Monthly Meditation – June-July 2010

“I urge you by our common faith, by my true and simple love for you. Hold fast to your glory with courage, perseverance, and strength, having overcome the enemy. We are still in the world. We are still placed in the battlefield. We fight daily for our lives. Take care in order to profit from these battles and to finish what you have begun to be. It is a small thing to attain something, but it is more important to keep what you have attained. Faith and saving birth makes alive, not by being received, but by being preserved. It isn't actually the attainment, but the perfecting, that keeps a man for God.”

St. Cyprian of Carthage

The Holy Spirit has descended! From Heaven to earth! So the Church proclaims on the Great Day of Holy Pentecost, celebrating, as it said, Her birth, and even more importantly the beginning of the conversion of the entire world from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth, from violence to peace, from sorrow to joy, from death to life! On this day the Apostles and those gathered “in one place” were “all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-4) and so was laid bare the darkness of error and unbelief which had ruled in the world since the day Adam fell in Paradise. On this day the genesis of pure Faith was seeded in the hearts of “the Apostles and those gathered” in preparation of being sent out according to lot determining where each should go to take part in the preaching of the Gospel. On this day the Church was born not as institution but as guardian of all that the Apostles and their successors would proclaim and teach. On this day God's Temple which will be seen in the icon of every church is established as the place for Christ's body to gather to worship Him “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). On this day every man, woman and child is given the beginning of Life to which each is called to preserve and perfect in the arena of this world and in preparation of “the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed). On this day each of us are given all that is needful to finish that which has begun!

This is a most special time of year. Great and Holy Lent has prepared us to enter once again into direct contact with our Lord's Death and Resurrection. Pascha and our Lord's Ascension has enlivened our souls, hearts and minds with all that is Life and Light, and we have celebrated to the fullest extent the joy of the Risen Lord. And now the season of Pentecost begins, the season of illumination in which we have lived all our lives, the eternal season of God's intimate seal and plan of salvation for every man and the whole universe! What is this plan? “That all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). How is this to be done? Through the grace and mercy of God to be sure; but also through our response to all that we have been given by God to be salt and light to this world, in order that this world may see what good is “and give glory to the Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16).

What does it mean to be a Christian? I mean no condescension by asking this question. I ask because the answer is both easy and unexplainable. I concentrate here on the beautiful act of believing while admitting that faith is not always easy. I concentrate here on the priority of purpose while admitting that the extreme materialism of modern society has perverted man's ability to perceive God's holiness and perfect way. I concentrate here on how there will always be higher [spiritual] goals before us and that we must never forget our Lord's admonition, “Take heed then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” (Luke 8:18). It is at this time of year that we are especially reminded that our Church is Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, and that our participation in this life is not about the acquisition of blessings but rather the vocation of sacrifice. We have a ruthless enemy whose sole purpose is to distort and destroy all that God has created. What does it mean to be Christian? We look to the example of our Lord's first followers, His Mother, and all men and women of super-abundant courage, perseverance, and strength, who fought daily not for the betterment of their own lives in this world but rather for the preservation and perfection of faith: their own and for the sake of every soul to whom they were given to love. Is this who we are? If so, then there is hope that we are not Christian in name only. If not, then there is much to learn regarding the fallacy of having “made it” in this life: either in the contentedness that arises from worldly success or from believing that one has given enough in the stewardship of his life, and his life in Christ. Beloved, every joy and every sorrow we experience in this life is a gift, stemming from God's abundant grace and the intimacy of His presence, be it the love of the Father, the promise of the Son or the seal of the Holy Spirit. Great is the soul who continually strives to be alive in this great gift of life, and who perseveres with all priority to fight the good fight of faith, seeking not only victory for himself and others in the vocation of our common calling with the Apostles and all the Saints, but also the pathway of perfection which “keeps a man” undaunted in his yearning for Christ, His Kingdom, and all that is good.