Next Divine Liturgy will be September 5/6 2020

We will be having Vespers and Divine Liturgy at our house on September 5/6. Fr. David Companik and his family will be visiting from St. Jonah's in Spring, TX. We will have Vespers at 5:00 p.m. Saturday, September 5 and Hours and Divine Liturgy at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, September 6. 

All are welcome to come, and if you are not Orthodox, but would like to experience a service, you are more than welcome to visit. Fr. David is a very kind, knowledgeable man that would love to answer any questions or give advice. 

In Christ,

Gregory Solis

The miraculous healing of the blind men (Matthew 9:27-35)

            We see in this reading how men of all conditions come to our Lord and how our Lord treats individually each person according to his ailment. There is not a one size fits all remedy to the various diseases and severity of these diseases that our Loving Physician applies to all mankind.

            We see in the case with the blind men that had been instructed in the old Law of Moses and knew Jesus to be the Messiah, Son of David, our Lord helps them to come to a fuller understanding of the deep truths of Theology about Who He really was.

            He asks them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? to teach them about His Divinity. He was bringing them further to the Truth by showing that He had no need to ask God for the miracle to occur, but that He was their Lord that governs the world and all therein.

            Responding correctly to our Lord's instruction, the blind men responded, Yea, Lord. They showed their eagerness to grow in their knowledge of God as true sons of God, hungering and thirsting after God.

            Next our Lord states that it was according to their faith that He was willing to heal their blindness. Our Lord was teaching us that His love toward man has a kind of proportion, depending on the faith of them that are healed.

            He also is teaching us about the synergy necessary for our healing. We are participators in our healing, just like patients that work with their physical therapists.

            This miraculous healing of the blind men can be symbolically interpreted for all mankind that is spiritually blind. As St. Gregory Palamas says, "The Lord's principal reason for coming to earth was not to open men's physical eyes, but the eyes of their souls, which receive their sight through the preaching of the gospel."

            Then next a mute man possessed with a devil is brought to our Lord. Our Lord asks nothing of this man, knowing that in his severely sick state, he was capable of contributing very little. Our Lord Jesus quickly casts out the demon and gives the man speech, enabling him to advance in healing so as to eventually reach full recovery.

            Then we are given the example of the sickest of all men, the Pharisees that rejected our Lord Jesus. They were the ones truly blind in the most serious sense.

            As St. Nikolai Velimirovich says, "The blind saw, and beheld Him; the deaf heard, and listened to Him; the mad came to themselves, and knew Him; the dumb spoke, and confessed Him, but the wise men of this world, with minds clouded by the wisdom of earthlings and hearts ossified by vanity and envy, were unable to see, hear, know or confess the Son of God, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

            And finally we are told of Christ going into all places, cities and villages, He was not a respecter of class as many of us are. He performed three things everywhere, 1. He taught by interpreting the Old Creation and the Old Law. 2. He preached the gospel of the kingdom, laying the foundations of the New Creation, the Kingdom of God, the Church of the Saints. 3. He healed diseases to give testimony to His teaching and preaching by His miraculous acts.

            May we come to Christ in our infirmities willing to work alongside our Lord for our healing. So that on the last day we may hear from our God about our deliverance from sin and the devil, According to your faith be it unto you!

The healing of the Paralytic in Capernaum - Matthew 9:1-8

    As we read the account of the paralytic, we might wonder why it was that Jesus forgave the man his sins when it appears that he was brought to Jesus to be healed of his sickness. Was Jesus trying to indicate a connection between the man's sin and his disease? Or was he merely trying to emphasize the need for us to recognize that beyond our physical life, we have a spiritual life that is more important and that it must be free of sin to be healthy?

    St. Nikolai Velimirovich says, “The soul can be healed in no other way than by the forgiving of its sins. When its sins are forgiven, the soul is healthy, and to a healthy soul it is easy to give a healthy body. Sin is virtually always the cause of sickness, both of soul and body.

    St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “As God is good, and wills that all men should be saved, He often purifies those who are entangled in sins by inflicting sickness upon their body. He says by the voice of Jeremiah, "Thou shalt be taught, O Jerusalem, by labor and the scourge." And the book of Proverbs also says, "My son, despise not thou the teaching of the Lord, nor faint when thou art convicted by Him, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He accepteth." Christ announces that He will cut away the cause of the disease, and the very root of the malady, even sin: for if this be removed, necessarily must the disease which sprung from it be also at the same time taken away."

