Devotional for October 13

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit Spruce Island, the home for many years of St. Herman of Alaska. I went with some young people, who visited the sites on the island quickly, but seemed much more interested in fishing off the shore at Monk’s Lagoon. Soon I found myself wandering around the island basically alone.

The place that struck me the deepest was the cell of Father Gerassim, who lived on the island one hundred years after St. Herman, and kept the Saint’s memory alive. He built a tiny little building with a little front room and a very small bedroom and prayer corner. I stood in the front room and tried to imagine what it would be to live there, hearing the waves against the beach, the wind in the tree leaves, smelling the ever-present moisture - alone.

Could I have survived one day, one week, or year, living at what seems the very furthest reaches of the world? Sure, I could have survived in terms of food and warmth. But to be totally alone, with God as my only companion? I closed my eyes and tried to imagine. I could sense the joy of the companionship, as I always do when I commune with God. But for how long would this feeling of peace continue if I had no one to talk to, no one to distract me?

This experience brought me face-to-face with my own tendency to take God in small portions. Celebrate the liturgy, then get on with the rest of my day. Pray with half my mind on my schedule and to-do list. Read spiritual literature like this devotional as quickly as possible, so I can get on to better things. Do you do that, too?

O God, save me from myself! Fill me with the kind of love for you that Fr. Gerassim had!

+Father David Smith

Draw Near to God

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). It is for us to begin. If we take one step towards the Lord, He takes ten steps toward us. He who saw the Prodigal Son while he was yet at a distance, and had compassion and ran and embraced him. -- Tito Colliander

A monastic friend once told me that the difference between redemption and damnation was the word "try". Those being redeemed are those who keep trying in this life. Trying to draw near to God, trying to be pure, trying to be holy.

Thank God that He does not respond then to us "in kind". You try just a little and He will respond greatly, way beyond anything you could expect. Why? Because of Love.

Try then to take God at His word today. Try to draw near and see what happens.

-- Fr. Wayne Wilson

God is Young

God is Young

We were on the way home and I was singing songs from the Liturgy. She, the two year old, said, “Do it again, Dad!” I remember this, especially from my oldest daughter, particularly the Trisagion hymn: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us!” So, between the grocery store and the house, I must have sang the Trisagion about twenty times.

I laid her down for her nap and she said, “Sing Twinkle, Twinkle.” So, with almost a tear in my eye, appreciating the moment, I sang “Twinkle, twinkle, little star ...” When it was over she demanded: “Sing the ABC’s!” That’s when I told her it was nap time, time to go to sleep.

We do grow crusty and old, don’t we? Children love to sing, love to dance, love to experience the joy in life. Like Chesterton’s example below, God and children must be a lot alike. And to think, to get into the party, we’ve got to become just like them.

Holy God, have mercy on us!

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown‑up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown‑up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Fr Joseph Huneycutt

If You Would Be Victorious

If you would be victorious, taste the suffering of Christ in your person, that you may be chosen to taste his glory. 

For if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him.  The intellect cannot be glorified with Jesus, if the body does not suffer for Jesus.

Blessed are you if you suffer for righteousness sake. 

Behold, for years and generations the way of God has been made smooth through the Cross and by death.

The way to God is a daily Cross.
The Cross is the gate of mysteries

....St. Isaac the Syrian

Provided by Father Wayne Wilson

Literacy

For a time, my wife and I were volunteers for Literacy Volunteers of America.  I love books, and I can’t imagine a life without them.  And yet, we know that most people don’t read books, and many in our nation cannot read at all.  My wife and I decided to do our small part to change this - I had a student for one year and my wife had one for three years.  My wife’s student was a man in his late 20s who had two small children.  His primary goal for coming to literacy classes was to learn to read books to his children. 

When he finally  (after eighteen months of very hard work) mastered Go Dog Go, and was confident enough to read it at home with his children curled up on his lap, it was the most moving achievement of his life.  I still get teary-eyed when I remember his face as he told us about it. 
    
I always think about this on September 15th, the feast day of St. Nicetas the Goth.  He had been the disciple of the man who invented an alphabet for his people, and had been given charge of preaching the gospel to the Goths using this alphbet, and the scriptures that could with it be written and studied.  St. Nicetas was martyred for the success of his efforts by a pagan ruler, but not before many of his countrymen had come to know salvation in God through Jesus our Lord.  And learned to read as well.  In a way, then, St. Nicetas is the literacy saint.

