The healing of the blind man (Luke 18:35-43)

And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

Why does God allow people to be born blind? How can the person born blind deserve to be deprived of his sight if he has not yet committed any sin worthy of punishment? We may be tempted to accuse God of a great injustice especially if this type of ailment affects someone close to us, like a child. But we must remember that temporary physical blindness is but a second of unpleasantness in the potential eternal blessedness of the glory of Communion with God in Heaven. It is just how as tasting a bitter medicine for a moment causes us agony, but heals us of a serious ailment.

Our Lord only allows physical blindness in this fallen world to be a symbol of the spiritual blindness that all mankind possesses to some degree. When our first parents sinned against God they were driven away from the light and suffered the darkness of condemnation.

But as we hear in today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus Christ drew near to the city of Jericho. Jericho is interpreted as ‘moon’, and so we can understand this event to be describing the condescension of our Lord in assuming a human body to recover the light that it had lost, as the moon depicts the weakness of our mortal nature by waning in its monthly changes. As our Lord suffered as a human, humans are raised up to divinity.

As we hear the blind man call out to Christ to have mercy on him, we see that those that went before Christ told the blind man to be quiet. We understand this event to symbolize the spiritually blind longing for the light of truth, but as they cry to the Lord the crowds of bodily desires and the uproar caused by our vices try to silence or prayer to God.

As we pray to God to come and deliver us from darkness and lead us into light, images of our sins come into our hearts and obscure our inner vision, sometimes rising up in our thoughts as images to throw us into confusion in the very act of praying.

We are being instructed to imitate the blind man when such assailments come our way, and to cry out even more fervently to our Lord to have mercy on us since we are weak and unable to fight against the crowds of temptations that remind us of our sins. Even if we are remorseful for our sins, the sorrows of repentance hardly drive away the images of past sins.

Then we hear that our Lord stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to Him. The two natures of Christ are emphasized here. In our Lords humanity which can be described as changing and moving, our Lord has become close to us and attracted us towards Himself. Once this has occurred, our Lord calls us to Himself as He stands still in His Divinity and gives us His Light that heals us from our blindness.

When Christ called the blind man to Himself, He asked him what he wanted, and the blind man requested only that he would be given his sight. We must imitate him and not ask for deceptive riches or earthly gifts or passing honors, but only for Light.

Then after healing the blind man, our Lord credits the man’s faith in his being healed of his blindness, emphasizing our part in responding to our Lords grace with our free will. He is not ashamed to give all the credit to the blind man although it is in reality only by His great mercy that the blind man even had the opportunity to be healed. Our Lord loves all mankind and desires that all be saved and offers great mercy to all. Only some respond to this call with the desire to receive spiritual sight and that is why our Lord credits those that faithfully beg our Lord for sight for being healed by their faith.

Then the man who was previously blind follows after our Lord. This means nothing else than imitating our Lord who left an example of how to live. “He refused to prosper in this world; he endured reproaches and mockery, he bore up under spitting, scourging, blows, a crown of thorns and a cross. Because we had fallen away from inner joy by our delight in material things, He showed with what bitterness we must return to it.”-Gregory the Great

And as this man was healed by his repentance and perseverance and by imitating Christ, others gave glory to God and also entered into the process of being healed of spiritual blindness. May we continue on our path in seeking God’s Light, healing us of all darkness by our constant prayer to our Lord, His most pure Mother, the Bodiless Hosts, and all the Saints. Then we too may attract others to abandon the darkness and draw close to God and be healed. Amen.

St. John the Forerunner of Christ (Mark 1:1-8)

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”

As we prepare to celebrate the Theophany of the Lord, when Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan by St. John the Forerunner, we read today of the work of St. John to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of our Lord. These people had been blessed by God to have the prophets that not only gave an example of a holy way of life, but also warned and instructed the Jewish people about God’s commandments and punishments for disobedience.

