DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Colossians 1:3-6
(01/14 or 01/27)
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week after Pentecost
Faith, Hope, and Love: Colossians 1:3-6, especially vss.
4, 5: “...we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven....” Here
Saint Paul names the three bed-rock, ‘theological’ virtues that
mark the life in Christ: faith, hope, and love. Speaking of the quintessential virtue -
of love - C. S. Lewis, the Anglican literary critic reminds the faithful in
Christ that, foremost, love “...does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of
the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and
must learn to have about other people.”
To Lewis’ declaration, we hasten to add that what he
said concerning love is also true of the other two virtues. They, too, are decisions, commitments,
and choices of consequence that we make, or not. When we embrace them in our hearts and
souls, by God’s grace, we will act consistently on the truth declared by
the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles.
Thus, we have faith.
Remembering the promises of Christ, our Savior and God, may we determine that we shall always keep them before the
eye of our heart, allowing that “...which is laid up for [us] in
heaven...” (vs. 5) to guide us like a beacon through the fog and shoals
of this life. That is hope.
The faithful at Colossae grasped the importance of the
three virtues, which gave the Apostle occasion to “...give thanks to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for [them]” (vs.
3). As is true of all Holy
Scripture, his expression of thanksgiving (vs. 3) was written also for our
encouragement, and is directed to us.
Let us thank God that right now the Apostle Paul is giving thanks at the
Eucharistic Feast in Heaven for you and me, praying in this eternal
‘moment’ that these virtues may blossom and flower,
“...bringing forth fruit...” (vs. 6) in us, just as they did
many centuries ago within the Saints at Colossae, yes, “...since the day
[we] heard and knew the grace of God in truth...” (vs.
6).
Faith gives praise and thanks - makes Eucharist - to God,
as the Father of both our Lord Jesus Christ and of ourselves
as well. Faith prays for other
Christians, especially when it hears that they are acting on the truth of the
Gospel - our inheritance. Faith
trusts the Gospel as the truth about this life and the eternal significance of
human existence. Faith struggles to
produce fruit worthy of the grace that God extends to all men, a grace that
actively changes people bit by bit into that infinite potential that Christ our
God reveals in Himself. Saint Paisius Velichkovsky reminds us that “...the first virtue is
faith, for by faith even mountains are moved and men receive everything they
wish, as the Lord said. Each one,
in all glorious and wondrous deeds, is confirmed by his faith. By our own free will faith either
decreases or increases.”
Hope is much the same.
Why? Very simply, hope acts
on the truth of the Gospel even when, on all sides, the overwhelming material
conditions of this present existence run contrary to “...the word of the
truth of the Gospel” (vs. 5).
Such hope is not a vain, blind hope- against-hope. It is an invincible
hope compelled by the truth that overcomes all the negatives that the enemy and
the fallen world can, and does, throw at us. And, of course, it results in love.
Love is the ultimate fruit of the life in Christ. Saint Clement of Rome notes that
“All the generations from Adam to our own day have passed away, but those
made perfect in love according to the grace of God have a place among the godly
who will be made manifest when Christ’s kingdom comes.” Saint Paul gave thanks for the faithful
at Colossae because of their “...love for all the saints” (vs. 4) -
for every one among them. He is praying
likewise for us - that faith, hope, and love abide, “...these three; but
the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13)!
O God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope and love which Thou dost promise.
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