A
message from Bishop John Elya
Annunciation
Cathedral
(To be read from the pulpit and/or to be distributed with the weekly
bulletin)
|
|
A
message from Bishop John Elya Annunciation
Cathedral (To be read from the pulpit and/or to be distributed with the weekly
bulletin) |
DIOCESE OF NEWTON
Eparch's Lenten Message, 2002
(To be read from the pulpit and/or to be distributed with the weekly bulletin)
To the clergy, laity and friends of the
Melkite Eparchy of Newton, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 1:3)
The
world today is, more than ever, in need of the love, the mercy, the power, and
the healing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The institution of Christian marriage, the
family, and the priesthood are all under serious attack. The world is pushing
forth its agenda of pleasure, passions, greed and power. “For all that is in
the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not
from the Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are
passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever. (I John 16-17)
We Christians are being called upon by the Lord Jesus to be witnesses to His
unconditional love, His boundless mercy, His divine power, and His compassionate
healing.
We
Christians are in need of deepening our relationship
with the Lord, and growing in more faithful
obedience to His word. Jesus Himself tells us, "If you love Me,
you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15 cf. 14:21 & 15:10) Obedience is
the surest sign of our love for the Lord. This is not a new message preached by
Jesus. In the Old Testament, God expected obedience as a sign of faithfulness to
the Covenant. We even are exhorted, "Has the LORD a great delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
(I Samuel 15:22)
Prayer
will deepen our relationship with the Lord Jesus, while obedience deepens and
authenticates our relationship. Growth
in prayer and virtue are at the heart of our Christian Life.
“Prayer is by nature a dialog and a union of man with God. Its effect is to
hold the world together. It achieves a reconciliation with God.” (Saint John
Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 28) The world will be blessed by our
faithful and fervent prayer life. We will be more united to God. And we will
achieve that reconciliation with God if we attain the ‘purity of heart’
which is necessary to ‘see God’.
Great
Lent is a time to focus on our spiritual life in a new and deeper way.
Clergy and laity alike are called by God through the Church to take these 40
days as a time of sanctification. We are all called to holiness. “Consecrate
yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God. Keep My statutes,
and do them; I am the LORD who sanctify you.”
(Leviticus 20:7-8) Saint Paul tells us that we were chosen “before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”
(Ephesians 1:4) God actually created us for holiness. It is His will that we be
holy. (I Thessalonians 4:3) This
Great Lent I pray that we the clergy and the lay people together
would lead our Eparchy and all those who cross our way on a
‘journey of sanctification’.
The
Wisdom of the Church is great. Prayer, Virtue, Fasting, and Good Works are the
means the Church offers us as we walk our walk of sanctification. Mother Teresa
of Calcutta once said that there can be no
contemplation without asceticism. I would like to go further and say
that there can be no authentic Christianity without asceticism or self-denial.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ
Himself taught that self-denial is a prerequisite for discipleship. “If any
one would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
Many of the struggles of the modern
world are a result of an overall lack of self-control and lack of
self-discipline. There is also a desire for immediate gratification. There are
those who present a shallow, watered
down Gospel message omitting the Cross and self-denial. This attempt at
‘modernizing the Gospel’ is empty and hollow. The Cross is the ‘power of
God’. (I Corinthians 1:18) “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to
Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (I Corinthians 1:23-24)
Fasting
is an ancient self-denial and self-discipline, which has blessed the lives of
many of the great saints in our Church History. Fasting is a remedy for
overcoming the passions and a true source for self-knowledge. Jesus Himself
fasted for 40 days in the desert. We can only discover our true self in Christ.
Fasting helps us along the way. I strongly encourage the Traditional Fast for
our people with whatever modifications are needed to make it an attainable goal.
However,
fasting, without the interior disposition to accompany it, will be fruitless.
Joy, humility, virtue, and prayer must accompany fasting. But more than
anything, fasting
must be accompanied by good works … selfless acts of love. "Is
not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the
thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it
not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your
house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your
own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing
shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of
the LORD shall be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:6-8)
As
I reflect on my 50 years of priestly service this year, I recall the important
role that works of charity have held in my own life and continue to hold in the
life of the Church. Acts of kindness, acts of patience, acts of love make the
Gospel more believable. As I often say, “You may be the only Gospel a person
may ever read.”
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your
hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs
of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do
not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live
in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;
never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is
noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live
peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:9-18)
We
look forward to the upcoming visit of His Beatitude, Gregory III Laham. We
remember his paternal affection and his grand vision that we witnessed during
his first visit, last year. May his second pastoral visit be a blessing to all
of us in the Eparchy and to all those who will hear his inspiring words drawn
from the patristic sources of the Church of Antioch where the followers of
Christ were called “Christian” for the first time. (Acts 11:26)
May
this time of the Great and Holy Lent be to all of us a time of closeness to God
and to each other as children of God. May our fasting
and abstinence
and prayers
and works
of mercy during this Great and Holy season of Lent lead us to the
joy and splendor of the Glorious Resurrection.