Sadly, with this great privilege, many did not appreciate it and even began to boast in the privilege of simply being born as sons of Abraham. We as Christians often are tempted to do the same. We sometimes claim all of the blessings of Christians simply because we have been baptized and attend Church, forgetting that to truly benefit from membership in the Church, we must apply what we have been given in our daily lives by constantly growing in humility and love.

As our Lord was preparing to begin his public ministry, He had St. John begin to get the Jewish people ready to accept the teachings of Christ. He was about to teach deeper truths that were only understood in shadows by the Law of Moses, and did not want to scandalize anyone, so he had the greatest follower of the Law begin to baptize in a similar way that Christ would require.

St. John began to teach deeper truths leading to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He leveled the mountains and valleys, making straight paths in the souls of people by teaching the need for humility. Those that exalt themselves will be brought down by God and those that lower themselves before God and man will be rewarded and brought up high by God. It was by thinking too much of ourselves that we fell in the garden of Eden, and only by recognizing our lowliness will we be granted access to it again.

We have all been born into this fallen world, we have all sinned and have exalted ourselves high in our pride. It is needed that we repent of this and confess our sin to God. St. John instructed the Jewish people of this need and promised them that soon the Promised One, the Bridegroom to the faithful would come and actually grant forgiveness of the sins of pride that have kept us from Paradise.

We see that St. John was clothed in camel’s hair and wore a leather girdle of skin around his loins, showing the need to live a life of asceticism in wearing poor, uncomfortable clothes that help us fight against the sins of vanity and of pleasure seeking, and wearing a dead animal about or loins to represent a chaste life of dying to the beastly sexual impulses that create so many injuries to the souls of mankind.

We are told that he only ate locusts and wild honey while living in the wilderness. St. Bede describes the symbolism of these two items by saying that “On account of their short flight, locusts suggest the Jewish nation’s vacillating mind, by which they were borne up and down between the Lord and idols. The wild honey signifies the sweetness of the natural wisdom by which the uncultivated people of foreign countries were refreshed. And when from both peoples the Lord chose those whom he would bring by his teaching into the unity of his body, which is the Church, they were undoubtedly being fed upon locusts and wild honey, because he turned many into his members, both from the one people, who sought heavenly things with a wavering intention, and from the other nation, who knew only the taste of earthly philosophy.”

Next, we are told that St. John did not feel worthy to unloose our Lord’s shoe. St. Bede once again provides a very good explanation of the seemingly odd choice of words. He reminds us of the Jewish tradition of a brother being responsible for marrying a deceased brother’s wife if she had not yet borne a child. The next brother in line was only allowed to forgo this by the ritual of taking off a shoe and handing it to another that would take the widow as wife. So, St. John was indicating that he was not the Messiah and bridegroom by stating that to do so would be to take off the shoe of Christ who was the rightful next of kin to marry the bride. Our Lord being the second Adam rightfully has wedded the Church to Himself to pick up were Adam failed and He has brought forth spiritual children by her, the saints who live in Communion  with the Holy Trinity.

And so, although St. John’s baptism was only in water and our Lord baptizes with the Holy Ghost, it was still needful that he prepare for the outpouring of God’s grace with human effort. The Sacraments of the Church work similarly; we offer to God our human effort and physical forms, in bread, wine, oil, and water, and God only then pours out the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord was teaching us the synergy needed for our salvation.

May we come to Christ’s Church and lower ourselves from our prideful way of life and be leveled. And repenting and confessing our prideful sins, may we bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, so that we may be granted access back to the Tree of Life only offered to those lowly of spirit, and be made communicants of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the Glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, Amen.

The Healing of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:12-19)

    In today’s Gospel reading we hear of the healing of ten lepers. It is easy to pass by this account without noticing some very important lessons that explain our spiritual condition and how we are able to be healed of our spiritual infirmities.