    In forgiving the man his sins, our Lord is saying "I must heal your soul before I heal your body: for if this is not done, by obtaining strength to walk, you will only sin more: and even though you have not asked for this, yet I as God see the maladies of the soul, which brought upon you this disease." (St. Cyril)

    We can also view the account as symbolically representing our need to come to Christ for spiritual healing. We learn that the paralyzed man was brought by four friends in the parallel accounts. The paralyzed man represents the soul that turns back to the Lord and is brought to Him by these four things: self-condemnation, confession of sins, the promise to renounce evil, and prayer to God." (Gregory Palamas)

    When we fall down before Christ with faith, our paralyzed mind immediately hears Him saying 'Son', and receives forgiveness and healing. In addition, it receives strength to lift up and carry the flesh, which is represented by the bed. Before, the mind clung to the body and pursued fleshly desires, and through it applied itself to sinful actions. After being healed, our mind has our body under control and leads and carries it about. (Gregory Palamas)

    St. Gregory Palamas said, “It was love of human honor that distanced the Pharisees from faith in the Lord. Others were prevented from drawing near by lands, weddings, or worries about the affairs of this life, but the paralyzed man's physical weakness put an end to such things and removed them from his thoughts. There are times when illness is better for sinners than good health, because it helps them towards salvation and blunts their inborn evil impulses. Inasmuch as it repays the debt of sins by means of suffering, it makes them able to receive healing of their souls in the first instance, then healing of their bodies. This happens most of all when the sick person, understanding that the affliction is a remedy from God, bears it courageously, falls down before God with faith and asks for forgiveness, through whatever works he can manage.”

    "'O come', brethren, 'let us', too 'worship and fall down and weep', as David himself urges us, 'before the Lord that made us', who has called us to repentance and to this saving sorrow, mourning and contrition...But even if someone could say that he had his passions under control, the Scriptures show us another basic reason for this sorrow that saves us. The disciples grieved when they lost Christ, their good Teacher and Savior, and we too are deprived of Him now, and not just of Him, but of the joy of Paradise. (Gregory Palamas)

    Blessed Theophylact explains what Jesus meant when He asked, "For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?": "He rebukes them by saying, 'You think that I am blaspheming by promising to forgive sins, which is a great thing, and that I resort to this because it is something which cannot be verified. But by healing the body, I shall guarantee that the soul has been healed as well. By doing the lesser deed, though it appears to be more difficult, I shall also confirm the remission of sins, which is indeed something great even though it appears easier to you since it is not visible to the eye.'"

    Another important point in this reading is the fact that Jesus showed the wicked scribes and Pharisees that he could read their thoughts saying, "And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"

    If you, therefore, O Pharisee, you say, who can forgive sins but One, God; I will also say to you, Who can know hearts, and see the thoughts hidden in the depth of the understanding, but God only?

    Christ, knowing their inner thoughts, revealed the evil in their corrupt hearts. It was an astonishing revelation, revealing even more than the miracles of the healings that Christ is the true God. (Augoustinos)

    It is said that an evil woman tried to tempt an ascetic to sin with her. The ascetic pretended to consent. But he proposed that they sin at noontime in the square of the city. "No!" said the woman, 'we can't do that.' Why not?' asked the ascetic. 'Because people will see us.' But, woman, wherever we go, even if we shut ourselves up in the darkest cave, God sees us. We're ashamed to be seen by people, yet we are not ashamed to be seen by God?' The sinful woman repented and was saved. She was saved by these words of the ascetic. There is, in spite of what the atheists say, an eye that sees everything, an ear that hears everything, and a hand that writes everything down. It is Christ Who sees, hears, and knows everything. And one day He will judge the world. (Augoustinos)

    Also notice that He did not say "Wherefore think ye evil in your minds," but "in your hearts", signifying that their thinking was bound up with bitterness and hatred. They were not listening to Christ either as believers or as objective questioners, but as spies and persecutors. Had they been open to learning like the centurion at the crucifixion, they would have recognized Jesus as God.

    May we come to Christ in repentance for our sins so that He will willingly forgive us and heal us in both soul and body. Amen.

The Sons of God - 1 John 3:1-9

            Do we really know what we are awaiting when either we die and come before the judgment seat of Christ, or when He returns and brings judgment on the whole world?

Have we learned what it means to become sons of God as mentioned in our reading? Or have we perhaps fallen for false teachings about life in Heaven, false understandings that originate in a longing to continue in our passions and sins, simply without end or without pain?

It is unfortunate that we have many in the Church, including clerics, that have developed a secular view of Christianity. They are driven by comforts and avoidance of suffering in their decisions and way of life, even at the cost of transgressing God's commands.

Sadly many heterodox do not believe that as Christians we have commandments any longer, and some even go as far as to say that it is acceptable for us to sin as long as we continue to have "faith" that we will one day be freed from our sins, not repenting for such sins. These protestant ideas influence members of the Orthodox Church.

