Mission Monthly – June 1997

“For the divine scriptures are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread under foot the love of money, to despise pain, to inspire confidence, to gain patience, in them one may find abundant resource.”

St. John Chrysostom

I am generally not one to support the idea or practice of “personal testimony”, especially in settings where “oneupmanship” is more important than truth. If I may be indulged, however, I would like to share a bit of my own life… a moment in time, if you will, that has rushed to my mind and memory upon reading these luminous words of our Holy Father John Chrysostom.

As a cradle Orthodox (for those of you unfamiliar with this modern term it's one who was baptized into the Orthodox Church as an infant) my upbringing in the Church was stable and full of love. I must confess, however, that in my younger days I didn't always “get it!” The annual rush of aesthetic emotion that occurs at the lighting of the candles on Holy Pascha… “Come, receive the light from Him who is the Light…” is probably the extent of anticipation and excitement I ever experienced in my Faith (that and the roast lamb dinner following the service at 3:00am!). The world and all of its attractions, the allure of sports and the possibility of success, popularity, entertainment, artistic interests, free-time and so on leaves me reflecting and realizing now why Saint Paul and all Orthodox spirituality guides us to view ourselves as “the foremost of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

God was most gracious in humbling this unworthy priest! The house that I was building back then was definitely not being founded on the Rock of Faith… and it did not take much for the Lord to show me (see Mt. 7:24-27) the meaning of the following verse, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:10). What amazes me the most, looking back at those tumultuous times, was that the Lord already had in place the safety net which was to catch me and set me on the True and narrow path back to Him and to His Kingdom.

When I graduated from High School a close friend gave me a Bible and a copy of The Way of a Pilgrim. At that time (almost 20 years ago) these books were destined to sit on my shelf. Four years later they were rediscovered to provide me with “all manner of medicine” as God granted me eyes to see and ears to hear. As I read, especially through the New Testament, the Psalms and Proverbs, the Holy Word of God pierced my heart and soul with words of mystery and reason, defeat and victory, conflict and comfort, wisdom and revelation, balance and certainty. Mostly I remember that the words just made sense. Just when my life could easily have fallen to the influences of the groundless, selfish, youth-centered culture, the Lord gave me His precious Word which became my new and holy standard of living.

How can one convince another of the abundant resource of the Word of God? How can one convince another that there is Truth and an answer to every question? OPEN YOUR BIBLES AND READ!!! May God reveal to all of us true confidence in His Word and Promise… and through His Word, His Liturgy and His Life, one day come to know the great secret spoken of by Mother Theresa of Calcutta, “Until Jesus is all you have, you'll never know He is all you need!“