil and hatred in its most absolute form: the creation kills its Creator. And it seems that evil has triumphed.

"It seems so but evil does not triumph because Christ responds with love. He does not offer opposition which would multiply and scatter the hatred, but submits to condemnation from love for the judges. He inoculates the appearance of evil with the vaccine of love and the cross, from being a symbol of humiliating death, becomes a symbol of life and salvation. For on the cross, death is crucified.

If the action of hatred is death, then the action of love is life. In loving mankind, Christ accepts the action of hatred and submits to the condemnation of death. This death, however, takes place on account of love, and thus, from this death, flows life. This death is the death of hatred; it is the death of death. And the cross is the symbol of life and the symbol of triumph. For this reason, Holy Friday is not a day of mourning but a day of celebration."

- From the Passion to the Resurrection - An Anthology of Hymns, Literature and Icons of Holy week

The Bible Study and Christian Martyria

Dear Parish Faithful,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

On Saturday evening, His Grace, Bishop Paul, spoke to us about Christian "martyria" as an essential response to the secularism of our contemporary world.  Martyria or martyrdom means, of course, witness.  The ultimate witness is to die for one's faith, and those are the martyrs that we so venerate to this day.  However, as Bp. Paul pointed out, we are not persecuted in that manner in North America.

We may be ridiculed as Christians; and we have to accept laws that we do not find morally acceptable; but we are not persecuted as Christians of the Middle East are.  Our witness is made with the "little crosses" that we are willing to take up to reveal Christ as the ultimate Source, Value and Goal of our lives. We witness by placing our life in the Church above other concerns - secular events, from sports to social gatherings, to entertainment, etc.  - in our daily lives, even if that may not be so convenient.

Those were Bp. Paul's words of wisdom and it is difficult to disagree with him - especially for committed Orthodox Christians.

To apply his teaching to a concrete example, I would like to make the link between this type of more modest martyria and the upcoming parish Spring/Summer Bible Study that will begin this Wednesday evening.

Our choice of committing our time to the group study of the Holy Scriptures over and above any and all forms of secular events or entertainment is precisely the type of martyria that His Grace is commending. This is not a spectacular martyria, but it is meaningful nevertheless.

As stewards of time - and not only money - how will we "redeem the time" in St. Paul's phrase?  If we do not have some sort of inescapable commitment on Wednesday evenings, how can we not gladly come together and study the Bible as brothers and sisters in Christ?  What is "out there" that is so much more important, compelling or attractive?

Again, choosing the parish Bible Study is precisely that modest form of martyria that His Grace spoke about quite eloquently. His Grace also pointed out that it is in the parish where all of this begins. We need more opportunities than Sunday mornings Liturgy to build up our fellowship and togetherness as parishioners.  This is all integral to our Christian martyria in a secular world.

I am not a biblical scholar, but I have been trained by excellent biblical scholars and theologians in the Orthodox interpretation of the Holy Scriptures - from my days at St. Vladimir's Seminary and beyond.  And over the years, I have maintained a rigorous devotion to the continued study of the Bible to be a more effective teacher of biblical revelation to the flock entrusted to my pastoral care.  Not to be immodest, but I believe that I am a decent enough teacher of the Holy Scriptures in the context of parish life. I am convinced that you will learn something.  I am also convinced that once you come, you will be glad that you did so.

We will study at least a part of the Gospel According to St. John this summer.  Especially the "signs" found in JN. 1-12.  This is fascinating, powerful and life-transforming material.  It is the Good News and nothing less. His Grace would admit that he only "scratched the surface" at Sunday's Liturgy with his penetrating homily on the Samaritan woman.  We will keep "digging deeper" as we gather together and study St. John's extraordinary Gospel. And we will begin with the thrice-extraordinary Prologue (Jn. 1:1-18), the Gospel reading at the midnight Paschal Liturgy.

If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to choose the Bible Study as a form of Christian martyria over a secular concern that can be satisfied at some other time.  You may not be here all through the summer, but faithfully fulfill your witness and come when you are able.  Married couples with young children can perhaps "take turns" from week-to-week and thus an alternating husband and wife can represent the family.  If you have the ministry of a teacher to our children, come to this as a course in "ongoing education." There is no one who does not fit in.

We will begin with Vespers at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Bible Study at 7:45 p.m.

