Mission Monthly – April 1999
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7
This season of the Church’s liturgical cycle is by all accounts the most full, rich and demanding of the entire year. We are called to the highest level of personal dedication each moment of our lives but Great Lent is definitely a holy time, a time set apart, for uncompromising commitment to the life we have been called to in Christ. Through zeal for participation in the increased number of liturgical services, unbending dedication to personal prayer, humble obedience to the fast and a rigorous practice of virtue the Church insists that we “shake-up” the comfortable routines of our lives and face the sobering reality that we are more often ready to indulge the will of our self-centered and self-justified opinions and behaviors than respond to the will of God. And what is this illusive “will of God?” St. Paul simply states, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thes. 4:3).
We are challenged by these two simple words,”your sanctification.” They are loaded with blessings and they are loaded with demands. They express the fullness of God’s love for His creation and our desperate need to face the shame of our fallen nature. They contain the meaning and purpose of the Incarnation of Christ and they direct us to our need to fully participate in the work of our salvation. As in the words of St. Innocent of Alaska, “Christian, your salvation or perdition directly depends on your own will” (Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven).
In these two little words, “your sanctification,” many trials arise when trying to understand and live the fullness of Truth contained in the Orthodox Church. Her structure is hierarchical, but from Patriarch to the newly baptized infant we are allequally subordinate to Her essential life and teachings. And the reason is fundamental: because God is love and He desires to restore fallen man to his original call, as priest and king of creation.
In just a few short days we will celebrate Holy Pascha and the Lord’s absolute and complete victory over the devil, sin and death. In just a few short days we will proclaim the forgiveness and freedom received from our Saviour in His words uttered from the Cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” to all who sincerely repent. In just a few short days we will celebrate the restored potential of man’s immortality to those who in faith “work out [their] own salvation in fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). This is the difficult process of sanctification. The ultimate victory has been won but our freedom is not without a price. Our price is the sweat of spiritual warfare, seeking grace to recognize and resist the devil and his every menacing move. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28:18). In the Holy Spirit and the true succession of Apostolic faith, we have been given the same authority (and responsibility) to completely “commend ourselves and each other and all our lives unto Christ our God.”
Do we desire this life we’ve been given? Resist the devil… he willflee from you! Do we desire the abundant life of the Spirit over the material life of this world? Flee selfishness and the temptation of self-determination and disregard for even the smallest part of the life of God’s Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Do we desire the gift of paradise promised to the repentant thief? Afford the cost of discipleship and fearlessly run the road of self-abandonment. “For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thes. 4:7-8).
My beloved family in Christ: CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! May we all truly know in the depth of our souls the joy of this great day. One never knows how or when the grace of God will reveal particular blessings in our lives; but seen or unseen, they are there! Our hope is in God’s authority over all things.Our choices reflect the sincerity of our desire to receive God’s blessing to recognize, confess, struggle with and overcome our passions.”Let us then with confidence draw near the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb.4:16).