Humility Archive

A Message from Fr. Lou – Come to Me and I will give you rest…

– May 7, 2013

A MESSAGE FROM FATHER LOU
Come to Me…
“Come to Me, you who labor and are heavy lad-
en and I will give you
rest.” (Mt. 11:28). Doesn’t it seem like we are constantly searching? We are searching for happiness. We are search- ing for success, for fulfillment, for the meaning of life, for peace. Promises abound as to where we can find that which we are searching for.
We have completed our annual Lenten Journey – a
corporate and private annual adventure of discovery and have begun Holy Week. The invitation is always the same. Our Lord invites us to come to Him. We are invited to come to the One who will provide us all that we search for. We are invited to be- come one with His disciples: to see the sights; smell the aro- mas; and hear the sounds. We are invited to see the miracles of healings out of love and compassion. We are invited to smell the aromas of spring signifying new life and to listen to the teachings – words of life and salvation. But we also hear the jeers and mockings of judgment and hatred. The exuberance of “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” we hear transformed to the feeding frenzy of “Crucify Him, Cru- cify Him!” We are invited to the enthronement of the “King of Kings” only to discover that the way to His heavenly throne, are the crooked stones on the road to Golgotha.
We are invited to His trial, to His scourging, to His hu- miliation, to His crucifixion. As we gaze around, we see that most have deserted Him. Where are You Peter? Andrew? James? Bartholomew? Where are you, Disciples? We of course see His mother. We hear her agony and we feel her pain. We see the other Marys and the Myrrhbearing women. John is there as well. We, perhaps catch glimpses of others dear to Him in the crowd at a distance, but we cannot be certain… Perhaps we ask ourselves, if we were there 2000 years ago, would we be with the Panagia, the Marys and John, or would we too have scattered in fear? A sadness and a heaviness would follow such

a question as the probability of the “scattering in fear” reality sets in. There is an emptiness that may bid us to look elsewhere for fulfillment, for the meaning of life, for peace, for happiness. The words of Cleopas resonate within out hearts “… but we were hop- ing that it was He who was going to redeem Israel …” (Luke 24:21).
“Today is hung upon the tree, He who suspended the earth in the midst of the waters. A crown of thorns crowns Him, who is the King of the Angels. He who wrapped the heavens with clouds is clothed with a purple of mockery. He who freed Adam in the Jordan received buffetings. He was transfixed with nails, who is the Bridegroom of the Church. He was pierced with a lance, who is the Son of the Virgin. We venerate you passion, O Christ… Show us also Your glorious Resurrection.” (From Holy Friday Mat- ins sung Thursday night).
The pain, sorrow and death of our Lord, followed by the sadness and hopeless depth of the sealed tomb however is Grace-fully followed by a different emptiness. The emptiness of sorrow and hopelessness is miraculously transformed to an emp- tiness of exuberance, joy, celebration, salvation, and life! The empty tomb…
“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week be- gan to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door…the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen…’”. (Mt 28:1-6). “O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are annihilated! Christ is risen and the demons have fallen! Christ is risen and the Angels rejoice! Christ is risen and life is liberated! Christ is risen and the tomb is emp- tied of the dead!” (Paschal sermon of St. John Chrysostom).
Once again our Lord invites us to come. Let us accept His invitation and come to Him, to His venerable and life giving Pascha – a Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer. If you find Him, you will indeed find the One who gives meaning to life. Have a deeply blessed Holy Week and a glorious Pascha, and may we cry out together “Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!”
A Blessed Pascha, Fr. Lou

An Attitude of Gratitude

– February 24, 2013

A MESSAGE FROM FATHER LOU

An Attitude of Gratitude

“If the only prayer you said was “thank you” that would be enough.” Meister Eckhart