    

    We can think back to the garden of Eden and recall how our first parents, surrounded by unlimited delight and enjoying perfect health failed to be grateful for these gifts by pondering on the venomous words of the Devil and eventually believing them, that God was withholding something from them that would truly make them happy. Only once cast out of Eden did our first mother begin to thank God for all that He provided for her, when after giving birth to her first son Cain, she said, “I have acquired a man through God.” Sadly, we usually are not able to cherish anything until it is gone. When things go well, we take them for granted. And so, we might sometimes wonder why it is that God at times instructs us to pray constantly, and at other times makes it clear that before we pray, He already knows what we need. In today’s gospel reading we see our Lord asking, “were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger?” This question from our Lord is similar to His question in the Garden to Adam once he had transgressed, when He asked, “Adam, where art thou?” Our Lord does not ask these questions to find anything out for He knows all things. In both cases, He was lowering Himself to help us come to the right understanding of our sinfulness and the need to ask for forgiveness and once it is given to be thankful for it. So, from this it is abundantly clear that God does not need our prayers, but rather we need them as they help us to remember our sinfulness and they help us to never become ungrateful for all of God’s great gifts and acts of mercy.

    We also notice that our Lord told the lepers to go show themselves to the priests. Jesus was making clear that He was not against the Mosaic Law. We do not believe that God instituted these things for no reason, but rather believe they foreshadowed the Christian priesthood that He would establish. Sadly, many reject the Christian priesthood, making it appear as if our Lord made a mistake by having a priesthood in the Old Testament. As Orthodox Christians however, we continue the tradition of going to the priests to be declared healed of the “leprosy” of sins in the Mystery of Confession. And just as how the Jews were instructed to not even go near a man with leprosy, we see that we are not to keep company with sinful people.

    Lastly, we should notice how our Lord gave the credit of the leper’s healing to the leper saying, “thy faith hath made thee whole,” showing us how we should give credit as much as possible to others and not take credit for ourselves. Our Lord had all the right to show that it was He Himself that was responsible for the healing of the lepers, but since He cares nothing for pride, but only wills to share His dignity with us ungrateful humans, declares that it was the leper’s faith that healed him. The infinitely smaller portion that we contribute is viewed by God as so important that He is willing to give it all of the credit. We need to imitate our Lord and not speak of how much we do, but how much we are indebted to God and our fellow man for everything good in our lives.

    May we learn from the Samaritan leper from what great illness we have been delivered and continuously give thanks to our Lord until the day we finally enter into the heavenly mansions that we will never take for granted again. Amen.

Lazarus and the Rich Man – Luke 16:19-31

Our Lord has taught us the purest form of Holiness with regard to the use of our riches in His instructions earlier given where He said, “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.” Later he also told the rich young ruler how to be perfect saying, “sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.”

But our Lord is merciful and desires our salvation more than we do ourselves and has provided a lesser way in which we can still learn and be granted access to Heaven. He teaches us saying, “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” Those that cannot fully abandon money altogether are told to distribute it to those in need and when it fails us as we leave this life, we will be received into the everlasting habitations of Heaven for having taken care of the poor.

In today’s gospel reading we hear of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. We are shown the drastic difference between one who was so wealthy and took no notice of the need to care for the poor and someone so poor and sickly that he could not take care of himself, much less offer anything to the poor. In one way we could say that God unequally lends possessions to men. This is done to teach man that we depend on each other and to make wise use of what God has lent us, working towards both our own salvation and that of our brethren.

But in another way, we would say that God has equally bestowed possessions among mankind because with each person’s amount of possessions, different temptations are made. Those with less possession struggle with temptations like despair and sadness, while those with many possessions struggle with almsgiving, gluttony, pride, and a plethora of sins.

What is seen by the physical eye is many times not what is true of the spiritual reality. In the parable we see a rich man in costly apparel that actually physically represents the spiritual reality of Lazarus because he was spiritually rich because he had learned the truth of the vanity of transient riches and become humble enough to desire only crumbs that had fallen to the floor, not seeing himself as deserving of great honor as many of us do.

On the other hand, we see Lazarus, poor and sick and starving to death. He physically represents the spiritual condition of the rich man. He was lacking the basic decency of not feeling sorry for Lazarus and providing him even the minimal help of giving him his leftovers from his daily feasts. The passage does not even add other sins to this because it is clear that if he was lacking in this area, many other sins abounded in him.