Things have not changed very much since the times of the early Church in the first century. St. John was writing to the Churches to stand guard against heresies that were influencing the faithful with ideas from Gnostics that promoted the freedom to continue in sin even after becoming members of the Church, the Body of Christ. 

He had to make it very clear that it is by our will and works aided by God's grace that we maintain our status as sons of God. It is not as simple as being baptized that makes one a child of God. We could unknowingly revert back to being sons of the devil if we continue to sin.

We must really contemplate this passage from St. John's epistle and ask what does it mean to be unknown by the world. Abba Isaiah of Scetis explains that this world is where sin is trained, unnatural acts are carried out, the will of the flesh is accomplished, the body, and not the soul, is cared for, and where worldly men think they will remain to boast in all of this.

We cannot live this way as Christians, and those that do, need to revaluate their promises made at their baptisms to renounce the devil and his ways. 

St. Maximus explains why it is that Christians continue to sin even after being baptized. He says, "What is lacking, therefore, in each of us who is still able to sin, is the unequivocal desire to surrender our whole selves, in the disposition of our will, to the Spirit."

Part of the reason that we cannot let go of the pleasures of the world is that we have been deceived by the devil into thinking that these pleasures cannot be compared with anything that living a pious Christian life can offer. We fail to see both the joy that God offers to those that become children of God, here and in Heaven, and also fail to see the death-dealing pain that comes with the transient pleasures of this world. 

God has not fully revealed what heavenly life will be like because, in His Providence, He knows that it is for our own benefit that we develop a greater longing and trust in Him who desires only our eternal salvation and well-being. Yet we are able to understand aspects of heavenly life by what God has revealed to us, and we are wise to often contemplate these things.

We can read about our Lord after His resurrection and marvel at His ability to appear wherever He needed to and ascend bodily into the Heavens. We long to be united with the Holy Trinity and one another in ways that we cannot now comprehend. St. John tells us that we will be like Christ and will be given clear vision of God, communion as gods in God.

It takes great courage however to resist the devil's wiles especially if we have been enslaved to them for a long period of time. But we must be aware of our eternal state, whether we will be in pain now for a short while, or for all eternity.

We do not have to do this alone, we actually are not capable of doing so. We have the Creator of all things as our aid. He longs to deify us and enable us to do His works. Abba Isaiah tells us how to respond to sin saying, "Do not be silent! Our enemy pursues us at all times, seeking to capture our souls, but our Lord Jesus is with us, rebuking him through His holy words, if we observe them, for how can one make an obstacle to hinder the enemy except with the words which God has said against him? They oppose and crush him without anyone's knowledge."

As the Church goes through this time of trial where Bishops are demanding that Churches be closed and that we must bow down to cultural norms that blaspheme or loving Lord Jesus Christ, we need to boldly speak out and do what we can to not allow the comfort of fitting into the world beguile us into thinking that everything is okay.

We know that to remain children of God, we must follow the commandments of God and partake of the Holy Mysteries given to the Church for our spiritual nourishment, without which we will perish. If the world persecutes or even kills us, we should be comforted because we would only be following in our Lord's footsteps.

At our death, we will be inspected by the wicked demons who will look for signs of us being children of the devil. May we be found worthy to declare boldly to them, "The world knoweth me not, because it knew Christ not."

The Great Faith of the Centurion - Matthew 8:5-13

The Great Faith of the Centurion - Matthew 8:5-13

    How was it possible for a Gentile to have such great faith so as to believe that Jesus could heal his servant with a mere command? How did he, as an idolater, have such humility to recognize his unworthiness before Christ, not even wanting Him to enter into his house?

    It is marvelous to ponder on the fact that our Lord publicly recognized the centurion's faith while He criticized the general lack of faith found among the Jews. Even the Lord's closest friends did not exhibit such faith as the centurion. Two of our Lord’s closest friends, Martha and Mary, exhibited some of the greatest faith in Jesus’s ability to heal the sick. They believed that the presence of the Lord would have prevented the death of Lazarus. But this centurion had faith that at the words of our Lord, his servant would be healed.

    St. Nikolai Velimirovich says, "for when God works one work, He does it in such a way that His action is not just of service in one area, but in many. Christ desired that this event should be of help to many: to heal the sick, to reveal the centurion's great faith, to reprimand the Jews for their unbelief and to give expression to a great prophecy about the Kingdom... What a vast difference between this burning faith and the cold legalistic beliefs of the Pharisees. When one of the Pharisees invited Christ to his house for supper, he thought, in his legalistic arrogance, that he was doing the Lord honor by inviting Him into his house, and not that the Lord was honoring him and his house by entering under his roof. In his arrogance and overweening pride, the Pharisee neglected even the customary expression of hospitality: he neither brought his guest water to wash His feet nor greeted Him with an embrace, nor anointed His head with perfumed oils."