The daily doxology whether read or chanted in our Orthodox Christian tradition begins, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill to all people.” This glory is an offering of thanksgiving to our God for His abundant blessings, for His Love, for His creation, for us. This doxology begins our day and sets the tone not only for each day, but for our life. The beautiful quotation above by Meister Eckhart serves to invite us to have an attitude of gratitude.
The Greek word for gratitude or Thanksgiving is “eucharistia”, or translated literally into English, “Eucharist.” The Eucharist or Holy Communion then denotes a special relationship based upon God’s agape love for us and our love offered back to God in deep appreciation. There is then a continuous and unbroken circle of love between God and us which serves to provide for us the foundation for our life. Living then in gratitude with thanks given to God and others – we live. We inhale of God’s blessings and exhale in grati- tude… and thus we live. This Eucharistic living is not only between God and us but then becomes Eucharistic living from one to another and then we are one in God.
An Attitude of Gratitude…
“Give thanks unto the Lord for He is Good and His Mercy endures forever.”
(Psalm 135/136).
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer, and let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.” (Maya Angelou)
“The man who knows the delight of the love of God – when the soul, warmed by grace, loves both God and her brother – knows in part, that the Kingdom of God is within us.” (Staretz Silouan)
“Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.” (Thich nhat Hanh)
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say thank you? ” (William Arthur Ward)
February 2, forty days after the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity – Christmas, we annually celebrate Jesus’ En- trance into the Temple. Historically, the Righteous Simeon took our Lord into his hands and entered into the Holy of Ho- lies within the Temple, signifying that Jesus was and is the New High Priest. The New Covenant has dawned and our Lord has entered into our presence.
May we praise Him. May we glorify Him. May we thank Him for His Divine Love and life giving presence. May we live eucharistically with a daily attitude of gratitude. Have a beautiful, blessed and Grace filled year in thanksgiving to our Lord.
With our Lord’s blessings, Fr. Lou

JUST SAY “NO”!

– November 8, 2005

My September “Kandili” article encouraged the readers to join Fr. Paul, Fr. Evan and me in beginning each day of our new Ecclesiastical year focusing on Christ our Lord. After all, life is about Him, not us. Last month, we examined humility with a reminder of our Lord’s great challenge to be converted to become as “small children” if we desired to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 18:1-5). Now, this does not refer to being “childish” with the immaturities of childhood. What it does refer to is to be childlike with a purity of faith, trust and love for God, our True Parent. A “conversion” here is necessary as following the Fall of Humankind, our tendency is to rely on self and not God. Quite simply, in order to say “Yes” to God and God’s Will, we must say “No” to our self and our will. Is this a challenge, or what?

We hear in the Lord’s Prayer, “…Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To become childlike is to place God’s Will above our own. What is practically necessary for us to do this? Humility is of course. Prayer and fasting are also absolutely necessary as they express our humility on the one hand and serve to deepen it on the other hand. Why are prayer and fasting absolutely necessary? They are necessary because they both redirect the focus in our life away from us and towards God, when done with the proper attitude. Orthodoxy teaches us that proper fasting provides a heart receptive to a genuine encounter with God. Just what is “proper” fasting? Simply it is a discipline to help us to learn to say “no” to certain things in our lives with a purpose to learn to say “no” to our wants and desires, to our self. Again, to say “yes” to God and God’s Will is to say “no” to our self and our will. Remember what our Lord said to His disciples? “Whosoever desires to follow me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me.” ( Mk. 8:34). Proper fasting helps us to conquer our own selfish desires. It is like a small “self-persecution”. Tito Colliander states, “Ultimately it is just this ‘self-persecution’ on which your warfare depends, for as long as your selfish will rules, you cannot pray to the Lord with a pure heart: Thy will be done. If you cannot get rid of your own greatness, neither can you lay yourself open for real greatness. If you cling to your own freedom, you cannot share in true freedom, where only one will reigns.” (Way of the Ascetics, pg. 12).

We must remember that this whole process is going against the post-Fall flow, against what feels natural to us and against what we are often taught and learn in the world around us. We learn to care for and focus on our self and our wants and desires. When we do go against the flow and move out of our self, who do we encounter? Bishop Theophan answers, “We meet God and our neighbor. It is for this reason that denying oneself is a stipulation, and the chief one, for the person who seeks salvation in Christ: only so can the center of our being be moved from self to Christ, who is both God and our neighbor. This means that all the care, concern and love we now lavish on ourselves is then quite naturally and without our noticing it transferred to God and thereby to our fellowmen.” (Way of The Ascetic, pg. 20).