What can we learn from this story other than the basic teaching to not neglect the poor? If we look closely to the description of the rich man, we can glean a few other lessons. First, we see that the rich man was clothed in purple and fine linen. This is no mere trivial description. St. Gregory the Great teaches that this description proves the sinfulness of acquiring costly clothing saying, “No one looks for remarkable clothes except out of vainglory, to appear more worthy of respect than others. That no one puts on expensive clothing where he cannot be seen by others testifies that costly clothing is only sought out of vainglory.” He then makes note that the Holy Saint, John the Baptist is described wearing cheap clothing to prove that wearing cheap clothes is virtuous.

Next, we see that the rich man fared sumptuously every day. We are tempted to find pleasure in entertainment every day. But we must remember that we are not to have hearts that are only aroused to merriment by musicians and dancers, but that our hearts must be filled with joy and merriment by God as the Psalmist says, “My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God” (Psalm 84:2)

As we see the judgment of the Rich man and Lazarus, we see the reversal of the joy and suffering experienced by the two men. The rich man is now like Lazarus that only wanted crumbs, asking for a drop of water. We are warned about the torment that awaits those in Hell.

Many are deceived into thinking that Jesus has lightened the strictness that God required of His people as laid out in the Old Testament. But as seen in this parable and in many of our Lord’s teachings, much more is required of Christians than was required of the Jews. Then he only commanded to not steal, now by not giving of what is legally yours, you will be condemned.

We might wonder why the rich man seems to be concerned with his 5 brothers, when he seems to be an evil man. It’s possible that he is making the excuse that he was not warned enough about the need to give alms and is using his concern for his brothers as a way to justify himself. It is also possible that part of the torments he was experiencing were due to his influence on his younger brothers. If he was able to warn them, his torments could be reduced. It could also just be that although he still had love for his own family members, he was not found worthy of entrance into Heavenly life, much like the commandment to love our enemies. We are told that even sinners love those that love them.

Allegorically, we can look at this rich man as those who have been given so much abundance in the knowledge of God through the Church but instead of being a source of Love, it became a source of pride. The poor beggar, Lazarus, symbolizes those around us that we fail to even give even the crumbs of the faith that we have squandered.

In these trying times in which man is in desperate need of God’s Love, may we find ways to share with those starving and covered in sores the banquet we have been blessed to have access to in the Sacraments of the Church. We cannot keep these things to ourselves just as we cannot hoard our physical possessions. We will all have to account for how we shared what God has graciously given each of us. May we be found worthy of joining the ranks of our Father Abraham who although was materially wealthy, is not described as rich, because his virtue was greater than his wealth, being known for his hospitality to strangers in which he cared for angels that represented the Holy Trinity, to whom be the glory, honor, and worship, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Matthew 22:35-46: The Greatest Commandment and the Two Natures of Christ

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear of a lawyer testing our Lord to see if He would contradict or add to the law of Moses. He asks what is the greatest commandment. We are blessed to hear how all of the commandments are really summed up into two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor, and that even these two are really combined into one commandment because one cannot truly be done without the other. We are reminded of our Lord asking Peter if he loved Him, and then asking him to feed His sheep, and of the inspection at our Lord’s second coming where He will either commend or condemn us for seeing Him hungry and feeding him or not in the people we encounter.

The very man that came originally to catch our Lord in blasphemy was so amazed at the Wisdom of God that he responded to Jesus with a clear understanding of the importance of loving God and neighbor more than fulfilling the burnt offerings and sacrifices required by the Law, because these practices could easily be done out of obligation and not out of Love. In the parallel account in Mark, Jesus tells the man that he is not far from the Kingdom of God, showing that although he did not perfectly understand who Christ was, he was beginning to open himself up to accepting our Lord in the flesh.