'Do you want to be healed?'

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

CHRIST IS RISEN! 
INDEED HE IS RISEN!

In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John we find the account of the healing of the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem and the profound discourse that follows.  

Archeologists have fairly recently discovered this pool, demonstrating the accuracy of Saint John’s description.  

The paralytic had taken his place among a human throng of chronic misery, described by the evangelist as “a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed” [verse 3].  Being there for 38 years and not being able to experience what were believed to be the healing capacities of the waters of the pool, the paralytic seemed resigned to his destiny.  

Then Jesus appeared.  He saw the paralytic and He knew of his plight.  

Jesus then asked the paralytic a very pointed and even poignant question: “Do you want to be healed?” [verse 6].  Surprisingly, considering what must have been his own misery, the paralytic’s answer was less than direct and not exactly enthusiastic: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me” [verse 7].  

Nevertheless, and even though the paralytic does not commit himself to an act of faith in the healing power of Jesus, he receives the following directive from Jesus: “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.”  And then, in that somewhat laconic style of describing the healing power of Christ that characterizes the Gospel accounts, we read simply, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked” [verse 9].  The “sign” is that Christ can restore wholeness to those in need.

I believe that we need to concentrate on the question Jesus posed to the paralytic, “Do you want to be healed?”  (The King James version of the question is:  “Wilt thou be made whole?”)  For, if the various characters that Jesus encountered in the Gospels are also representatives or “types” of a particular human condition, dilemma, or state of being; then the question of Jesus remains alive in each generation and is thus posed to each of us today.  

If sin is a sickness, then we are “paralyzed” by that sin to one degree or another of intensity.  But do we really want to be healed of the paralyzing effect of sin in our lives?  

The answer seems obvious, even a “no-brainer,” but is that truly the case?  Are we more-or-less content with continuing as we are, satisfied that perhaps this is “as good as it gets” in terms of our relationship with God and our neighbors?  Do we manage to politely deflect the probing question of Christ elsewhere, counter-posing a reasonable excuse as to what prevents us from exerting the necessary energy from our side?  

Or, finally, do we actually "enjoy" the particular sin/passion that has ensnared us, and thus - if only unconsciously - remain unwilling to part with that "enjoyment," spiritually crippling though it is? 

Our teaching claims that we must also contribute to the synergistic process of divine grace and human freedom that works together harmoniously for our healing.  Perhaps it is easier and more comfortable to stay as we are – after all, it’s really not that bad - a position reflected in the non-commital response of the paralytic.  For to be further healed of sin will mean that we will have to make some changes in our life, in our interior attitudes and in our relationships.  It certainly means that we will have to confess our faith in Christ with a greater intensity, urgency and commitment.  Are we up to that challenge?

Actually, we could more accurately say that we have already been healed.  That happened when we were baptized into Christ.  (There are baptismal allusions in the healing of the paralytic by the pool of water).  

Every human person is paralyzed by the consequences of sin, distorting the image of God in which we were initially created.  Baptism was meant to put to death the sin that is within us.  We were healed, in that baptism is the pledge to life everlasting, where death itself is swallowed up in the victory of Christ over death.  For we are baptized into the Death and Resurrection of Christ. 

So, with a slight variation, the question of Christ could also imply: 

Do you rejoice in the fact that you have been healed, and does your way of life reflect the faith and joy that that great healing from sin and death has imparted to you?

Are you willing to continue in the struggle that is necessary to keep that healing “alive” within you?  

Direct and simple questions can get complicated, often and precisely by the paralyzing effect of sin in our lives.  We can then get confused as to how to respond to such essential questions.  Every time we walk into the church we are being asked by Christ, “Do you want to be healed?”  Responding with a resounding “yes!” would be a “sign” of the faith, hope and love that are within us by the grace of God.

Proclaiming the Risen Lord in our Time

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

INDEED HE IS RISEN!

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” (Mark 15:33)

“And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen.” (Mark 16:2)

Saint Mark the Evangelist is rather precise when he narrates that the Lord was crucified at the third hour (15:25); that darkness fell over the land at the sixth hour (15:33); and that Christ died at the ninth hour (15:34).  According to the Jewish reckoning of time, that would mean that the Lord hung upon the Cross from about 9:00 a.m. (the “third hour”) until 3:00 p.m. (the “ninth hour”) on that first “Holy Friday.” For the last three hours, then, “there was darkness over the whole land.” 