This November, as we celebrate the Entrance into the Temple of the Theotokos on November 21, the Feast of our Patroness, St. Catherine the Great Martyr, November 25, let us allow their great example of sacrificial love to encourage us to live the same way. On this Thanksgiving Day, the 24^th of the month, let us offer thanks to our Lord for life and all of our blessings by loving Him and one another. Let’s say “no” to our self by saying “yes” to God in all we do.
With the Lord’s blessings,

Fr. Lou

Humility and Childlikeness

– October 8, 2005

What does it mean to be a devout and committed Christian? What is at the very core of our approach to and relationship with God? Allow me to answer these questions with a quotation from our Lord. “ At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, ‘Who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ Then Jesus called a child to Him, set him in the midst of them and said, ‘Assuredly I say to you unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” (Mt.18:1-5).

Who do we honor in this life? Typically we honor entertainers, athletes, the wealthy, politicians, CEO’s of corporations, successful, accomplished men and women. They are often motivated, hard working, self-sufficient, and articulate.

Who do we honor in our Orthodox faith? We hold up as examples and honor after our Lord, the saints. Without a doubt, many of the saints were gifted with similar qualities as those possessed by the “idols” of our times. However, the saints accomplished something that few have. They were “converted” and became as little children. Now, that does not mean that they were childish, with the immaturities of childhood. What it does mean is that they were childlike, with a purity of faith, trust and love for God. It means that they were humble and always ready to learn, never looking at themselves as better than another, seeing that anything good that they did was as a result of God’s Grace and not their own. This childlikeness was something that they, through humility had to re-learn. They were “converted” to this attitude of life. Since after the Fall of humankind our tendency is to rely on our self and not God. Most of the “great ones” honored in our world, with our fallen tendencies focus on their accomplishments and possessions. A “converted one” learns to direct any good away from self and towards God. The truth is that in my experience, even within the Church this is not easily accomplished. More times than not our attitudes are not “converted”. This is the main reason why petty differences and power struggles occur everywhere. Our own egos keep us from this childlikeness and humility. In our circles, this applies to clergy and laity a like.

Our Lord tells us, “…it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 19:24). This reference specifically is towards wealthy people. However in principle “wealth” can refer to anyone who thinks of him or herself as great or at least greater than another, when essentially we are nothing without God. Tito Colliander in his book, Way of the Ascetics, says, “The holy Fathers say with one voice: the first thing to keep in mind is never in any respect to rely on yourself…This decision not to rely on self is for most people a severe obstacle at the very outset…For how can a human being receive advice, instruction and help if he believes that he knows and can do anything and needs no directions?” (pg. 4).

How then can we “convert” to this childlikeness? Step I is to, in humility recognize in our heart’s depths God’s incredible love for us. “ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16). He loved and loves us even though we are not perfect. Step II is to strive to love God as first and foremost in our lives—above self, parents, spouse, children—everyone. We have a challenge in our maturation process to learn to depend on God attitudinally as a child depends upon a parent. I emphasize maturation because this assumes adult responsibility to do things that we ourselves can do and to not wait on our parent (God) to do them for us. When we do them, however we do them for His Glory and not for our own satisfaction and glory. Step III is to love others and learn to not focus on their limitations but rather to focus on God’s grace within them. After all, if God loves us in our imperfection, it stands to reason He loves others as well. Step IV is to be ever vigilant and not let one’s guard down. Our fallen tendency is always there until our final breath with temptation lurking in the shadows wanting us to rely on self, thus judging others and even God as inadequate to direct or guide us.

In Humility and like a little child, let us submit to our Lord and God and Savior Jesus our whole life so that through God’s Grace and Strength we may live in His Presence and enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In Christ,

Fr. Lou