Our Lord was very patient in revealing His Divinity because He knew that it would be very difficult to accept it if He appeared to be setting Himself up in some form of opposition to God the Father. He allowed the crowds to think less of Him and to continue speaking of God as being One, although in reality God is really three, because in a few very important ways, God is One. He is one in essence, and more importantly He is One in opposition to thinking there are really other gods in the idols created by men and the demons.

He then led them to further understanding of His Divinity by asking what they thought of Christ; who’s son is He? They reveal their misunderstanding of the prophecy by saying that He is merely the son of David. He shows them how it is said that David calls the Christ Lord, although He is also his son. He is showing how both are realities, He is the son of David, but is also Lord, being of the same essence of God the Father and therefore equal in honor to Him. The Church’s teaching of the two natures of Christ are clearly shown in this prophecy and in our Lord’s use of this prophecy in His teaching.

After our Lord clearly explained how the Law taught the Divinity of Christ, all understood and could no longer use blasphemy against Him until He was arrested and condemned. At that point they were coming up with false charges to put Him to death because He brought Light to their darkness.

Sadly, there are many good-hearted Jehovah’s witnesses that have been so far removed from the Church that they have gone back to the understanding that Christ is merely the son of David and not Lord in the sense of being of one essence and equal in honor with God the Father. There are great dangers in reading the Holy Scriptures with an independent attitude and not with the guidance of the Church’s interpretation. God knew there would be this possibility and has allowed it to show us the harm of developing an independent spirit and not having the virtue of obedience to His bride and protector of the Faith, His Church. 

May we humble ourselves and beg God to show us through the Holy Saints how to understand His Holy Word that gives us Life. Amen.

Matthew 22:1-14 The Invitation to the Marriage Feast of the King's Son

Today’s Gospel reading is a very sobering reminder of the need to respond to our Lord’s invitation by putting on the wedding garment of the virtues and not ignoring or even hating our Lord’s call to holiness.

Many unrighteous people hear about this call to holiness and find fault with our Creator asking, “why did He create people who He knew were going to be damned?”

To answer the question, we must recognize that without the possibility of doing evil, man would not be rational. Reason without free choice or self-governance would be pointless. Man could be neither good or evil.

So, in demanding that God should not have made those that will be punished, one also is saying that He should not have made those that will be saved or any rational and free beings at all. And since the creation was made for the sake of mankind, they are saying that God should not have created anything at all.

What was God to do then? Should He have not made men that would be good on account of those who would turn out evil? St. Gregory Palamas answers, “That would be the greatest injustice imaginable. For even if there were only going to be one good person, it would not have been just to stop creating, since one man who does God’s will is superior to innumerable sinners.”

And it is not as if God does not invite all to become holy and provide the loving means to do so for each person.

In the parable we hear about a marriage for the King’s Son. This is the union of the Son of God with man’s nature, and hence with the Church. And the Greek uses the plural for nuptials or festivities because whenever Christ, the bridegroom of pure souls, is mystically united with each soul, He gives the Father occasion to rejoice over this as at a wedding.

We see in the parable the rejection of the invitation by the Jews and the calling in of the Gentiles. But both good and bad are brought in, and then an inspection is done by the King.

Then we hear the haunting words of God, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The evil man is called friend on behalf of his faith, but is condemned on behalf of his sinfulness and lack of virtue and good deeds. The garment we have at inspection will be how we used our time in this life acquiring the virtues of self-control, purity and chastity, compassion, humility, and modesty and meekness.

The very hands and feet of the wicked that are now shackled by their sins, will be bound for all eternity and cast into outer darkness, going even further away from God.

May we use our feet and hands to do good works and run to the service of God and our fellow man so that at the last judgment we will have put on a beautiful wedding garment and can enjoy the marriage feast of the righteous with our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and honor, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Christ walking on the water and about temptations (Matthew 14:22-34)

As Christianity has become more watered down over the ages due to the lack of persecution that has lulled Christians into a sort of sleep, we have begun to view things as the world does and not as Christ has shown us. One of the clearest examples is our view of trials or temptations in the form of suffering.

