“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.” -Ecclesiastes 1:9
Well, today is December 31, 2009, and it’s that time of year of again, New Year’s Eve. At this time of year it’s always good to reflect about the entire year and what we did in it.
As for me, it just makes me think that one year ago I was on a retreat with the youth in my diocese, and we were coming back to Pomona in the mid afternoon, then I was going to take a bus back home, which is very far from Pomona, and the busses ended up being full so I became stranded in Pomona. However, back at the church where we arrived there were many activities going on and a midnight liturgy, so glory be to God, I had a place to stay and it was an excellent way to start the New Year. I remember many choir groups went up and presented, and we sung Christian songs, and then the senior priest of the church led us in a heartfelt prayer starting a few minutes before midnight until about midnight, then I saw the date turn on my cell phone from December 31, 2008, to January 1, 2009. I liked seeing the number 2008, it was the year that I graduated from high school, but everything has its time, and we must use time wisely because we can never get it back. So we ended 2008 in prayer and started 2009 in prayer, and it was quite an event at the church, some churches aren’t even as packed on Easter as that church was on New Year’s.
Now comes the time for reviewing what actually went on in 2009. The first six months of 2009 were relatively peaceful, at least to me, and quiet, which is the ideal of the Christian life. Not many things went on there was just a good opportunity to focus on the Lord. But the last six months were horrible and it made me think about many of the problems in the world such as the recession in this country. All the problems we have in the world, especially this country, are because of a lack of virtue, specifically love towards God and towards people. The funniest thing I hear in this world is that people want peace and all the Christian virtues, but without Christ Himself. To want virtue without the One who made it is like wanting a light bulb to light up without electricity; it’s not going to happen. In order to have virtues like peace and love, we must know Jesus, otherwise, don’t expect to get the virtues. The recession in this country came as a result of people not really knowing Jesus and loving God, but by loving money. Greed is what caused this recession, greed on all parts, from many of the buyers and sellers of houses, to the CEO’s of big corporations, and banks lending people on interest only loans which is essentially gambling. These are just a few to name who are behind the problem, there are many, many more. But the fact that greed is one of the seven deadly sins has become fully realized to us in this past year.
What’s going on now reminds me of what Jesus said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:9-12). And this exactly is what’s going on, the world hates us Christians, for no reason, even though it’s because of Christ, and Christians doing what He commanded, that we live the way we live today, in civilization. And the biggest problem in this country is that people fear each other with pathological fear, this is why many “will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” So many people in this country have a weekly cycle of sin, go to work, cuss, gossip, complain, go home do it ten times more than at work because they feared those at work, get off on Friday and drink and do drugs, then on Saturday night party, and so on. Many people in this country don’t naturally love other human beings as they should, there is hatred and malice, the world is becoming a very dark place to live in, even in our own homes, this is what is meant when our Lord Jesus Christ said, “And because lawlessness [sin] will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Essentially, most people in this country don’t love one other, they only think “what will I get out of it,” which is selfishness, before doing any act appearing to be of love. This is why the number of spouses divorcing each other has become so high, the common statistic I have heard is 51%, but I have heard studies that suggest it might have climbed to 66%. Truly the world has become a much darker place and people are still playing in their sins, instead of repenting and turning to God.
But our Lord and Savior tells us right after, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13), and He also tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus Christ is our Hope, and in Him we are complete, without Him we are like a body without a head, we are useless that is, and can’t do anything.
Let us start following Him sincerely starting next year, or I should say tomorrow, and not even tomorrow, let us start following Him today, now, from this moment on. As St. Ignatius said, “It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” If we do what this saying says, many of the troubles that we are in will end, and we will start preserving the creation of God, as is our responsibility, and we will bring many to Christ. Let us not be Christians by name, but by truth, faith, and deed.
Please Lord Jesus Christ, the afflictions of our hearts have been widened, bring us out of all our distresses.
So let us have our Joy and Peace restored to us in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Joy and Peace. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to our God and Savior both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas of Myra)
“And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” -Acts 20:35
The name Santa Claus is French for Saint (Santa) Nicholas (Claus actually being a modification of the last six letters of his name). The name Nicholas itself is Greek and it means “The Victory of the People.”
St. Nicholas of Myra was born in the latter half of the 3rd Century A.D. in Patara, Lycia (in what is today Turkey) to Theophanes and Nona, wealthy parents. He was the result of prayers by his parents to have a child because they were formerly barren. From his youth he had been educated in the Scriptures.
As time went on he entered a monastery and became a monk, and he had a vision that he would be ordained a bishop. In this vision he saw the Lord Jesus appear holding the Gospel adorned with jewels and St. Mary with the bishop’s vestments; this is one of the reasons that in his icon Jesus and Mary are portrayed this way. He became the bishop of the city of Myra.