Literacy Volunteers is a great organization, and if you’re reading this now you have the skills necessary to help.  But even if you don’t teach someone to read, you help make the world a brighter place by reading yourself.  What a great era we live in!  There are so many great Orthodox books written (or translated) every year - get one of them!  Put it on your pillow and read a few words each night before going to sleep.  What a rich treasury you will find therein!

St. Nicetas the Martyr, pray to God for us!

+Fr David Smith

October 6 Saint Thomas the Apostle

On this day we celebrate the memory of the Apostle Thomas. St. Thomas gave us one of the greatest quotations of any apostle in the gospels when he said of the Risen Christ, “My Lord and my God!” He was skeptical of the news that Jesus had risen from the dead - after all, who could have returned to life after the treatment that Jesus received at the hands of the soldiers? But when he saw the Lord, he saw that this One before him was a new creature, a conqueror not simply over certain physical wounds, but of death itself.

“My Lord and my God!” Say this with St. Thomas! Say it when you cannot possibly imagine how God can redeem a person, a situation, a life. Say it when all is bleak and you find yourself doubting any good news at all.

“My Lord and my God!” Say this with St. Thomas! Say it when the wisdom of this world seems to laugh at the wisdom of God, and you don’t know where to turn for a trustworthy answer. Say it when you’re weak and don’t want to follow the path of God, but want instead to just give in to the temptations the world offers.

“My Lord and my God!” Say this with St. Thomas! Say it when death has visited, and resurrection seems impossible. When illness has come, and healing seems unlikely. When strife has entered, and a resolution cannot be found. When the world struts, and the church seems to cower.

Then say these words with St. Thomas, and rest in the One who surprises us with His glory and mercy!

--Father David Smith

Parenting

Parenting

Parenting is all it’s cracked up to be ... and more. Personally, it took having children to help me to begin to understand my own parents. And I believe it took the blessing of children for me to better understand God. Honestly, children have helped me to better understand myself. As a priest, I learn lots about the human condition. That human condition always includes parents. We all have them, some of us are them. Regardless, as I’m sure you know, it ain’t easy.

The Lord knows our condition. He knows it’s not easy. It should go without saying that He, God the Father, knows is ain’t easy. Then again, he knows that in our fallen state we cannot properly appreciate the nature of parenting. Therefore He had to command us: “Honour thy father and thy mother” [Exodus 20:12; 10 Commandments].

When we see our children hurt, failing, humiliated – we can rest assured that God the Father knows what that’s like; God the Son has filled that child’s shoes. When we don’t understand why our children do the things they do, God the Father understands – even me and you. When we’re tempted and struggle and are at our wit’s end, God the Son’s been there before us and will be till the end. In all of these struggles, parents and children alike, we beg God the Holy Spirit to fill us and strengthen us for this long and worthy fight.

O God, our Father, bind together in Thine all-embracing love every family on earth. Banish anger and bitterness with homes, nourish forgiveness and peace. Bestow upon parents wisdom and patience that they may gently exercise the disciplines of love, and call forth from their children their greatest virtue and highest skill. Instill in children such independence and self-respect that they may freely obey their parents and grow in the joys of compansionship. Open the hearts to hear the truth within the words another speaks. Open the eyes to see the example of virtuous parents, open hearts to complete forgiveness and understanding of all things willed by Thee, O Creator and Sustainer of families.

– St Augustine

--

Fr Joseph Huneycutt

The Nativity of the Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The Nativity of the Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

On this day we celebrate the Nativity of the Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. Before Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ was born, her parents had grown very old, praying constantly that God would grant them relief from their shame and give them a child.

The history of the church tells us that Joschim, the father of Mary, had gone one day to the temple to make an offering. While he waited, someone said to him that his offering could not be made because he had no child. Joschim left Jerusalem and went to the wilderness to pray and weep, imploring heaven for a child.

I try to imagine what this day must have been like for Joschim, especially when I find myself wishing that God would hurry up and get things done according to my schedule. I am often impatient - so my wife reminds me often - and I want God to accomplish his work in my church, my family, my life RIGHT AWAY.

Undoubtedly, Joschim felt the same way, although his pain was much more accute than anything I face. And yet, how does Joachim feel about God’s timing now? I mean right now, today, September 8th, 2004? he stands right now before the heavenly throne, singing with the angels. If you called him away to ask him about God’s timing now, Joachim would tell you that God’s timing was absolutely perfect.

