My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE "SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS"
"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you
who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of
gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be
tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill
the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be
something, when he is nothing, HE DECEIVES
HIMSELF" [Galatians 6:1-3].
Our Lord God Jesus Christ taught: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, FOR I AM GENTLE and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light" [Matthew 11:29-30]. A sign of Jesus’ Leadership is His MEEKNESS–He is "gentle and lowly." The Prophet and King David emphasized that the Lord would teach His ways to the meek [Psalm 25:9]. MEEKNESS is THE MOTHER OF AGAPE (LOVE), the foundation of discernment and the forerunner of all humility. Our Lord and Savior finds rest in the hearts of the meek, while the turbulent spirit is home to the evil one (devil). To be able to administer correction with "gentleness" is a spiritual gift.
Knowing that human life is filled with sorrow, uncertainty, fear, disappointment, sickness, and constant struggle, those who are reaching out to help them should be people of compassion, love, gentleness, patience, prayer, and kindness. Recollecting on my own fifty-four year ministry in the service of my Lord Christ and our Holy Orthodox Church I know that to be true. People are suffering, they have all kinds of injuries, some self-inflicted and others due to the constant battles in life. The authentic Christian is one who emulates our Lord Christ who taught us how to be good samaritans to all who are hurt and in pain. The holy Apostle Paul speaking to the Thessalonian Greeks says, "But we were gentle among you just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children" [1 Thessalonians 2:7).
The Parable of the Good Samaritan occurs only in the Gospel of Saint Luke, and illustrates Jesus' Divine Teaching of who our "neighbor" is: ANYONE IN IMMEDIATE NEED, even a supposed enemy. Symbolically, the Good Samaritan is Christ Himself, the wounded man is humanity set upon by evil, and the inn is the Church. Love for neighbor proves our agape for God. Saint Theophylact commenting on the Parable says: "Our Lord and God, Who "for our sake was made a curse" [Galatians 3:13] and was called a Samaritan, "journeyed" to us, that is, His journey had as its very purpose and goal OUR HEALING. He did not just catch a glimpse of us as He happened to pass by: He actually came to us and lived together with us and spoke to us. Therefore He at once bound up our wounds. He longer permitted wickedness to operate in us freely and at will, but He bound and restrained our sinfulness and "poured on oil and wine." OIL is the word of teaching which exhorts us to virtue by the promise of good things. WINE is the word of teaching leading us towards virtue by the fear of punishment. For example, when you hear the Lord say, "Come unto Me and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), this is oil of gladness, and rest. And it is the same when He says, "Come ye and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you" (Matthew 25:34)… We compare Christ’s Divinity to wine, which no one could tolerate if it were poured onto a wound, unless it were tempered with oil, that is, accompanied by His humanity. Therefore, Christ has SAVED US BOTH BY HIS DIVINITY AND BY HIS HUMANITY, that is why it is said oil and wine were poured out.
"… See the preciseness of His expression, how He says that the Samaritan "brought him to an inn, and took care of him." Before he brought him to the inn, he had only bound his wounds. What then am I saying? That when the Church had been established, BECOMING THE INN which receives all, and was increased by the faith of nearly all peoples, then there were the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God was spread far and wide. The "INNKEEPER" is a type and symbol of every Apostle, teacher, and archpastor, to whom the Lord gave "two pence," representing the Two Testaments, Old and New." We, Orthodox Christians, understand and believe the Church to be a place of healing, a hospital. Jesus Christ to be the resident Physician and Healer of our souls and bodies. We, the faithful, come to the Church to be healed by Him and to be restored to health. Holy Communion is the Divine Medicine through which we receive remission of sins and life everlasting. The Holy Church is indeed "the inn" where we all find the necessary long-term medical and spiritual care and the time to recover from our injuries.
Christians have been known throughout the world and centuries as people who are gentle, virtuous, generous, humble, compassionate, forgiving, loving, kind, caring and peace-loving people. Also, men, women and children who pursue holiness. "Holiness is separation from everything profane; it is the cleansing of the soul from the filth of sin; it is the putting off of vice, which like rust blemishes the inner man. It is also the acquisition of the virtues through which man is raised up from the lowly to the spiritual and heavenly so that he approaches the Cherubim and Seraphim, appearing to be some sort of earthly Angel."
By the manner of our life, we ought to show and reflect our Beloved Lord God Jesus Christ in everything that we do. For all to see that He lives and continues to work miracles. For both believers and unbelievers to feel His presence in the world that He created. He waits patiently for us to continue serving Him faithfully and obediently. The lives of the Christians ought to be an inspiration to all others. LIves that shine and bring hope to those who have fallen away. No Christian can claim perfection or that he or she is better than others but remain humble and who also struggles against the passions and temptations. The Orthodox Christian has been taught to offer the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." We are called to pray without ceasing, writes Saint Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The Jesus Prayer provides one way to pray constantly. However, like any prayer, it must be offered with humility, with faith, with a contrite and broken heart in order to be heard by the Almighty God.
The faith that saves is a complete faith: not just the mind believing and the tongue confessing, but the whole person trusting in the Living God. The holy Apostle James writes: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. " [James 2:14-17).
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 