St. Nicholas is known for his gift of giving, and one story of such giving is recorded among us. There was a rich man in the city of Myra who had three daughters and lost all his wealth. He thought to himself that there wasn’t going to be any way to get his daughters married so he was set on selling them as prostitutes to make money. God revealed to St. Nicholas what the man was thinking so he went by the window of the man’s house at night and threw a sack filled with gold and the man was able to give his first daughter in marriage. Then Nicholas repeated this again and the second daughter also got married. The man wanted to know who was doing these acts of kindness and charity for them so he was watching by the window and when the sack came in he went out immediately and found Nicholas. He thanked him for doing this because he brought the family out of poverty and prevented a life of sin from them. Nicholas told the man to give thanks to God, not to him.
St. Nicholas also saved three people from being unjustly executed. These three were unjustly condemned because the governor had been bribed. Nicholas went up courageously as they were about to be executed and held the sword from the executioners hand, he then rebuked the governor for dealing with them in that manner and the governor repented.
He was also present at the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in 325 A.D. He was arguing with Arius about the Lord Jesus Christ and His divinity and he wasn’t able to stop Arius in his words so he struck him in the face. Now when the bishops heard about this they defrocked (took off his bishop’s vestments and he no longer remained a bishop) him because this act is unacceptable for Christians even if the person is a heretic because the Lord taught us otherwise, and banned him from the rest of the Council of Nicea. Yet later that night, as they were asleep, many of the bishops saw the Lord holding a Gospel and St. Mary holding Nicholas bishop’s vestments and the Lord put it on Nicholas. This is the second reason Jesus and Mary are portrayed specifically over his right and left shoulders in the icon. After this the bishops returned Nicholas to the rank of Bishop and his vestments and knew that what Nicholas had done was not an act of wrath but of zeal for the Lord.
St. Nicholas also worked wonders among the people and he lived to be 80 years old.
Let us remember the real Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) during this month and imitate his virtues. Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
The name Santa Claus is French for Saint (Santa) Nicholas (Claus actually being a modification of the last six letters of his name). The name Nicholas itself is Greek and it means “The Victory of the People.”
St. Nicholas of Myra was born in the latter half of the 3rd Century A.D. in Patara, Lycia (in what is today Turkey) to Theophanes and Nona, wealthy parents. He was the result of prayers by his parents to have a child because they were formerly barren. From his youth he had been educated in the Scriptures.
As time went on he entered a monastery and became a monk, and he had a vision that he would be ordained a bishop. In this vision he saw the Lord Jesus appear holding the Gospel adorned with jewels and St. Mary with the bishop’s vestments; this is one of the reasons that in his icon Jesus and Mary are portrayed this way. He became the bishop of the city of Myra.
St. Nicholas is known for his gift of giving, and one story of such giving is recorded among us. There was a rich man in the city of Myra who had three daughters and lost all his wealth. He thought to himself that there wasn’t going to be any way to get his daughters married so he was set on selling them as prostitutes to make money. God revealed to St. Nicholas what the man was thinking so he went by the window of the man’s house at night and threw a sack filled with gold and the man was able to give his first daughter in marriage. Then Nicholas repeated this again and the second daughter also got married. The man wanted to know who was doing these acts of kindness and charity for them so he was watching by the window and when the sack came in he went out immediately and found Nicholas. He thanked him for doing this because he brought the family out of poverty and prevented a life of sin from them. Nicholas told the man to give thanks to God, not to him.
St. Nicholas also saved three people from being unjustly executed. These three were unjustly condemned because the governor had been bribed. Nicholas went up courageously as they were about to be executed and held the sword from the executioners hand, he then rebuked the governor for dealing with them in that manner and the governor repented.
He was also present at the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in 325 A.D. He was arguing with Arius about the Lord Jesus Christ and His divinity and he wasn’t able to stop Arius in his words so he struck him in the face. Now when the bishops heard about this they defrocked (took off his bishop’s vestments and he no longer remained a bishop) him because this act is unacceptable for Christians even if the person is a heretic because the Lord taught us otherwise, and banned him from the rest of the Council of Nicea. Yet later that night, as they were asleep, many of the bishops saw the Lord holding a Gospel and St. Mary holding Nicholas bishop’s vestments and the Lord put it on Nicholas. This is the second reason Jesus and Mary are portrayed specifically over his right and left shoulders in the icon. After this the bishops returned Nicholas to the rank of Bishop and his vestments and knew that what Nicholas had done was not an act of wrath but of zeal for the Lord.
St. Nicholas also worked wonders among the people and he lived to be 80 years old.
Let us remember the real Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) during this month and imitate his virtues. Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Being Social
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” -John 13:34
Today it is so easy to be in contact with people than ever before. We can literally pick up the phone or go to the computer and talk to people who might be halfway across the world.
Being social is one of the greatest blessings, but can also be one of the greatest curses.
Sociality is a gift from God. God expressly saw that all His Creation was good except for one thing, that the human being was alone: “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Genesis 2:18). So God made Eve for Adam, another human being, for him, comparable to him. And Adam responded by saying, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). This is the holiest relationship; the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is the first human relationship, instituted by God and from it all other relationships come. We wouldn’t have brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and all other relationships if it wasn’t for the Sacrament of Matrimony; the union of one man and one woman in Christ.