    St. Nikolai explains how it is that he was able to have such faith saying, "See how humble and repentant this 'pagan', to whom it was not given to know Moses and the prophets, and who had his natural mind as the one light for the distinguishing of truth and falsehood, good and evil, was before the Lord."

    "To peoples who had moved far from God's primal revelation, God left nature and the mind: nature as a book and the mind as a guide to the reading of this book. To Christians, though, in addition to nature and the mind, God's primal revelation has been restored, and a new revelation of truth has been given in the Lord Jesus Christ. As well as this, Christians have the Church, that is the guardian, interpreter and guide in both Revelations; and finally, Christians have the power of the Holy Spirit, who has given life from the Church's beginning, and teaches and guides it." (St. Nikolai)

    Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes relates this powerful illustration that distinguishes the difference between those that claim to represent Him and those that while not official representatives of His, learn to practice virtue, saying, "Let us put forth an example. Someone was given a thousand gold coins. Instead of using this amount of money well, the sluggard and lazy recipient of the money buried it deep in the earth. Someone else was given only a thousand drachmas. This man was a hard worker, diligent and energetic. He increased his investment and produced results. The great treasure of immeasurable value is the Christian faith. Most Christians are not interested and do not use it as they should. They are indolent and lazy, indifferent and of little faith, or unbelievers and atheists who bear only the name of Christian and nothing more. While you see those of other faiths and creeds, who from tradition or conscience, cultivate increase, and multiply, bringing forth virtues that are admirable. The so-called Christians are engaging in scandalous deeds and ugly crimes. These pseudo-Christians are slandering and blaspheming the most beautiful religion in the world."

    We saw a great lack of faith recently when many Churches closed out of fear of disease. Instead of running to Christ in His Life-giving Mysteries (both physical and spiritual life), we saw that physical life free from suffering was prioritized.

    We were shamed much like the Jews in the account when many of other faiths were willing to be put in jail rather than close the doors to their churches; churches where the Mysteries of Christ are not even present.

    Instead of asking our Lord to not enter into our house because of our unworthiness out of humility, we demanded that He not do so out of fear of bodily death and with no concern for spiritual life. We effectively told Him that He was not worthy to enter into our bodies because He could transmit disease to our flesh, which we have made idols of.

    St. Gregory Palamas asks, "Who are those children of the kingdom expelled into darkness? Those who confess the faith, but deny God with their works, 'being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate'(Titus 1:16). Who are those who sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the heavenly kingdom? Those who, with sincere faith, order their lives according to the law and the teaching of the Spirit, and demonstrate their faith through their works."

    St. John Chrysostom tells of God's Love for all mankind saying, "He profits us by opening His discourses about His kingdom and drawing all men towards it. For those even whom He was threatening to cast out, He threatened not in order to cast them out, but in order that through such fear, He might draw them into it by His words."

    We can also learn a great lesson in how to approach God in prayer by the words of the Centurion. We notice that the Centurion only laid the concern before the Lord, fearful of even asking for his servant's healing because of his unworthiness, but with full faith that He could do so if He so willed.

    Similarly, we should lay our concerns before the Lord, trusting that God's will be done; whether He takes away a painful situation or not. We know that He is the great Physician and will apply the proper remedy to any given ailment.

    We recognize like the Centurion the mastery that Jesus Christ has over all things. He is able to overcome and command death just as a master commands a slave. For in saying, 'come, and he cometh,' and 'go, and he goeth; he shows that if He should command his end not to come upon him, it will not come.

    St. Gregory the Theologian comments on our need to approach God with humility especially mindful of our sinfulness saying, "Let each one of us also speak so, as long as he is still uncleansed, and is a Centurion still, commanding many in wickedness, and serving in the army of Caesar, the World-ruler of those who are being dragged down; 'I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.'"

    Our Lord showed that the Centurion was indeed worthy to have Him enter into his house and did much greater things, marveling at him, and proclaiming him, and giving more than he had asked. For he came indeed seeking for his servant health of body, but went away, having received a kingdom. We see how the saying had been already fulfilled, 'Seek ye the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you.' For, because he showed great faith, and lowliness of mind, He both gave him heaven, and added unto him health.

    May we strive to attain such faith and humility as the centurion, and be counted worthy as vessels of our Lord and God. To whom be Glory now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.