And so it is that we can see the brillance of God’s plan when we look back. Can’t you think of times in your life when you felt like God wasn’t paying attention, and then later you found that His love had guided you all the way? These recollections, as well as the story of Joschim on this day of the Nativity of the Mother of God, give us strength to face anything the future may hold.

--Father David Smith

“This Old Man”

“This Old Man”

A counselor, who worked at a rescue mission, once told me about their intake interview wherein they asked each man about his history. The stories, with little variation, involved mostly drinking and drugging, coupled with promiscuity. Later – when asked, “How’s your relationship with God?” – almost 100% of the interviewees answered along the lines of, “Oh! Me and God are tight! Yep. God and I are close.”

It happens to all of us: our “old man” [Eph.4:22] plays tricks on us, leading us to neglect the one thing needful and fill up our lives, though we long for God, with that which leads us far from Him.

Elder Paisios of Mount Athos writes:

“The one who neglects his prayer and duties unjustifyably and works all the time (building pyramids for Pharaoh) is estranged from God, becomes wild, constantly and cruelly hitting his guardian angel with kicks and disorder, until he finally drives him away. Then, he accepts the devil as his ruler, who immediately make the following changes: 1) abolishes the prayer rope , replacing it with worldly worry beads  and 2) does away with spiritual study completely, replacing it with worldly magazines and newspapers. In the end, the devil conquers him and he suffers internally and seeks amusement as Saul did, when he was alienated from God and demon possessed (Epistles, p.218).”

The temptations of contemporary society (TV, constant soccer, Internet, cell phones, etc), not to mention the destructive forces of alcohol and drug addiction, seduce us into believing them to be necessary to the point of excluding that which is necessary for our salvation (prayer, fasting, alms giving).

Truthfully, brothers and sisters, we’ve only got one chore:

“The thing that will move God more on the Day of Judgment is the work each one of us has done on his old man.

Certainly, we all have some discernment, but unfortunately most of us do not use it on ourselves but on our fellow men and we contaminate it with criticism, condemnation, and the demand for others to correct themselves. We should, rather, demand this only from ourselves who do not resolve to struggle fervently, cut off our passions, liberate our soul, and fly into Heaven” (Epistles, pp.150-151).

The Kingdom of Heaven

From C.S. Lewis:  Christ said it was difficult for the "the rich" to enter the Kingdom of Heaven...Good fortune, health, popularity...tend just as money tends...to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contented in this life.  You don't want to turn away to anything more, so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last for ever.  But God wants to give you a real and eternal happiness.  Consequently He may have to take these "riches" away from you...It sounds cruel, doesn't it?  But I am beginning to find out that what people call the cruel doctrines are really the kindest ones in the long run.

--

Fr. Wayne Wilson

Beauty Abounds

Beauty Abounds

Oftentimes, I don’t get out much. Recently, my wife was surprised to learn that I was not even familiar with our own neighborhood. Mind you, we’ve lived there for eight months. You turn left at the top of the hill to go to our house. The road continues on, though I never had.

So, I took walk. I walk quite often, yet had never done so in the neighborhood. I discovered it is a very nice neighborhood! In fact, as soon as I finish writing this meditation, I may need to pull some weeds and mow my yard!

Beyond the confines of our home, which suit me just fine, is a beautiful neighborhood complete with variation of architecture, blooming flowers, large scale spider webs, manicured lawns, nice people. I realized: I’m glad to be a part of.

The next day I went for another walk. This time I traveled to the neighborhood across the road from ours. Again, though different, beauty abounded. I met an elderly couple as they slaved away on their lawn and garden, saw flowers of all shapes and colour, enjoyed beauty.

When I finished with that subdivision I turned left, away from my route home, and within twenty paces discovered a small cemetery up on a hill. Ascending to the private place of rest I found hidden, indescribable, beauty. I began making the Sign of the Cross, saying the Paschal troparian: “Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” And, without even noticing: “Glory to thee, O our God! Glory to thee!”

Sometimes we just don’t get out much. In the confines of our post-modern daily life, the temptation is toward indoor pampering, neighbor-less living. It could be that salvation lies just outside our door. Especially if the above remembrance is understood in a broader sense – e.g., our home, our parish, our jurisdiction – perhaps we should all get out more. To quote Dostoyevski, “The world will be saved by beauty.”

