BE MERCIFUL.
“The virtues build a new person radiating love to the world.”
(Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo who consecrated our temple.)
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:15-16)
“God is good, and He only bestows blessings never does harm, remaining always the same.......to say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.”
(St. Antony the Great)
“If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.”
(St. Peter Chrysologus)
“A heart that is full of love thinks not of itself, but of others. It prays for all living things and for the whole world.” (Elder Thaddeus)
SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER. Hieromartyr Hierotheus, Bishop of Athens (1st). Sts. Ammon (c 350) & Paul the Simple (4th) of Egypt. Uncovering of the relics of St. Gurias, First Archbishop of Kazan, & St. Barsanuphius, Bishop of Tver (1596). Synaxis of the Hierarchs of Kazan. St. Dumitru (Staniloae) (1993). All Saints of Cyprus.
TODAY’S GOSPEL. Luke 6:31-36. “”And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.””
Today’s Gospel is a profound revelation of God’s boundless love for all of His children. If God is kind to the unthankful and evil, He is showing us how we should behave towards each other. Again what a contrast when we look at how the world appears today, but we should not despair, because as Orthodox Christians we are called to love all, to be like Him. When we gaze upon the icon of the Merciful Christ, who came into the world to carry the burden of all our sins, we see the face of love. No other countenance can show more love than the face of Jesus. When He healed the blind they were able to see first His face and what a joy that must have been.
When we look at each other we should be aware of the spark of the divine, the life that He has given to each of us and rejoice. Each one of us, whether beautiful, handsome, disfigured, old or young or handicapped in any way, rich or poor, all are equal in His loving eyes. In many ways we are to some extent blind and often do not see how God sees. Let our prayer be that He opens our darkened eyes that we may see the beauty of Creation that surrounds us and not the environment that we so wilfully exploit.
Jesus tells us to be merciful. If we put others before our selfish egos, then we are beginning on the journey that brings us closer to God. We will begin to leave darkness and cold that we are so often surrounded with and find warmth and light that comforts and heals our troubled minds. Today when the priest censes the congregation remember that he is censing the spark of God that is within you and all the brothers and sisters that surround you. Above all we are called to love and to share this love with all we meet. As St. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” May we spread and hear the deafening silence of love.
Much Love,
Father George.