The first blessing of being social is that we grow strong in our faith. God did not give the revelation of Himself to one person at one time, but always to more than one. The Church was not born with only one person in it, but more than 120 believers (without the others who had believed in Jesus through His ministry) were gathered on the Day of Pentecost when the Promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And through the Church we receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
When Jesus was asked as to what the greatest commandment was in the Old Testament, “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:29-31) and “‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:40). It is interesting that Jesus says that loving one’s neighbor is like loving God. How can this be? God is infinite by nature and humans aren’t. How can they be compared? This is because unless one loves his neighbor (others) he cannot love God, because we can know that we love God only when we keep His commandments. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3, 5). God created us, humans, and His plan for how we should deal with each other is in love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). So unless we love one another as Jesus commanded us, we have no hope of ever being with God. These are some of the blessings of being social.
Now some of the curses of being social are hatred, gossip, malice, arrogance, envy and so on. People who have these problems exist even in the Church itself. And the curses are magnified when we deal with these people. These above characteristics have no part in love, and therefore cut themselves away from God, and those who live in these also cut themselves away from God.
It is easy to see gossip in any church, but where in gossip is it love to make fun of people and talk bad about them behind their backs for that sake only. Why do you talk about them badly? Don’t you also have the same problems? And if not the same, you have other problems that they can talk about and you won’t be happy when you find out that they are?
Malice is also common, which is tightly interconnected with hatred. When people bother you or hurt your feelings because they want to make themselves feel good.
And arrogance when we start to lose sight of our goal which is God Himself and our goal is now to do more than other people and we are puffed up and we think we are better than other people because we read the Bible more often than they do, or fast longer hours, or even fast at all, and do other spiritual activities. These activities then lose all their purpose and meaning because we have separated them from God and have now made them a means for our own gain. St. Augustine said, “Pride extinguishes love; consequently humility strengthens love; love extinguishes offenses.”
These above mentioned qualities are all very interconnected and result either from hatred or selfishness. Either way they are the result of putting aside the love of God from our hearts and putting the love of our self there instead.
Let us pray that God would grant us the greatest gift, love, and that we would live in it. And glory be to God both now and ever. Amen.
Today it is so easy to be in contact with people than ever before. We can literally pick up the phone or go to the computer and talk to people who might be halfway across the world.
Being social is one of the greatest blessings, but can also be one of the greatest curses.
Sociality is a gift from God. God expressly saw that all His Creation was good except for one thing, that the human being was alone: “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Genesis 2:18). So God made Eve for Adam, another human being, for him, comparable to him. And Adam responded by saying, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). This is the holiest relationship; the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is the first human relationship, instituted by God and from it all other relationships come. We wouldn’t have brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and all other relationships if it wasn’t for the Sacrament of Matrimony; the union of one man and one woman in Christ.
The first blessing of being social is that we grow strong in our faith. God did not give the revelation of Himself to one person at one time, but always to more than one. The Church was not born with only one person in it, but more than 120 believers (without the others who had believed in Jesus through His ministry) were gathered on the Day of Pentecost when the Promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And through the Church we receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
When Jesus was asked as to what the greatest commandment was in the Old Testament, “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:29-31) and “‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:40). It is interesting that Jesus says that loving one’s neighbor is like loving God. How can this be? God is infinite by nature and humans aren’t. How can they be compared? This is because unless one loves his neighbor (others) he cannot love God, because we can know that we love God only when we keep His commandments. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3, 5). God created us, humans, and His plan for how we should deal with each other is in love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). So unless we love one another as Jesus commanded us, we have no hope of ever being with God. These are some of the blessings of being social.
Now some of the curses of being social are hatred, gossip, malice, arrogance, envy and so on. People who have these problems exist even in the Church itself. And the curses are magnified when we deal with these people. These above characteristics have no part in love, and therefore cut themselves away from God, and those who live in these also cut themselves away from God.
It is easy to see gossip in any church, but where in gossip is it love to make fun of people and talk bad about them behind their backs for that sake only. Why do you talk about them badly? Don’t you also have the same problems? And if not the same, you have other problems that they can talk about and you won’t be happy when you find out that they are?
Malice is also common, which is tightly interconnected with hatred. When people bother you or hurt your feelings because they want to make themselves feel good.
And arrogance when we start to lose sight of our goal which is God Himself and our goal is now to do more than other people and we are puffed up and we think we are better than other people because we read the Bible more often than they do, or fast longer hours, or even fast at all, and do other spiritual activities. These activities then lose all their purpose and meaning because we have separated them from God and have now made them a means for our own gain. St. Augustine said, “Pride extinguishes love; consequently humility strengthens love; love extinguishes offenses.”
These above mentioned qualities are all very interconnected and result either from hatred or selfishness. Either way they are the result of putting aside the love of God from our hearts and putting the love of our self there instead.
Let us pray that God would grant us the greatest gift, love, and that we would live in it. And glory be to God both now and ever. Amen.
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