--

Fr Joseph Huneycutt

Welcome

Father David Smith begins our first devotion:

Devotional for 9/1/04

Welcome to day one of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocse of North America web site daily devotional!  We want to give you a reason to visit “antiochian.org” often; in fact, every day!  To this end, we will post a new reflection every day to this Archdiocese web site.  Make us a part of your daily routine - take a few moments to focus on spiritual things during the course of your busy day.

Of course, the best thing is to spend every day, all day praying and worshipping in the church - and some Orthodox Christians, like monastics, do just that.  But we all cannot do this.  Most of us have jobs, school, tasks and errands, families and friends, troubles and ... you get the picture!  To what kind of committment does God call us?

First, we surround ourselves with icons.  When I sit down most mornings to have my first cup of coffee, I’m sitting under an icon of St. Seraphim painted over 100 years ago.  I love this icon.  I look at it, and cross myself, and bring to mind this great saint’s life and teachings. 

Secondly, we pray.  At the beginning of the day and at it’s end, before meals and many times in the car, I turn my heart toward God and ask for His mercy.  I sense His presence in these moments, His comfort and encouragement, His mind.

Thirdly, we fast.  Nothing touches us quite like our food, and thanks to God the church uses this as a great tool for us to grow in our faith - its cyle of feasts and fasts!

And fourthly, we read.  That’s what you’re doing now.  We have the readings the church assigns from the scripture, and we have the writings of and about the saints.

We do not intend, by offering this daily reflection, to replace any reading you might be doing now.  It’s another resource for you - for all of us!  Each day, different priests of the Antiochian Archdiocese will offer some thoughts for your spiritual edification.  Come often!

Practical Tips for Practicing Orthodoxy in Our Daily Lives

From Mother Pelagia of Lesna Convent

• Prayers are said morning and evening, either together as a family or individually.
• A blessing (grace, we called it) is said by the head of the family before a meal, and a prayer of thanks afterwards.
• On entering a room where there is an icon, cross yourself before it and say a brief prayer.
• When leaving one's dwelling, make the sign of the cross over the door and pray for its protection.
• On seeing a priest, abbot or abbess, or even when phoning them or writing to them, always ask their blessing.
• Before going to bed, make the sign of the cross over it and pray for protection during sleep.
• When you hear of anyone's death, immediately say a prayer for their eternal memory.
• If discussing or planning the future say: "As God wills."
• If you offend or hurt anyone, say as soon as possible, "Forgive me," always trying to take the blame yourself
• If something turns out well, say "Praise be (to God)."
• If something turns out badly, if there is pain, sickness or any kind of trouble, say "Praise be to God for all things," since God is all good and, though we might not understand the purpose of these things, undoubtedly they have been permitted by God
• If you begin some task, say, "God help me," or if someone else' working: "May God help you," (How sad that this expression is so perverted in the modem exclamation "God help you!")
• Cross yourself and say a brief prayer before even the shortest journey by car.
• For a longer and more difficult journey, ask a priest to sing a Moleben, failing that, at home say the troparion and kontakion for a journey.
• If there is a possibility of future trouble of any kind, either for yourself or for someone you care for, say an Akathist to the Mother of God.
• When you receive a blessing after prayer, always remember to thank God; if it is a small thing, you may add a prayer of thanksgiving to your daily prayers or make an offering. For matters of greater import, ask the priest to serve the Thanksgiving Moleben. But NEVER neglect to give thanks.

What is Worship?

What is Worship?

Adapted from the Article: A Tool to Plan Out Your Youth Ministry Year by Archpriest Joseph Purpura

Worship is defined as:
For Orthodox Christians, corporate worship is the sacramental expression of and participation in Holy Tradition, and is the indispensable foundation of ministry at all levels. Upon this foundation, we must cultivate a daily personal prayer life and reading of Holy Scripture.
We read in the Orthodox Study Bible (p. 810) that worship means, "to bow down.’ In the Christian sense worship is the adoration of God through participation in the services of the Church, the highest act of a Christian (see John:4:19-24)."

Further, Liturgy is, "The work or public service of the people of God, which is the worship of the one true God. The Divine Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Orthodox Church." Worship stands at the very core of ministry; in fact, all ministries begin with prayer and worship.