Saturday, February 5, 2005
The Holy Martyr Agatha of Palermo in Sicily
1st Vespers of All Saints: Isaiah 43:9-14 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:23-28 Gospel: St. Matthew 24:34-44
St. Matthew 24:34-44, especially vs. 42: "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord
is coming." Notice as you contemplate this passage that throughout all of this reading our Lord is urging us to be on
lookout. Such is His message - be alert and keep alert! Yes, a number of things will be taking place (vs. 34). In the future,
even heaven and earth will pass away (vs. 35). Still, neither now nor at any time in the future will Christ's words pass
away (vs. 35) - as St. John Chrysostom teaches us: "'Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away'
because heaven and earth were created to serve you, but My words were uttered to govern you." For what then are we to be
on lookout - what is coming that requires our watchfulness? Answer: "the coming of the Son of Man" (vs.37). When?
Answer: "of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (vs. 36).
All through history, men have not been on lookout, just busy with wholesome, present activities - eating and drinking,
marriage, working the fields, grinding at the mill (vss. 38,40,41). At the time of the Flood, many poor souls were not on
lookout, and thus "did not know until the flood came and took them all away" (vs. 39). The flood is a warning: "Watch
therefore" (vs. 42). Gear up, be on lookout. Keep your post and "be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do
not expect" (vs. 44). Likewise, the theft of one's precious goods is a warning: "if the master of the house had known what
hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into" (vs. 43). Do you hear our
Master's warning?
"What then shall we do, we men who have come under condemnation by reason of the multitude of our sins? And as we
hear Him call the blessed of His Father to His kingdom, and send the sinners to punishment, who will bear that terrible
verdict? Wherefore, O Savior and Lover of mankind, alone King of the ages, hasten to me before the end with repentance,
and have mercy upon me." Thus the Church teaches us to be on lookout. We know He is coming. We know why He is
coming. We know we are not ready for His coming. For what, then, can we be on lookout now? For His hastening to me
"before the end," and for His gift to my soul of a true and God-pleasing repentance, and that I may invest my heart and soul
in that repentance. Orthodox Christianity presupposes that the deep center of each of our hearts has been severely
disrupted by our sin and is in desperate need of healing. The immediate first-aid which God grants to us by His Life-giving
Spirit is an awakening, a calling from on high to take our post and be on lookout. The Holy Fathers used the term "nous"
to refer to the deep center of the heart. Thus, as Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos teaches us: "It is a basic teaching of our
saints that the nous is healed through guarding the nous; this is called watchfulness."
Being on lookout is merely another way of speaking about watchfulness. Notice what Metropolitan Hierotheos says about
guarding the nous, or being on lookout: "The guarding of the nous is that which by Christ's power can change men from
being sinful, indecent, profane, ignorant, uncomprehending and unjust to being just, responsive, pure, holy and wise."
Thus, being on lookout is to watch what emerges or wells up in our hearts and keeps us from Christ. Those on lookout
rebuke each such alien immediately and firmly. Yet see what St. John of the Ladder promises those on vigil or lookout:
"Vigil is a quenching of lust...a tearful eye, a softened heart, the guarding of thoughts, the smelting furnace of food, the
subduing of passions, the taming of spirits, the chastisement of the tongue, the banishment of phantasies."
O Christ, have pity on us, and make us worthy to be numbered among those who are saved, we who beseech Thee in faith;
for Thou art compassionate.