Many Christians today wonder why, when they have been faithful to God and have striven to obey God’s commandments, it is that they seem to suffer more than those that have denied God and make no effort to obey His commandments.

While it is natural to expect God’s favor after striving to follow His commandments, we seem to have lost the foundational view of this current life in this fallen world. We have become confused and have fallen for the delusion that the enemy constantly presents to us to lose sight of the realities that Christ has shown us, namely exchanging eternal life in Heaven for temporal pleasure on this fallen world.

Our Lord did not teach a health and wealth Gospel. The health and wealth that Christians receive is invisible to the fleshly eye and only seen by those who also love God and holy things. To the fleshly eye, we look pitiable and weak, but to the eye that sees clearly, Christians are seen to be strong and rich, having an inheritance in the Heavens.

Just as an athlete is only able to obtain the highest achievements through rigorous training, so likewise is a Christian able to reach perfection only through the training of temptations. For those whose faith has already reached a level of perfection, temptations help to demonstrate their perfection. And for those that are still imperfect, temptations provide a method for their becoming perfect.

Today’s Gospel reading is an example of the latter. We read about the Apostles being tempted by the wind and sea while aboard a ship.

Wanting to train His Apostles in patience and being able to bear hardship, our Lord allowed them to be tempted on the dangerous sea for a long time and even allowed them to think He was a ghost before giving the calming words of salvation, His declaration of His divinity, calling Himself, “I am”, the title of God, the creator and controller of all things, including the boisterous sea.

St. John Chrysostom explains why it was that Jesus allowed them to be tempted so hard saying, “He lets them be tempest-tossed all the night, thoroughly to awaken, as I suppose, their hardened heart. And together with the compunction, He cast them also into a greater longing for Himself, and a continual remembrance of Him. Accordingly, neither did He present Himself to them at once. For, “in the fourth watch,” so it is said, “of the night, He went unto them, walking upon the sea;” instructing them not hastily to seek for deliverance from their pressing dangers, but to bear all occurrences manfully.”

Our Lord taught his Apostles in stages. Earlier He had calmed the seas while aboard a ship with them. Now that they had learned more and developed a stronger faith, He does not stop the storm, but demonstrates His power over the temptation by walking on it and showing that He can also give the ability to walk on the water to those with faith.

This account can be symbolically interpreted to represent our situation. Jesus had just healed, taught, and fed the crowds in a miraculous way and went up the mountain and sent his disciples to cross over the stormy sea. Likewise, our Lord has brought healing, wisdom, and spiritual sustenance through His Incarnation and His Ascension into the Heavens as our Mediator, and has sent us to cross over this stormy life by which we are tempted to produce and show our faith.

Just as the Lord did not calm the sea, but gave Peter the ability to walk on it, in our life here in this fallen world, trials are not taken away from us, but we are given the ability to overcome them by our Lord if we only have faith in Him. Only when Christ returns in His second coming will He fully put an end to the terrible waves stirred up against His Church and trample them under foot.

There are also different types of temptations that we can speak of. Concerning these types of temptations that are being taught today, there are those of pleasure or pain, health or sickness, honor or dishonor, riches or poverty. And those considered more favorable to the world are actually the more harmful and dangerous.

But there are also different types of temptations in another sense. There are temptations that come from outside and those that come from within. These that we have spoken about and that God uses come from outside. The temptations that come from within come from sin and bring spiritual death, departure from God. These temptations do not come from God and we must flee these temptations. That is why we ask God to lead us not into temptation.

We have confused these types of temptations and ask God to shield us from the temptations that actually bring us eternal life and perfection and these other deadly temptations we overlook. If we cleanse ourselves from all iniquity by repenting, we will only need more moderate temptations here and will in the future return to the life free from sorrows and trials.

May we imitate our Lord who lowered Himself and was tempted in all ways like us except sin so that we too can share in His Ascension to the Heavens with those who have patiently awaited their reward for their endurance in temptation, to Whom be the glory and honor and worship, together with the Father and Holy Spirit. Amen.