This is not a weather report from the Evangelist.  Rather, this unexpected darkness was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos (read as the Old Testament reading at the Sixth Hour on Holy and Great Friday) that was a “sign” of great significance for the early Church as it began to reflect upon the “scandal” of the Cross:

“‘And on that day,’ says the Lord God, ‘I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight.  I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day’” (Amos 8:9-10).

The fulfillment of this prophecy revealed the cosmic dimension and significance of the Lord’s death on the Cross:  all of creation mourned the death of the Son of God.  Truly this was an awesome mystery! 

Yet, while at the time of the Crucifixion this very darkness may have intensified the solemnity of the Lord’s death, it also intensified the starkness of Christ dying on the Cross seemingly abandoned by all, including His heavenly Father:

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘E’lo-i, E’lo-i, la’ma sabach-tha’ni?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (15:34).

Again, the impression is that there was no one with Jesus in his hours of darkness upon the Cross.  Yet, at the very moment of His death and seeming abandonment, Saint Mark narrates that a Gentile centurion was the first to realize that this was not the case:

“And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that He thus breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (15:39).

In addition, there was actually a silent presence of deeply sympathetic figures within some proximity of the Cross that Saint Mark accounts for:

“There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered to Him; and also many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem” (15:40-41).

Their role was of further great importance, for their vigilance allowed them to know where the tomb of the Lord was located: “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where He was laid” (15:47).  The presence of these faithful female disciples of the Lord—the women we now know and venerate as the Myrrhbearers—prepares us for the awesome revelation that will occur “very early on the first day of the week” (16:2).  The account of the discovery of the empty tomb; the angelic proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus to the women by the angel in the tomb; and the astonishment of the women is narrated in a rather succinct manner by Saint Mark in only eight verses (Mark 16:1-8).

When the myrrhbearing women arrived at the tomb carrying their spices in the hopes of anointing the dead body of Jesus, the darkness that will soon be lifted from their hearts was already being dispelled by another sign from the world of nature, for the women arrived “when the sun had risen” (16:2).  The cosmos had mourned the death of the Son of God; but it will now rejoice by “announcing” the Resurrection of the Sun of Righteousness.  

The movement from darkness to light is a powerful motif throughout the Gospels.  The darkness may represent sin or the final horror of death.  Jesus is the very presence of light, and that light is so strong that neither sin nor death can resist its strength.  This is not simply a literary “symbol,” but a living reality.  

Saint Mark then narrates that the women “were amazed” when, upon “entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe” (16:5).  This “young man” was clearly an angel.  And it is this angelic being who will first announce the Resurrection of Christ with a definitive clarity that cannot be misunderstood:  

“Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified. He has risen, He is not here; see the place where they laid Him” (16:6).

The Jesus Who had been crucified is the Jesus Who was now raised from the dead.  The risen Jesus is neither a “ghost” nor a “spirit.”  The Crucified One is now the Risen Lord—Jesus the Christ and King of Israel. The Father had not abandoned His Son, but rather vindicated the One whose resurrection will now be announced to the disciples/apostles, and through them to the whole world.  As the biblical scholar, Francis Moloney has written:  

“The question asked of God by Jesus from the cross, ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ (15:34) has been answered.  Jesus has not been forsaken.  Unconditionally obedient to the will of God (see 14:36), Jesus has accepted the cup of suffering.  On the cross He is Messiah, King of Israel, and Son of God (see 15:32, 39).  God’s never-failing presence to His obedient Son leads to the definitive action of God:  He has been raised!  The apparent failure of Jesus has been reversed by the action of God, Who has raised Jesus from death” (The Death of the Messiah, p. 11).

Saint Mark and the other evangelists recorded the events of that first and glorious Easter morning. They are witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ. We accept their testimony and proclaim the same “Good News” to the world today through the Church.  And we invite others to share that life—including “harlots and tax-collectors.”  

Yet, like the myrrhbearing women, we need to experience the Resurrection on a deep and personal level. In and through faith, the “stone” that covers the entrance to our own hearts can be “rolled away” by the grace of God, and a new dawn can pierce the darkness of sin and death that leaves us as if living an entombed life hidden from the light.  This is the work of God.  

