Love 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

“…AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE”

– July 5, 2006

The above quotation is from 1st Corinthians, chapter 13, the beautiful chapter on agape love. The last two days of June and the first day of July, we commemorate in order, Sts. Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles and the healing unmercenary saints, Cosmas and Damian. These saints are amongst the greatest examples in Christianity, for all times, of love. Two of my personal favorite saints are Sts. Cosmas and Damian. There were two and maybe three sets of saints who were brothers with the names Cosmas and Damian, all of whom were physicians from wealthy families, who healed, receiving no pay. The main reason that they are amongst my favorite saints is because they are the Patron Saints of the Athenagoras National Retreat Center near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Center is presently in the process of closing. However, when it opened in the summer of 1978, I was a camp counselor in the first summer camp. Fr. Dean Talagan and others began the Center that year and he ran the first camp, only weeks after Presbytera Marsha and I were married. I had just completed my first year at seminary and Marsha worked as the church secretary in Cheyenne that summer. We had nearly 100 campers from throughout the Diocese and the country that year. Our arts and crafts project was to make an icon of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, which I still have.

The epistle reading on their feast days (July 1 and November 1) is from 1st Corinthians chapter 12 and 13, focusing on agape or unconditional love. Do you realize that there are four words for love in Greek? They are: ‘eros”; “storgefilia”; and “agape”. Now, the English word, ‘love’, can be applied to almost anything. In English, one can ‘love’ a house, a car, a hairstyle, a good juicy steak, a piece of cheesecake or baklava, and one’s spouse. The same word can be used for all. It is not so, however with the language of the New Testament. In fact, one would not use any of the four Greek words for love for anything inanimate. They are words of interpersonal relationship appropriate for God, human relationships and perhaps, our pets. ‘Eros’ is often associated with a sexual attraction love. It is a love whereby one’s loved one becomes the object of focus. ‘Storge’ is a natural love, say between a parent and their child. ‘Filia” is a friendship love where the sharing of common interests and focuses bring people together. ‘Agape’ is an unconditional love, where one gives freely without expecting anything in return. It is referred to by the famous English author of blessed memory, C.S. Lewis as the ‘Queen of loves’, a divine gift love. It is divine as it is from God and concerned with giving rather than with receiving. This is the love of 1st Corinthians and the main love focused upon throughout the New Testament. This is the love expressed by the incarnation, as, in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, God becomes a man. This is the love of the Trinity, at once interpersonal amongst the three Persons of the Godhead, and between Creator and creature. This is the love of the greatest of commandments: “… You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (MT 22:37-40).

As we remember the great saints, Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles and Cosmas and Damian, let us honor them by loving our Lord and one another with the agape love of our Lord Jesus. “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).

With our 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