When the Resurrection of Christ is genuinely experienced in the very depths of our being, we may at first be silent because “trembling and astonishment” lay hold of us (Mark 16:8).  But when we recover our voice we may then joyfully share with others—through our faith and our lives—that CHRIST IS RISEN!

Life: “The most sublime expression of God’s creative activity”

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Friday, January 22, 2016 marks the 43rd Anniversary of the infamous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 that effectively legalized unrestricted access to abortion in the United States of America.  Despite reports of impending ominous weather, tens of thousands of people of faith—including many Orthodox Christians—will march in the nation’s capital to express our strong disagreement with such a law, thus providing us with a glaring and painful example of finding something morally and ethically unacceptable, though it is “legal.”

Our “peaceful protests”—violent protests by “pro-life” advocates are hardly justifiable—afford us the opportunity to remind ourselves of the Church’s ancient rejection of abortion.  As the Church began to expand in its initial period of growth, in came into contact and conflict with the Roman Empire and the proliferation of beliefs and practices that characterized the Empire’s prevailing culture.  As the “superpower” of its day, the Empire imposed itself both militarily and culturally on its far-flung territories and inhabitants.  Both abortion and infanticide were widespread practices, hardly challenged, I believe, for the most part.  An early formulation of Christian resistance to these practices can be found in the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, a document that dates back to the early second century, in which we read,

“Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not corrupt children; do not fornicate; do not steal; do not practice magic; do not go in for sorcery; do not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant” [II, 2].

In the fourth century, Saint Basil the Great wrote the following:

“Those who give potions for the destruction of the child conceived in the womb are murderers, as are those who take potions which kill the child” [Letter 188, Canon 8].  

Saint Basil clearly does not apply all of the responsibility for this decision upon the mother of the child, but includes those who provide the “service.”  In today’s world, one can only imagine the enormous pressure placed upon a young and vulnerable woman to “terminate” an “unwanted pregnancy” by those around her, including her “medical advisors.”  The pressure increases with the psychological assurance that what is legal cannot be wrong—though one’s maternal intuitions and instincts may be offering an internal protest of a different nature.

It is essential to offer a positive response rather than simply rejecting abortion as immoral, though our very human instincts make such a rejection perfectly natural.  As Christians, we must continue to affirm the sacred gift of life within the context of what some have gone so far as to name a “culture of death”—in my opinion, not an unfair characterization.  I find such an affirmation at the very beginning of Father John Breck’s wonderful book, The Sacred Gift of Life, as he embarks on a theological, bioethical and pastoral articulation of what the Church has proclaimed “from the beginning”—the victory of life over death in Christ.

“Orthodox Christianity affirms that life is a gift, freely bestowed by the God of love,” Father John writes.  “Human life, therefore,

"is to be received and welcomed with an attitude of joy and thanksgiving.  It is to be cherished, preserved and protected as the most sublime expression of God’s creative activity.  God has brought us ‘from non-being into being’ for more than mere biological existence.  He has chosen us for Life, of which the ultimate end is participation in the eternal glory of the Risen Christ, ‘in the inheritance of the saints in light’” [Colossians 1:12; Ephesians 1:18].

We cannot simply be content with denouncing abortion as a evil practice, true as that may be.  We must actively seek to alleviate the conditions of those tempted into such a decision because of their harsh environments or marginalized social status.  Compassion—more than judgment—can be a much more effective response to a deeply troubling practice that wounds the sensibility and soul of any Christian who is aware of the God of life, Who has granted us life abundantly in Christ Jesus.

Currently, every sign indicates that the practice of abortion is here to stay in our secularized society that is experiencing a kind of moral/ethical  erosion produced by an ever-expanding moral relativism. (And this moral relativism has elevated "choice" to almost sacred status; while "life" suffers debasement as it is divorced from faith in God). 

I am not hearing any presidential candidate publicly speak against abortion, regardless of his/her party's platform or personal position.  Why risk undermining one's popularity over a "dead issue?" This can be discouraging.  However, a sense of vigilance and discernment should never be far from our minds, directing us to the theological, moral and ethical themes that are irreducible to pragmatic or utilitarian concerns.  If "human life" is ... "the most sublime expression of God's creative activity," then that is the only Christian "choice" to make.